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[racechick]

Useless McLaren again today. Lewis now has even more reason to leave, given the fact they can't build a car that actually works consistantly in 2012.
A waste of time imo. Lewis should leave.

Life's too short to waste hanging around teams like this. Not winning the constructors championship in many years and only winning the 2008 drivers because Lewis was better than the car tells us all we need to know.

McLaren should try making washing machines, as building an F1 cars over the past decade has not been a great success.

Absolutely. People bleat about 'why leave a team with fast cars every year', well I rather go with a slower team which has the potential to achieve massively in the future than stick around with a failed concept. McLaren are turning into Liverpool...glorifying past achievements when they have achieved so little in the past 13 years.

And a team that believes in you and supports you would be nice, rather than a team that only ever wants to talk about your team mate and what a nice fantastic guy he is. Thats as maybe, but this is about motor racing

[CookinFlat6]

Well well, it seems that the reason for Mclaren's mediocrity and the puzzle of Ron allowing this to continue has emerged (for me anyway)

Latest reports that McLaren have upped their basic pay offer, amid lots of well heeled dudes wearing flowing white robes around the garage last weekend.

So Ron 'he works for us, I paid him last time I looked' Dennis appears to have also fallen for the MW fantasy of a Jenson who is a No1 and capable of delivering Lewis level results without the expense and with no chance of outshading the team brand with his own

The fact that Ron leaked this stuff, is not a reflection of the relationship between Lewis and his mentor but of the reality that MW has led Mclaren up a negotiating dead end by trying to bluff Lewis into taking a big paycut, and Ron was mandated to play the heavy role

Well looks like Lewis got some right bruisers on his management representation and they are shaking down the hapless tWhitmarsh.

And Ron has had a sharp reminder that in business money tends to talk loudly

[racechick]

I must admit Ive been a little disappointed in Ron over the last few months. Ive alwys had great respect for him but have not been sure where he's coming from lately. My mate who's worked a lot with him has always said he's a little odd.
Well that aside, im really glad Lewis has a strong management team behind him and is keeping out of it himself. Can you imagine Lewis in a game of poker?? Leave that to Jenson. My only concern is whether there might be a conflict between his management's primary needs(money and commercial rights) and Lewis'(to win). But I guess to extract maximum commercial money out of Lewis formost he has to be winning,so they need him in a car capable of this, and I think Diddier Cotton will be keeping a close eye on that side of things.
Ive read a lot of things across the net about how lewis should not be so obsessed about money. Is he? I dont think so. I think he is obsessed with winning if anything. But to be offered a paycut and payed less than your slower team mate is an insult.
I still cant understand why Button is on 15mil? And why they think it acceptable to offer Lewis less than this. Perhaps they like destabalising one of their drivers from time to time.

[darwin dali]

I must admit Ive been a little disappointed in Ron over the last few months. Ive alwys had great respect for him but have not been sure where he's coming from lately. My mate who's worked a lot with him has always said he's a little odd.
Well that aside, im really glad Lewis has a strong management team behind him and is keeping out of it himself. Can you imagine Lewis in a game of poker?? Leave that to Jenson. My only concern is whether there might be a conflict between his management's primary needs(money and commercial rights) and Lewis'(to win). But I guess to extract maximum commercial money out of Lewis formost he has to be winning,so they need him in a car capable of this, and I think Diddier Cotton will be keeping a close eye on that side of things.
Ive read a lot of things across the net about how lewis should not be so obsessed about money. Is he? I dont think so. I think he is obsessed with winning if anything. But to be offered a paycut and payed less than your slower team mate is an insult.
I still cant understand why Button is on 15mil? And why they think it acceptable to offer Lewis less than this. Perhaps they like destabalising one of their drivers from time to time.

RD a little odd

[CookinFlat6]

Anyone saying Lewis is interested only in the money is likely to be someone who is on the dole queue or has never had a real job.

For a start these guys have limited earnings period as drivers, and they risk their lives to show they are the best in the World, thats what entertains the public who pay, therefore they are entitled to make maximising their earnings a priority. Also the money you get should reflect your standing, Mclaren, MW whos dragged Ron along have seriously dissed Lewis and its only the stakeholders who seem to have any shred of common sense

After all in a normal rational world the highest earnings would come from the biggest team toward the best drivers

But in F1 you have a tWhitmarsh type who is frankly outstanding in his delusions of spotting a great driver in JB when no other boss had before 2009. And now even though its obvious that JB is sporadically good and that a driver that needs a perfect car is not going to win you a WC, he is still trying to create this JB and pay him and talk about him like a great.

Pathetic jokers, Lewis needs to get out of there now,

[Jabberwocky]

I think there is more to being a driver than we the public see. McLaren have had to live with Lewis and all his quirks for years. Just as Lewis has to deal with Mclarens oddities. Mclaren will only offer what they think he is worth.
It is not just about being fast! what if behind the scenes a driver is not a team player, or he can not develop the car. What if a driver does not feel he gets the support, or that he does not believe the team will provide a good car for him....

everyone needs to do what is right for them

[darwin dali]

I think there is more to being a driver than we the public see. McLaren have had to live with Lewis and all his quirks for years. Just as Lewis has to deal with Mclarens oddities. Mclaren will only offer what they think he is worth.
It is not just about being fast! what if behind the scenes a driver is not a team player, or he can not develop the car. What if a driver does not feel he gets the support, or that he does not believe the team will provide a good car for him....

everyone needs to do what is right for them

Just for sh!ts and giggles: do you have any examples?

[Jabberwocky]

To be fair I was generalizing, we don't see what really goes on in the background

Maybe he walks into MW office and letting out a mega stinky fart and then leaves the office without a word.

[Hammer278]

To be fair I was generalizing, we don't see what really goes on in the background

Maybe he walks into MW office and letting out a mega stinky fart and then leaves the office without a word.

This sort of assumption is simply insignificant/useless....so why is there a point to discuss?

Teams pay what they think the driver is worth, yes...well he's clearly one of the fastest if not the fastest, and widely heralded as a Top 3 driver in the paddock. If you doubt his development prowess, what about 2009 when he was the lead driver (Heikki was a new kid) and helped bring the car from backmarker status to a race winner? What more proof do you need that he is capable of pointing the team in the right direction with his feedback?

[racechick]

To be fair I was generalizing, we don't see what really goes on in the background

Maybe he walks into MW office and letting out a mega stinky fart and then leaves the office without a word.

Drivers get paid to drive fast not fart. However Mclaren do pay a lot for people who spout hot air, just look at Button!!

[vaptin]

To be fair I was generalizing, we don't see what really goes on in the background

Maybe he walks into MW office and letting out a mega stinky fart and then leaves the office without a word.

This sort of assumption is simply insignificant/useless....so why is there a point to discuss?

Teams pay what they think the driver is worth, yes...well he's clearly one of the fastest if not the fastest, and widely heralded as a Top 3 driver in the paddock. If you doubt his development prowess, what about 2009 when he was the lead driver (Heikki was a new kid) and helped bring the car from backmarker status to a race winner? What more proof do you need that he is capable of pointing the team in the right direction with his feedback?

To be fair ,if that counts a development prowess, then you should also attribute McLaren's failures to Lewis too.

I'm not too show how much of a factor a driver is in development, maybe just on feedback - or specifying what they want from a car, I think it's really down to engineers to work out how to produce the car. I can't see any real correlation with team development and their driver since the end of testing, Rubens didn't do that much for Brawn or Williams, neither Alonso for Renault or even Ferrari.

[Hammer278]

To be fair I was generalizing, we don't see what really goes on in the background

Maybe he walks into MW office and letting out a mega stinky fart and then leaves the office without a word.

This sort of assumption is simply insignificant/useless....so why is there a point to discuss?

Teams pay what they think the driver is worth, yes...well he's clearly one of the fastest if not the fastest, and widely heralded as a Top 3 driver in the paddock. If you doubt his development prowess, what about 2009 when he was the lead driver (Heikki was a new kid) and helped bring the car from backmarker status to a race winner? What more proof do you need that he is capable of pointing the team in the right direction with his feedback?

To be fair ,if that counts a development prowess, then you should also attribute McLaren's failures to Lewis too.

I'm not too show how much of a factor a driver is in development, maybe just on feedback - or specifying what they want from a car, I think it's really down to engineers to work out how to produce the car. I can't see any real correlation with team development and their driver since the end of testing, Rubens didn't do that much for Brawn or Williams, neither Alonso for Renault or even Ferrari.

I agree mostly, but if there was any correlation between driver feedback and development, my point was to say at the very least Lewis doesn't 'hurt' the process of churning out a good car.

[Jabberwocky]

To be fair I was generalizing, we don't see what really goes on in the background

Maybe he walks into MW office and letting out a mega stinky fart and then leaves the office without a word.

This sort of assumption is simply insignificant/useless....so why is there a point to discuss?

Teams pay what they think the driver is worth, yes...well he's clearly one of the fastest if not the fastest, and widely heralded as a Top 3 driver in the paddock. If you doubt his development prowess, what about 2009 when he was the lead driver (Heikki was a new kid) and helped bring the car from backmarker status to a race winner? What more proof do you need that he is capable of pointing the team in the right direction with his feedback?

They where just examples, I was just trying to point out that a drivers worth to a team is more than just being fast.

Look at Jordan/Katie Price, she has never been the best looking model in the world, but you have to admit she has worked the system to make a lot of money. It is not all down to her looks.

[LewEngBridewell]

Drivers get paid to drive fast not fart.

This comment really tickled me

[The Ram]

To be fair I was generalizing, we don't see what really goes on in the background

Maybe he walks into MW office and letting out a mega stinky fart and then leaves the office without a word.

This sort of assumption is simply insignificant/useless....so why is there a point to discuss?

Teams pay what they think the driver is worth, yes...well he's clearly one of the fastest if not the fastest, and widely heralded as a Top 3 driver in the paddock. If you doubt his development prowess, what about 2009 when he was the lead driver (Heikki was a new kid) and helped bring the car from backmarker status to a race winner? What more proof do you need that he is capable of pointing the team in the right direction with his feedback?

They where just examples, I was just trying to point out that a drivers worth to a team is more than just being fast.

Look at Jordan/Katie Price, she has never been the best looking model in the world, but you have to admit she has worked the system to make a lot of money. It is not all down to her looks.

So how do you explain Jenson's reported £12 million a year contract and the reported £10 million being proposed to Lewis? Why does Lewis get less than Jenson? Makes no sense to me unless Jenson is really getting £10 mil or less.