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[LewEngBridewell]

Mags looks to be the real deal though, looking forward to more, and should either of the silver arrows fail to podium, the three names I'd like to see on it are Bottas, Hulkenberg and Magnussen.

EDIT: well four, Kobayashi but that's never going to happen.

Agree with the first three. Not the forth. I still don't get all the hype about Kobayashi. He had a couple of good runs in a Toyota back in '09. And then scored a podium in a Sauber in Suzuka, some years later. As for the rest........ not much, apart from a fair old bit of debris and broken bits of car.

[sagi58]

McLaren's Ron Dennis fires warning shot over Lewis Hamilton contract

...[Ron]Dennis told Radio 5 Live there was "no reason Lewis won't be driving our cars in the future". However, he added: "I think people get the wrong impression though, as when I last looked at the contract I was paying him. It's a question of whether we employ him, not the other way around."...

...In the wake of Dennis's remarks Hamilton remained unconcerned over the contract situation and insisted any negotiations would take place with the McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, and that Fuller and he had not discussed the matter last week...

...He pointed out that the contract issue was not one he was discussing with Dennis. "I don't even know what he has been saying, so I don't know what questions he has been asked, so it's not really for me to comment on. It has nothing to do with me particularly, what he says," he noted, before concluding: "Martin is my boss."

1) The Guardian

2) What is your point with this?

It was simply a reminder that:
* Ron Dennis was at McLaren when they were negotiating with Hamilton;
* Ron Dennis did comment in the media regarding negotiations; and,
* Hamilton was clear that he wasn't negotiating with Ron Dennis.

p.s. regardless of what publication is presenting an article, they would be leery
of being sued if they misrepresented a comment as a direct "quote" if it wasn't.

[CookinFlat6]

Ron is da best

http://news.sky.com/story/1237155/japan ... aren-talks

McLaren has historically commanded one of the biggest price-tags in the F1 paddock for its title sponsorship, but the value of the latest deal, if completed, is likely to surprise some in the sport given that last year saw its worst on-track performance for decades.

Vodafone was the team’s principal commercial partner for several years but ended their alliance at the end of 2013.

Ron Dennis, the group chief executive of McLaren who has resumed his role as the F1 team principal, said recently that he was holding out for a richly-priced title sponsorship deal.

"Inevitably when you have a run of poor results people try to push the rate card down and I won’t accept that.

"I know what this company is and I know what this Grand Prix team can achieve, and that requires the correct recognition when it comes to a commercial relationship with a principal sponsor.

"We are negotiating with several companies at the moment and I’m optimistic it will happen sooner rather than later.

"But part of being the size that we are, money is an issue. The racing team — which doesn’t have to worry about income — has the biggest budget that it has had in the history of the company."

[myownalias]

If I were a sponsor of any team; I would make it results based; if the team gets on the podium; they command mega $$$, if a team gets mid/lower top 10 results then the payday is less!

[bud]

The only thing that bothers me about the Japanese connections coming McLarens way is they may wish to keep Jenson on there longer as he is fairly popular over there.
McLarens best move would be to bring in Hülkenberg next season.

[What's Burning?]

If Ron was unwilling to drop his drawers on price, I'm sure he'll be equally unwilling to negotiate on drivers. Isn't Kobayashi Japanese?

[spankyham]

I believe McLaren are to stop production of the 12C

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

[racechick]

The only thing that bothers me about the Japanese connections coming McLarens way is they may wish to keep Jenson on there longer as he is fairly popular over there.
McLarens best move would be to bring in Hülkenberg next season.

I think that would be the best move they could make. Ace pairing that would be. Both excellent drivers and I don't think either would arse each other about.

[LewEngBridewell]

The only thing that bothers me about the Japanese connections coming McLarens way is they may wish to keep Jenson on there longer as he is fairly popular over there.
McLarens best move would be to bring in Hülkenberg next season.

I think that would be the best move they could make. Ace pairing that would be. Both excellent drivers and I don't think either would arse each other about.

Agreed! One can only hope!

[NHcheese]

Jenson Button believes that in that race the McLaren were the second fastest car. And he also thought that they could have fought the force indias for a podium.

[Hammer278]

Jenson Button believes that in that race the McLaren were the second fastest car. And he also thought that they could have fought the force indias for a podium.

I believe that Adrian Sutil was the 3rd fastest car, and if he didn't retire he could've finished 5th. I also believe there was some alcohol in the champagne since the drivers actually took a few sips out of it.

[1Lemon]

Jenson Button believes that in that race the McLaren were the second fastest car. And he also thought that they could have fought the force indias for a podium.

They were not quite that high, 5th fastest maybe but not 2nd. Look at when the safety car came out, you had all the drivers in pairs: Two Mercs, Two FIs, two Williams, Two Red Bulls, Jenson and then the two Ferraris (IIRC). That kind of shows where they were.

[NHcheese]

So on that track, the force indias are fast, if this does carry on, it will mean they will be a front runner(unless everyone behind Mercedes are mid teams )
I think that Red Bull, Mercedes are the two top teams(and maybe force India) and McLaren are above Williams because Williams don't know what to do in the race.

[CookinFlat6]

This is the first dry normal race we have had, it was also where the teams did a lot of testing and as such is the early litmus test to where everyone is.

McLaren have come a long way from last year but its obvious they still have an overhang from the the era. They had to completely change their car and front suspension, more than any other team. Also there is the hint that they are not the Merc customer at the top of the list for an extra help or tips from HPE. Whatever Button is saying now will be part of the new Ron corporate directive, but they are probably between FI and Williams.

Williams are not as effective as they promised to be, team orders, strategy and having an infrastructure ready to challenge is still in formation. They have had some big changes and Symonds is still bedding in and changing things for the better

Force India are the most stable of the customers, last year they were already as strong as McLaren and stronger than Williams, since then they have employed arguably the best driver pairing amongst the customers and are continuing from where they left off last year.

Its no surprise they are currently the best customer and by default a front running team. Theres no reason they shouldnt be the best Merc customer this year as stated above. The remaining challenge will be from RBR or Ferrari. And its now clear that the Renault engine is better than Ferraris engine, so I can see FI best of the rest with a little luck

[LewEngBridewell]

That was a terrible race for McLaren. Hopefully those mechanical issues can be rectified for next time, because Jenson was doing very well before they kicked in (during the safety car).