Lewis Hamilton says that is not aware of any plans to have Paddy Lowe at Mercedes GP.
“As far as I am aware there no plans to bring Paddy here,” he told the British media this morning. “I have been assured by Ross that his commitment is for the long term and that he is here to try to win with me and that reassures me and continues to give me a positive feeling moving forward. There are lots of great people here. I have obviously had great experience with Paddy, but he works at McLaren.”
Hamilton said that having Brawn in the team was a factor in his decision, but not the only one.
“There were tons of factors,” he said. “I had to sit down and write down the pros and cons. It was definitely on the list, but it was not the deciding factor. Ross has had a great career and runs a great team. There is a great atmosphere here. The guys seem hungrier than anyone I have seen before. They are hungry to win and excited that they have another shot at it. I feel really positive. The guys are working really hard. It is important that they are always analyzing and seeing what adjustments need to be made; and that they are not scared of making changes and doing whatever they have to do to win. Having a head figure of the team is important.”
Hamilton said that he has tried the Mercedes team’s simulators and said that they are different to McLaren.
“The newest one has all the technology that McLaren has,” he said, “We just need to dial it in some more.”
He added that is important to be “patient and realistic” and that people should not expect miracles.
“It takes a long time to develop a car and you need to be very understanding that it is difficult to gain two or three seconds in three months, but every little bit counts. This is a marathon not a sprint. It is a long haul and I hope we can be competitive. If we are there at the first race and at the front it will be spectacular. 2014 is a little bit more of an opportunity because everyone will start from zero.”
If Lewis can inject some enthusiasm into the Mercedes team then it would be great. Having a top class driver , the fastest guy around will be a huge motivator to the whole team – from Ross to the guy who heats the tyres.
let us all hope Lewis can understand his role , remain concentrated on the task and mature into the complete driver.
Lewis need to work with the Brackley Boys, not the Stuttgart Stooges.
I live in real hope and wholeheartedly agree. Unlike Joe, I thought that Lewis’s move was OK in the summer, but now, with all these actual changes and rumours, I am getting more worried by the day and fear Joe’s concerns were well founded.
So it seems that everything is great. Only the simulator is built but has to be fine-tuned to be really useful. Lets hope Hamilton can help out there.
The fact that things are happening at the top this ‘late’ shows to me that Mercedes have a plan of sorts and that they are going to try and see if it works for them.
Whether it ‘will’ work depends largely on the engineers in the team, the Board can give direction and emphasis, but it’s the nuts and bolts guys that make it happen.
I believe that it will be a better year for Mercedes than last year, but if they flop again it could all end in tears.
A lot of people are putting their credibility on the line for this year.
“There is a great atmosphere here. The guys seem hungrier than anyone I have seen before”
Uncle Ronnie should be thrilled to hear that his guys have been “dogging it”, Thanks Lewis from your lacadasical friends @ McLaren
“The newest one has all the technology that McLaren has,” he said, “We just need to dial it in some more.”
Schumacher couldn’t ‘dial it in’ ? Nico, blissfully unaware? Lewis to the rescue!
He had better have the measure of Rosberg or the Hamilton brand will suffer big time.
Correction, Lackadaisical (butchered that one)
P.S
Jenson could you back the bus Lewis was driving up so we can get up from underneath it?
Ross and Lewis, under what seem to be very confusing circumstances, are for me the only voices who make any sense at MB right now. I’d expect no less, both men have my respect. Bur crikey, it’s been topsy turvy lately. I get the sense very strongly, it’s hardly subtle from Lewis’s statements, they’ve a affinity. That could be very good. I almost imagine Ross could in large part substitute and better Lewis’ management as a mentor, and think that would be a really good thing. Maybe, well I have started to think this is the reason for the LH’s move. witching management and no less from your family to a very profile centric and by comparison almost louche outfit .. well, I’d say having Ross on your side would be a super counterweight to such choppy decisions. If any of what I speculate is true, good on Lewis, head screwed on right way. As for the rest, though not sure anyone has actually used the word, I think the worry is factionalism at MB.
Actually the more I think about Ross & Lewis, I’m thinking about the one deep friendship I had in business, which was akin to a kind of love if only because I never had to question my late partner’s decisions,there was a absolute trust. Never once did I feel there was any untoward consideration, and so rarely did I feel the need to call things differently, and if I pitched up my different take, I felt absolutely safe if my pitch was nixed. (I’ll still argue one or two, but that’s counted over decades) I don’t think such professional relations are so rare, but they are infrequent. Most definitely infrequent. If this is the context, at MB, I totally understand what is going on. Superficially, you can maybe imagine Lewis gravitates to Ross particularly if there’s just PR chaos going on. But correct me if I’m wrong, and Nico hasn’t said a peep, and my guess is since he’s more knowledgeable about the team than Lewis, his silence speaks almost eloquently. I imagine he took cover, lately. Ahh, well, any which way, I’m looking forward to this driver line up. Lewis trumps Nico, in my fan support, but I like them both. Meanwhile, it’s not said enough, how loopy Nikki can be. Ty commandeering a Boeing when and his eponymous airline was running late, or so the stories went, at one time. However Sundays go, MB has done a pretty good job of ensuring they are paid attention to.