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[Hammer278]

Hamilton would not switch to Red Bull
Lewis Hamilton has no plans to leave McLaren

Despite a double championship defeat to Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel in 2010, Lewis Hamilton insists he is not tempted to switch teams any time soon.

"There is not one bit of me that feels I will ever want to drive for Red Bull," he told the Mirror in Abu Dhabi. "It doesn't have the character, the history or the appeal to me that McLaren has."

Hamilton finished fourth in the 2010 standings, behind both Red Bulls and also his former McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso, who now drives for Ferrari. But he said McLaren is his team of choice.

"My hero Ayrton Senna drove for this team and I have always wanted to," he said. "Red Bull have done a fantastic job and huge congratulations to them for winning the constructors' championship. Of course, I want my car to be as good as that. I could be here for the next 10 years in this team. I believe they have got the most potential out of everyone."

_______________________________________

In response to a couple of silly rumours about Hamilton looking into (ROFL) the Ferrari garage, or wanting to switch teams due to McLaren's car not being the best for this year...there are a few good quotes here to clear things up.

If he stays true to his word, he could be the first 'Michael' for McLaren - continued success until retirement. Then retire, come back after 4 years and drive for Redbull and suck.

[kaizensuru]

Red Bull commitment can not be questioned now but neither is McLaren. Like Lewis say it is a team with a great history and they are bound to make the best car again sooner rather than later, so why switch? Maybe RedBull next year will just suck, or not, but I believe there are the same chances of that in McLaren as both teams aim for the best, so pilots driving for either McLaren, RedBull or Ferrari would be really crazy if they wanted to switch right now (even more McLaren or Ferrari drivers with teams with such history and records).

[Robert12010]

its good to see that lewis is pledging his services to mclaren, i just want to ear he's signed a new deal soon!

[billindenver]

I haven't heard of red bull showing any interest in Lewis. Did I miss it?

The McLaren has been competitive this year, despite the fans insistence that it sucked. The largest points lead enjoyed by any driver was held by a McLaren, and the loss of that lead was in no way the cars fault. It was running near the front every time it was crashed out wasn't it?

McLaren did well this year but a few mistakes cost them the crown. Let's see how they do next year. Someone needs to put a cattle prod in Buttons seat if they are looking for a constrictors title though.

[What's Burning?]

I haven't heard of red bull showing any interest in Lewis. Did I miss it?

The McLaren has been competitive this year, despite the fans insistence that it sucked. The largest points lead enjoyed by any driver was held by a McLaren, and the loss of that lead was in no way the cars fault. It was running near the front every time it was crashed out wasn't it?

McLaren did well this year but a few mistakes cost them the crown. Let's see how they do next year. Someone needs to put a cattle prod in Buttons seat if they are looking for a constrictors title though.

The car didn't suck, but was no where near as good at the Red Bulls at any time during the season except in Montreal and this now in Abu Dhabi. It was also not as good as Ferrari for a few races for quite a few races. During which the car was where it was due to Lewis over driving the car beyond its potential, a testament to his skill qualifying the car considerably higher than it would have. Jenson can attest to that.

I'm glad that there is a serious 3rd contender and I'm actually hoping that Mercedes gets their act together next year and that Porsche also come back soon so we have 4 or 5 seriously potential winning cars every race the next few years.

[nish2280]

I doubt there are any teams even CONSIDERING Lewis.

Because unless they have proved themselves to be a great team capable of producing the fastest car, he would not be interested in them at all.

Secondly, Lewis is as embedded in Mclaren as Schumi was in Ferrari (before he left of course), there would need to be a huge reason for him to leave and i dont think Mclaren want to get rid of him either.

[billindenver]

I haven't heard of red bull showing any interest in Lewis. Did I miss it?

The McLaren has been competitive this year, despite the fans insistence that it sucked. The largest points lead enjoyed by any driver was held by a McLaren, and the loss of that lead was in no way the cars fault. It was running near the front every time it was crashed out wasn't it?

McLaren did well this year but a few mistakes cost them the crown. Let's see how they do next year. Someone needs to put a cattle prod in Buttons seat if they are looking for a constrictors title though.

The car didn't suck, but was no where near as good at the Red Bulls at any time during the season except in Montreal and this now in Abu Dhabi. It was also not as good as Ferrari for a few races for quite a few races. During which the car was where it was due to Lewis over driving the car beyond its potential, a testament to his skill qualifying the car considerably higher than it would have. Jenson can attest to that.

I'm glad that there is a serious 3rd contender and I'm actually hoping that Mercedes gets their act together next year and that Porsche also come back soon so we have 4 or 5 seriously potential winning cars every race the next few years.

No where near as good as Vettel's when it grenaded in the lead three times you mean? That kind of good? The red bull was fragile but fast this year. The McLaren was reliable and fast. The McLaren built a sizable lead in the championships but both drivers let it down towards the end of the season. Jenson is inconsistent at best, and Lewis still makes too many mistakes. Stop blaming the car. It had enough to win the championship and would have done so had the drivers done their part. That's all you can ask of the team. Perhaps some lessons were learned and the future will be brighter....but it wasn't the car's fault.

[bud]

I think you cant single out the McLaren pair though ALL the top 3 teams had moments of mistakes. To single out Lewis and Jenson as usual is getting stale. Whilst fragile the car advantage Redbull had was immense and they should have wrapped up both titles a lot sooner than the last two races.

[Denthúl]

I think you cant single out the McLaren pair though ALL the top 3 teams had moments of mistakes. To single out Lewis and Jenson as usual is getting stale. Whilst fragile the car advantage Redbull had was immense and they should have wrapped up both titles a lot sooner than the last two races.

Jenson had the fewest major mistakes of the title contenders. None of his retirements were his own doing.

[McLaren]

I would like to think with all that McLaren did to help his early career he would show some loyalty.Sadly though in most cases in sport greed plays a big part.
I wonder if he would say the same if Red Bull or Ferrari offer him a very well paid drive (not that he needs it).
Hopefully he's one of the few that isn't guided by money alone.

[bud]

Lewis wants to win, if McLaren keep giving him a winning car he will stay. But will leave if that doesn't happen.

[Gaz]

I think you cant single out the McLaren pair though ALL the top 3 teams had moments of mistakes. To single out Lewis and Jenson as usual is getting stale. Whilst fragile the car advantage Redbull had was immense and they should have wrapped up both titles a lot sooner than the last two races.

Jenson had the fewest major mistakes of the title contenders. None of his retirements were his own doing.

This is True but Lewis's two retirements were from him going for it.

Which if you look at the start of the season every time he tried an overtake it usual worked he was just unlucky in Monza and Singapore.

I'd rather see him retire from going for it then crashing than sitting behind somone waiting for a pitstop.

[What's Burning?]

I haven't heard of red bull showing any interest in Lewis. Did I miss it?

The McLaren has been competitive this year, despite the fans insistence that it sucked. The largest points lead enjoyed by any driver was held by a McLaren, and the loss of that lead was in no way the cars fault. It was running near the front every time it was crashed out wasn't it?

McLaren did well this year but a few mistakes cost them the crown. Let's see how they do next year. Someone needs to put a cattle prod in Buttons seat if they are looking for a constrictors title though.

The car didn't suck, but was no where near as good at the Red Bulls at any time during the season except in Montreal and this now in Abu Dhabi. It was also not as good as Ferrari for a few races for quite a few races. During which the car was where it was due to Lewis over driving the car beyond its potential, a testament to his skill qualifying the car considerably higher than it would have. Jenson can attest to that.

I'm glad that there is a serious 3rd contender and I'm actually hoping that Mercedes gets their act together next year and that Porsche also come back soon so we have 4 or 5 seriously potential winning cars every race the next few years.

No where near as good as Vettel's when it grenaded in the lead three times you mean? That kind of good? The red bull was fragile but fast this year. The McLaren was reliable and fast. The McLaren built a sizable lead in the championships but both drivers let it down towards the end of the season. Jenson is inconsistent at best, and Lewis still makes too many mistakes. Stop blaming the car. It had enough to win the championship and would have done so had the drivers done their part. That's all you can ask of the team. Perhaps some lessons were learned and the future will be brighter....but it wasn't the car's fault.

Every team left a ton of points on the table every driver made mistakes.

I'm making the same excuses on my end to support my views as you're making on your end to support your views. We'll disagree and leave it at that. Unless you're willing to write a thesis and document your statements (which otherwise is only your perceptions) with empirical data there's no need to go back and forth on our opinions.

[Hammer278]

I haven't heard of red bull showing any interest in Lewis. Did I miss it?

The McLaren has been competitive this year, despite the fans insistence that it sucked. The largest points lead enjoyed by any driver was held by a McLaren, and the loss of that lead was in no way the cars fault. It was running near the front every time it was crashed out wasn't it?

McLaren did well this year but a few mistakes cost them the crown. Let's see how they do next year. Someone needs to put a cattle prod in Buttons seat if they are looking for a constrictors title though.

The car didn't suck, but was no where near as good at the Red Bulls at any time during the season except in Montreal and this now in Abu Dhabi. It was also not as good as Ferrari for a few races for quite a few races. During which the car was where it was due to Lewis over driving the car beyond its potential, a testament to his skill qualifying the car considerably higher than it would have. Jenson can attest to that.

I'm glad that there is a serious 3rd contender and I'm actually hoping that Mercedes gets their act together next year and that Porsche also come back soon so we have 4 or 5 seriously potential winning cars every race the next few years.

No where near as good as Vettel's when it grenaded in the lead three times you mean? That kind of good? The red bull was fragile but fast this year. The McLaren was reliable and fast. The McLaren built a sizable lead in the championships but both drivers let it down towards the end of the season. Jenson is inconsistent at best, and Lewis still makes too many mistakes. Stop blaming the car. It had enough to win the championship and would have done so had the drivers done their part. That's all you can ask of the team. Perhaps some lessons were learned and the future will be brighter....but it wasn't the car's fault.

Just to get this straight, are you saying apart from the McLaren drivers, the others never made any driving mistakes this season? Why don't you list out Lewis and Jensons "driving mistakes" this season since there were so many? Driving mistakes please. Where big points were lost due to the driver making a big mistake/overaggressive/crashing it into a wall in a RACE.

You list those out, and I'll list out those from Ferraris and Redbulls drivers. Then we can compare our findings.

[billindenver]

I haven't heard of red bull showing any interest in Lewis. Did I miss it?

The McLaren has been competitive this year, despite the fans insistence that it sucked. The largest points lead enjoyed by any driver was held by a McLaren, and the loss of that lead was in no way the cars fault. It was running near the front every time it was crashed out wasn't it?

McLaren did well this year but a few mistakes cost them the crown. Let's see how they do next year. Someone needs to put a cattle prod in Buttons seat if they are looking for a constrictors title though.

The car didn't suck, but was no where near as good at the Red Bulls at any time during the season except in Montreal and this now in Abu Dhabi. It was also not as good as Ferrari for a few races for quite a few races. During which the car was where it was due to Lewis over driving the car beyond its potential, a testament to his skill qualifying the car considerably higher than it would have. Jenson can attest to that.

I'm glad that there is a serious 3rd contender and I'm actually hoping that Mercedes gets their act together next year and that Porsche also come back soon so we have 4 or 5 seriously potential winning cars every race the next few years.

No where near as good as Vettel's when it grenaded in the lead three times you mean? That kind of good? The red bull was fragile but fast this year. The McLaren was reliable and fast. The McLaren built a sizable lead in the championships but both drivers let it down towards the end of the season. Jenson is inconsistent at best, and Lewis still makes too many mistakes. Stop blaming the car. It had enough to win the championship and would have done so had the drivers done their part. That's all you can ask of the team. Perhaps some lessons were learned and the future will be brighter....but it wasn't the car's fault.

Just to get this straight, are you saying apart from the McLaren drivers, the others never made any driving mistakes this season? Why don't you list out Lewis and Jensons "driving mistakes" this season since there were so many? Driving mistakes please. Where big points were lost due to the driver making a big mistake/overaggressive/crashing it into a wall in a RACE.

You list those out, and I'll list out those from Ferraris and Redbulls drivers. Then we can compare our findings.

As always, you are taking this personally. I'm not attacking Lewis. Try to hear what I'm saying and not what you think I might say.

It has been said often by a select few of you that the McLaren car let their drivers down. What I"m saying is that the car was competitive and had driver error not thrown away 50 points it could have won the title. Yes, the same can be said for the other teams as well. That's precisely what I'm saying. The same can be said for ALL of the top teams....but the MCLAREN CAR was NOT a piece of s*** this season as several of Lewis's love bunnies want to believe. Why can't you accept that your guy might possibly be young and might possibly have made mistakes? Much, and I do mean MUCH has been made in here of Vettel's mistakes....and Webbers....and if you can find any even Jenson's. But mention that Lewis had a car that could have won it and half a dozen of you go off on an emotional tangent. He made mistakes that cost him a championship. So did Webber. So did Alonso and Vettel very nearly as well. All four of them had competitive cars that could have won it. What in that statement is setting you off? Anyone capable of mathematics and looking at the standings can see that Lewis was leading by enough of a margin that even half decent finishes in place of the crashes would have landed him a championship. I can't fathom where you are confused here....the car was capable this season. It's as simple as basic math.

Just because others made mistakes as well doesn't mean the mistakes made by your driver are irrelevant. Look back at the hero's of formula one that you few love to compare Lewis to, and tell me if they made the number of mistakes that Lewis has in their championship years. Shumacher, who seems to be the poster child of hatred for your little group...used to go entire seasons where he simply didn't screw up. He could turn lap after lap of qualifying times on command and not crash the car out. You have put Lewis on pedestal and declared him equal to the greats....so he has to answer as such. Isn't that fair?