There are still plenty of rumours swirling around the future of Renault with the Prodrive and Lopez bids apparently not the only ones under discussion. According to French sources there has also been interest from Addax, the GP2 which is owned by Alejandro Agag, the well-connected Spaniard who has been a little too close to Flavio Briatore for comfort in the past. He is also the son-in-law of former Spanish Prime Minister (1996-2004) José María Aznar. There has even been talk of Craig Pollock making a comeback. The Scot, who ran BAR for some years, is often rumoured to be thinking about a return to the sport but seems to be happy enough doing business in other spheres and has not been seen in the paddock for some time.
The latest rumour, however, is more interesting as it suggests that one of those sniffing around Renault is none other than Anthony Hamilton, father of you-know-who. Long gone are the days when drivers were able to start their own teams – as happened a lot in the 1960s – of those original teams only McLaren remains today but Brabham and Eagle both won races and the former championships as well. There were also the likes of Amon, Hill, Fittipaldi and Prost, which were less successful and even the likes of Merzario and Rebaque. In the modern era Jacques Villeneuve (it is said) and Gerhard Berger also owned shares in teams but the Austrian bailed out when he was asked to put in money. Over in America driver ownership is fairly normal with the likes of Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal, Chip Ganassi, Roger Penske, Adrian Fernandez and, more recently Gil de Ferran going down that route in open wheelers and in stock cars great traditions with the Petty Family, Richard Childress, Dale Earnhardt and, most recently, Robby Gordon and Tony Stewart. Nothing is impossible is there is ambition and money.
Given the amount of cash that racing stars have been able to generate in recent years the idea is not ridiculous, particularly now as the price of F1 teams is currently low. Drivers are rarely the right people to run F1 teams (as history relates) but this does not mean that their relatives cannot give it a go. Nor for that matter does a team owned by a driver have to employ that driver. In America we have seen Dale Earnhardt Inc for many years NOT employing Dale Earnhardt Sr, and more recenty even Dale Jr jumped ship…
joeblogsf1 
I can’t believe any Hamilton would want to be involved with another team – McLaren is Lewis’s team through and through, just bankrolled by McLaren and not the Hamiltons. Even uf Lewis didn’t drive for Renault there’d be too much of a conflict of interest if Anthony was involved.
Then again, if it gets Anthony out of the McLaren garage…
I did not say that Lewis would leave McLaren…
Do you think Anthony would ever leave his son’s side though? He’s been with him every step if the way even if he is a pain in the butt at times. I can’t see him wanting to add more pressures to Lewis’s raving career?
Damn iPhone, not sure about Lewis’s raving career but I did mean to type racing!
So how are things between father and son? Hamilton Sr has always been very ambitious, to the point where he and Ron Dennis were reported to not get along that well.
If Anthony Hamilton had his own team he could continue his ambitions and give his son some space.
I’m not thinking they hate each other, but Lewis will be entering his 4th F1 season with a WDC under his belt, so it might be good for him run his own program.
Anthony certainly has some draw.
jr McLaren Team? If McLaren is going to be building their own engines it makes sense to have another team for development.
Lol !!!
No more to say :y
Anthony is Lewis’ manager right?
We’ve seen what happens when a driver-manager runs an F1 team.. ironically the same team! Weren’t the FIA looking to prevent this form occurring?
Bernie claimed there are 4 front-runners to a buy-in..
1.Lopez/Mangrove
2.Richards/Prodrive
3.Aggag/Addax
4. ??
Surely Anthony Hamilton isn’t #4?
Was Tiger Woods by any chance seen sniffing around Enstone? I mean he’s taking indefinite leave from golf so I thought I’d start a rumour or something.
Tiger Woods and Tiger Lewis, they could even adopt Blake’s poem as the new team’s motto. It’s not like LH or TW can be described as having a “fearful symmetry” but still… exciting prospect.
But you’d agree that Anthony Hamilton would (eventually) want his son racing for him, right?
I wonder where he’d source the money from …
Oh Joe, your such a wag… Are you on mulled wine already?
Why not better to concentrate on covering the space left by Mercedes in Mclaren?…
My first thought is what a delight it must be for McLaren to have AnthonyHamilton wandering around thinking “if I was running a team I wouldn’t be doing it like that”, “you don’t want to do it like that, you want to do it like this”.
Cheers Joe.
If something like this happens soon (ie this year or next year) my thought is that it would be an insurance policy for the Hamiltons. If Lewis dispatches Jenson and consolidates his position at McLaren, well, they have a (theoretically) nice little money-spinner that will increase dramatically in value when the world economy improves and rich boys want to play with racing cars again. On the other hand, if the worm turns and Lewis starts to feel unwelcome (or even just equally welcome) at McLaren, then there’s a ready-made team which would be indisputably and always his.
Hamilton pere and fils can never be accused of not “dreaming big” — maybe, just as their mentor Ron Dennis aspires to make McLaren into a second Ferrari, they have dreams of making a Hamilton GP into a second McLaren, a consistently rich and successful privateer.
Well, it’s a hell of a retirement program, anyway.
Never a dull moment, eh?
@steve,
I don’t think it’s a “conflict of interest” at all. On the other hand, we’d have to put up with just as many shots of him in the pits (does the BBC pay for a camera to be on him all weekend?), but he would be wearing some garish jumpsuit.
Realistically, I doubt it happens, but probably not the worst move either. I think this business is due for bit of a turn-around.
I certainly see all the reasons why A.H. might want this, but a father ought not live vicariously through his son, *using his son’s money*.
I see their personal balance as working very nicely when Lewis can take control in the cockpit. But L.H. would have no equivalent direct input into the management of a team with whom surely he’d be contractually unable to involve himself.
There seems to be very little standout management talent in F1, the kind to which i’d hand over vast sums without qualms. Absent that arms – length investment opportunity, this is one father – son day trip that should not be contemplated. If it is being contemplated, surely Lewis’s money is needed, his father not being Willy Weber rich. There’s no evidence Hamilton Sr. has either actual management skills, outside the comforting corporate McLaren umbrella, nor investment acumen.
Bad idea, unless, just maybe, the idea is to punt some money behind say Dave Richards. Then it’s a hedge for influence in the paddock, not a ego – ridden mad – cap scheme.
Yes, buy Renault! Better still, paint the cars pale green with white wheels. Is Union Dominion Trust still in business?
Very pretty idea, but reality kicks, and ’til Ron Dennis is alive ain’t gonna happen.
Anthony Hamilton is not stupid, he’s a business man, and that’s why they will stick to McLaren. But as i said, only ’til Ron is alive.
And even then, who knows what will happen wirh McLaren!! 😦
Anthony could well do something else than hovering over Lewis’ shoulder.
If Alejandro Agag is around Renault that means Flavio is trying to make a return back through him. At the end, Alejandro has always been hard linked to Briatore. Alejandro is, as it said in Spain “El tapado” (a ma acting for the interest of a hidden person) of Flavio Briatore.
Hum… Interesting option. But I can hardly see Renault making that kind of decision because I think it could damage again his name.
That would be absolutely crazy.
The more I hear about Renault rumours, the crazier they sound. It is surely in Renault’s interests to tell us what’s happening and reassert their own version of events as soon as possible, because I don’t think keeping us waiting is doing the company’s reputation much good.
I don’t know enough about Anthony Hamilton to say whether he’d be any good as a team boss. It’s a pretty specialised job, where some fail who one might expect to succeed and others thrive despite looking like liabilities in the beginning.
If Anthony Hamilton were to make a bid for Renault, I can only think he’d be buying it as a proxy for Lewis. Anthony himself shouldn’t have anywhere near enough money for the purchase.
I can understand Lewis wanting to invest his money, but why should he want to put his hard earned cash into an investment that has typically brought such shockingly low returns? Worse than that even, most private teams see negative returns.
Very few private F1 owners have exited the sport with more money than they’ve brought into it. In my recollection, Jackie Stewart is the only private F1 owner in the past twenty years to have cashed out with a truly large payday. Sauber didn’t do badly, but the far more typical route is that of Watkinshaw or Prost, investing it all – losing it all. Perhaps most typical of all is the route of Stoddart and Jordan, investing a lot of money and even more time, then selling up for a relative pittance.
The odds of seeing a large payday from the purchase of an F1 team are certainly no better than the odds one would receive at a casino.
As for McLaren, I should think they would welcome Anthony buying Renault. If for no other reason, it would give McLaren unassailable justification to ban the meddlesome Anthony from any presence in McLaren’s paddocks, factories, or affairs in general. Perhaps even justification to force Lewis into a proper management agreement with a professional management company.
Anthony IS still Lewis’s manager, isn’t he? Or has Lewis smartened up and hired one of the agencies? If he hasn’t, owning a team would create a large conflict of interest. Which would mean the 15% (at a guess) that Anthony’s been earning as manager could be lost to outsiders I suspect Anthony would fight like a cat to keep that income, though McLaren could certainly makes things difficult in that regard.
If Anthony goes through with this, it will be clear he suffers from even more hubris than most of us had already assigned to him. Further, that Lewis is more naive and easily led than any of us had thought.
Buying an F1 team isn’t the expensive part, running it is. It will be Lewis Hamilton’s money that his father would be quickly pumping down the drain. Perhaps Anthony already has sponsors or outside funding lined up, but unless Lewis has agreed to be dragged along, I very much doubt it. If Lewis has agreed to go along, what a sad tale it will be.
Hamilton GP is on stake 😛
Drez,
Funny you should mention that. I just had some…
I know someone who works for Agag and yes, Flavio is very close. They both have interests in that clothing line of Flavio’s and share the same offices in Knightsbridge.
Anthony Hamilton is to Lewis as Craig Pollock was to Jacques Villeneuve, a support structure without talent!
Now lets get on to something serious, where can I get odds on USF1 making the first race of the 2010 season? Better yet, how about the first three races?
mmmm….May be the Hamiltons only want the “economic” (and not so bad looking the Red-Bulls) Renault engine, now that Mclaren is in the way to lose the Mercedes ones….
Just a though…
Cheers.
Is there any any way Anthony could do this without investing a lot of Lewis’ money? It’s not that I’m worried about a family spat when things go south, but it’s hard to believe that McLaren would want their driver risking such twisted loyalties.
Shoulda read the comments first. Others have thought what I was thinking….
Truth is, I got nuthin’ against Anthony Hamilton. He’s an aggressive and serious guy who (we’re told) made a lot of sacrifices to give his son a shot at a difficult career. For all I know he’d be a great team owner.
As Flavio proved, the point is not to be an engineering genius, the point is to be entertaining. Flavio also proved that there’s no limit to the profitable complications of incestuous contract-writing. Manage this driver for that team while managing the factory effort for the other international corporation.
Seeing what happened to Bernie has probably taught these guys to think big.
But I’d love to hear more thoughts from Joe about how the money would move in Hamilton F1.
Joe,
I all this affair, there’s one thing I don’t understand, and maybe you could share some light…
Is Toyota for sale or not??
Because, if it is, it seems to me a much better option, is a competitive package, including motors.
For me Renault was the worse car and team in 2009, I really don’t understand why so much interest to buy it?
So, my question is why all those people who are interested in buying Renault, are not interested in Toyota??
Hope you can help with this…
Toyota Motorsport GmbH is not for sale.
Joe,
I presume that Toyota Motorsport GmbH is the same as the F1 team, right?
But, in a recent post, you wrote that StefanGP could buy some parts from Toyota, including the motors:
“It is also keen to sell the TF110 design, perhaps even with the engine package, and to provide staff to anyone who wishes to pay for it.”
And, you also said that the Toyota F1 entry is also for sale.
Is all that not the same as to sell the F1 team??
And, it seems to be an attractive package, at least better than Renault??
What am I missing here??
Thank you.
Jota,
Everything is saleable but to buy the entry you have to buy the team, which is called Toyota Motorsport GmbH. Beyond that one could buy the design, the engine design, you could rent staff, you could ask for design consulting, you could use the windtunnel (or one of the two). The possibilities are endless.
Am I the only person who is totally sick of fans having a dig at Anthony Hamilton? It may come as a surprise to some but he is not the only father who attends races and spends his time in the garage. John Button is always there although not necessarily in the garage recently. Mark Webber’s father and Felipe Massa’s father are constantly shown on TV in the garage but I have never read a critical or snide comment about either of them. Massa regularly has a group of his family shown in the garage or environs but never a negative comment.
Really? He has taken his son from kart racing to an association with McLaren to the world title without giving a large percentage to IMG or the like. Seems to me like he has done a great job for his boy. Does anyone really believe that it was Lewis’s idea at ten years old to go and speak to Ron Dennis?
If a professional manager with years of experience had delivered the contracts that Anthony Hamilton has people would ve saying that they were well worth the money but because he happens to be Lewis’s father it is assumed that he is some useless hanger on who contributes nothing and is living vicariously through his son. Strange that the fathers who are there for no reason other than to watch their sons don’t attract this kind of criticism while the one father who happens to manage his son’s career with so successfully is accused of being a leech. You have to wonder if there is some other reason for these opinions.
It may also surprise some people to find out that Anthony Hamilton does not direct the TV coverage. It is not his fault he constantly has a camera stuck in his face.
The day Anthony wil run ANY business not linked to his son we might see if he is a good manager or not…
Anybody can make money out of Lewis because Lewis has a (great) value, but was Anthony able to get the best out of his son’s contracts? How do we know?
Besides being an agent is one thing, being a team owner is another one… Anthony is not Ron or Ross these chaps didn’t went into motor racing to promote their sons but because they had a real passion for cars and racing. Anthony has none of that, as far as I know…
Spending money coming from his son’s achievements to buy a racing team might not be a wise move.
Though this is very unlikely, it is a very interesting prospect. I am sure if AH can keep the Renault endeavor separate from his son’s involvement in McLaren then this is quite doable (successfully). Flavio manages/d lots of drivers who do not work for him so it is conceivable that AH could remain LH manager and not have a conflict of interest necessarily.
Also, I am sure there Hamilton’s can tap into a yet untapped market to offset the cost and ownership of the team. They can team up with so many successful businesses who would salivate at a chance to succeed at the highest level of motor racing.
I think it is a major risk, but is an event prospect if given the green light.
Do the Hammies really have the money to pull off a Renault deal. Dale Earnhardt was a very successful driver by the time he started his own team and I believe he also received a portion of the profit from merchandise (t-shirts). F1 being a much more expensive form of motor racing than nascar it seems far fetched that Hammy could have accrued the wealth needed to purchase a team. It seems like they would need a very wealthy partner and borrowing the money seems remote with the current condition of the banks.
Well i guess he could always start selling christmas stuff like DEI to raise money. http://www.collectiblestoday.com/ct/product/prdid-917059.jsp
Ok, I understand, but my question remains:
Why so many interest in Renault, and none in Toyota?
Is Renault much more cheaper?
But even so, Toyota seems to have a much better car/motor package than Renault, why is not all those people interested also in Toyota?
Or are there talks with Toyota, but with a low profile, under the radar??
Maybe this could be the subject of a blog post from you??
Steven Roy,
One also has to wonder what it takes to earn the elusive, prestigious title of Professional Sports Manager other than making contracts worth tens of millions, representing interests to the point that a double world champion is dismissed in favour of your 22 year-old client and managing other up and coming drivers like Paul di Resta and whoever else I don’t know about. I don’t think that anyone who makes his debut in the second most highly esteemed F1 team and gets to be the number one driver in the same season has any reason to believe that his management is unprofessional. After all, there’s just 12 other managers or agencies in the world worth even considering switching to, because:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/17/top-earning-athletes-business-sports-top-earning-athletes_slide_15.html
There are some great comments in here.
@steven roy and null komma josef:
was beginning to feel depressed at all the negative comments about AH until i read your posts. thanks for injecting some good sense into the discussion.
family values are a good thing, aren’t they? it seems people are all too ready to put aside any moral code when it comes to business. AH has achieved what most parents (including myself) would love to – success for their children without losing family connections. AH did his best to keep lewis’ interests at the forefront during those difficult teenage years (i remember how easily distracted i was at that time), it’s a crucial time that can “make or break” the future for a young person.
I mean, it’s not like AH waved his fingers at the camera for every victory lewis had, is it!
I hope AH succeeds in whatever he’s trying to do, maybe help other talented drivers come up the ranks who aren’t moving in nepotistic circles. People who’ve met AH say that he was serious and determined but that he’d always help any way he could.
You have to ask if Kimi Raikkonen had been managed by Anthony Hamilton rather than Steve Robertson would he be wasting his time in rallying?
Ago,
You think there is no evidence of Anthony Hamilton’s ability in building the McLaren connection and getting Lewis into the team in th first place. McLaren has had a lot of really talented young drivers in the past who have never managed to get into a race seat. Guys like McNish were very highly rated but for some reason Lewis was the one who got the break.
As mull komma josef points out Anthony Hamilton recently became Paul di Resta’s manager. di Resta beat Vettel to the Euro F3 title when they were team mates but until a couple of weeks ago he had not managed to get a proper F1 test despite being a McLaren test driver for several years. He has a new manager and now looks like being named as FIF1 reserve driver for 2010 with a race seat for 2011. If course it could just be co-incidence that drivers managed by Anthony Hamilton get F1 seats.
We will never know details but I imagine most parents in the situation where they were negotiating with Ron Dennis would settle for getting their kid in the car and not worry about the future. Anthony Hamilton negotiating Lewis’s first F1 contract had it written in such a way that after one season Lewis’s salary went from less than a million pounds to being in the top 3 or 4 in the sport. Is that the best he could possibly have got? I don’t know but I do know it is better than most professional managers have ever managed. He also managed to get the option of Lewis having a number of (5?) personal sponsors which is a little unusual at McLaren.
I still find it odd that despite all this he is the one father who gets criticised while Webber, Massa and Button senior are there for no purpose whatsoever and get no criticism.
Why don’t the other dads get criticised like AH? Well, we saw Webber’s dad one time last year, as far as I can remember, and I think that was when he won his first race. Yes, there was quite a bit of Button’s dad, which I suppose was understandable, and we saw Massa’s dad a few times.
Anthony Hamilton, however, seems to be shown a lot more than is necessary, not just last year, but every year. Plus, he’s more memorable than most of the dads (maybe John Button excluded) because he almost never smiles, and he usually has that stupid bouncing woman next to him. That’s why people remember seeing him a lot, and why he leaves an impression. Plus, he just seems scary and no fun, unlike the other dads.
Steven: The subject is Hamilton-Renault connection, not F1 drivers and their families.
– Has Anthony got any connection to motorsports other than his son? No.
– Has he displayed any entrepreneur’s like qualities? No.
– Has he got any money earned running his own orivate business? No.
So what makes you think he could be a successful team owner? More than that would it be wise for him to spend the money he got (one way or the other) from Lewis into buying and running a F1 team?
Yes as a couple of people pointed out he manages Paul di Resta.
I have no idea about his business interests outside F1 and I would guess neither has anyone else. Has Martin Whitmarsh shown any entrepreur qualities? Has Jean Todt or Stefano Domenicali? Has Adam Parr? Has Ross Brawn until he acquired a team for a nominal fee? The answer to all is no so why does it matter?
I have no idea. Had Ross Brawn? Had Martin Whitmarsh? Had Stefano Domenicali? No.
I have no idea whether he could do it or not in the same way that I had no idea that many other people who have been a success would be.
Like any deal it depends on the package. If he has to pay $100 million for it then it is a bad idea but if it costs $10 million then it could turn into a gold mine. No-one can decide whether it is a good idea to buy a team simply on knowing the buyer’s name. You need detailed information.
It’s also interesting that a guy who has been criticised since he arrived in the paddock for hanging around his son evn though he had a job to do is now being criticised for buying a team and putting his neck on the block. If he invented a way to end world poverty and turn rubbish into chocolate people will still criticise him. People based on reasons I can’t grasp took an instant dislike to the Hamiltons and nothing is going to change that and everything they do is going to be twisted to make them seem lucky rather than good, malevolent rather than decent and annoying rather than pleasant.
I’ve never figured what it is unique about F1 that the dads, mums, girlfriends and so on seem constantly around in the pit garage. You don’t see them hanging out on the bench at the soccer or stinking out the pavilion at cricket.
For that matter you don’t see them lurking around the office, shop, factory floor or other place you might happen to work!
Steven you might have your reasons to praise Anthony but this is not changing the facts:
Being a driver’s agent has nothing to do with being involved with making and racing cars, it has to do with managing somebody’s career.
None of the people you name is a team owner with the recent exception of Ross, who -as I understand it- never deliberately decided to become one, and as far as I know is not anymore.
However Martin has been with McLaren for 20 years before I was given a chance to run the team, and Jean has been in the business for more than 30 years started as a rally-driver, then co-driver, then joined Peugeot where he established himself as a very successful manager in WRC and GT . He was then recruited by Ferrari and we all know what he achieved there…
I am simply saying that A.H. has no experience whatsoever linked to the business of racing cars, and he just gets some money now, coming from his son’s revenues (else he wouldn’t have had to do 3 jobs -can’t figure out how somebody can do that anyway-).
I am not criticising Anthony just stating facts, and giving my opinion…. and he is not only hanging around his son in the pits as I have been told that sometimes he goes and talks to the stewards (Hungary 2007)… but people are so jealous these days…
I screwed up the quoting on that last comment. Sorry
Wow, a lot of great comments!
Going to keep an eye on this one!