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15 votes

Lewis @ Mercedes: the biggest mistake of his career?

Started by Risil , Jan 01 2013 12:51

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916 replies to this topic

Poll: Lewis Hamilton has made a terrible mistake (562 member(s) have cast votes)

You reckon?

Nah man, he's gonna be great, relax (255 votes [45.62%])
Percentage of vote: 45.62%
He'll probably beat Rosberg, the rest is someone else's responsibility (144 votes [25.76%])
Percentage of vote: 25.76%
No biggie, he'll be back at Mclaren in 2016 (46 votes [8.23%])
Percentage of vote: 8.23%
OH SHI- (114 votes [20.39%])
Percentage of vote: 20.39%

Vote

#901 PayasYouRace

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Posted 17 May 2014 - 17:44

And Lewis has already won 5 races (and arguably should have won 6), plus 9 poles... It's undeniable, at this point, who's made the best move...

And McLaren might be trying to find a replacement for Button come season end.

Well yes it's turned out well for Lewis, but I don't think you can expect Jenson to have had that kind of foresight 4 years in advance. I doubt he's beating himself up over it.

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#902 hollowstar

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Posted 17 May 2014 - 17:51

Both moves turned out well. Each driver went to the right team for them at the time, it seems. I just wished Button's move to Mc hadn't been so detrimental to Lewis, but as the result was him going to Merc, it may have been a blessing in disguise.

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#903 slmk

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Posted 17 May 2014 - 18:01

Both moves turned out well. Each driver went to the right team for them at the time, it seems. I just wished Button's move to Mc hadn't been so detrimental to Lewis, but as the result was him going to Merc, it may have been a blessing in disguise.

That's the way I see it too. Ultimately, Lewis may have made the best move given Mercedes's domination and the fact that nobody foresaw a total domination from RBR from 2010 through 2013.

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#904 Risil

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Posted 17 May 2014 - 22:23

You're talking as if anyone knew what the hell an undercut was in early 2011. Tyre strategies were about playing by ear back then...

Edited by Risil, 17 May 2014 - 22:24.

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#905 slmk

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Posted 17 May 2014 - 23:02

You're talking as if anyone knew what the hell an undercut was in early 2011. Tyre strategies were about playing by ear back then...

Riiiight. McLaren with their super-duper-computers and simulations didn't know what an undercut was. :stoned:

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#906 Risil

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Posted 17 May 2014 - 23:05

Riiiight. McLaren with their super-duper-computers and simulations didn't know what an undercut was.

Well they didn't know which way up their suspension goes, so...

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#907 Markn93

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Posted 17 May 2014 - 23:07

Riiiight. McLaren with their super-duper-computers and simulations didn't know what an undercut was.

I watched that race fairly recently, and everyone knew that extra lap of grip was beneficial but no one called it an 'undercut' and it wasn't seen as a tactical move yet, not really. It was right to bring JB in anyway so why the debate?

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#908 undersquare

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Posted 18 May 2014 - 00:04

It was a big crash, and there was an element of recklessness to it. It might have had a long term effect in terms of knowing when not to push over the limit.

It was just a crash. Istr one year in a junior series he knocked himself out three times, Monza wasn't a big deal at all, any more than, lemme see, Nando at Spa 2010.

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#909 skyfolker

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Posted 18 May 2014 - 05:47

Whitmarsh has been there the whole time, he's always known how incredibly fast Lewis was. I think what he did was mainly choosing to put all his money on the horse he himself recruited.

There is a story(for which I'm not sure that is more than just a story) somewhere in this forum that in fact Dennis signed Button while Whitmarsh was negotiating with Heidfeld.

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#910 Lazy

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Posted 18 May 2014 - 06:44

I don't think so. Whitmarsh has been there the whole time, he's always known how incredibly fast Lewis was. I think what he did was mainly choosing to put all his money on the horse he himself recruited. I don't think Martin is a selfish person in any way, but I do think he feared to be labelled incompetent, or not up to filling Ron's shoes. So he needed to make sure everyone recognized what he did, rather than what he inherited. And that meant emphasizing how the new, open and "fair" (supposedly) McLaren was no longer Ron's "Lewis centered" McLaren.

Yet, taking Lewis' established engineer and assigning him to Button, only to prove a point, is something I've never seen done anywhere else. McLaren didn't do the same to Button when Perez or Magnussen arrived, and I don't think either Red Bull or Ferrari did that this year. Neither Fernando or Michael would have accepted that IMO, and I wish Lewis hadn't either. But he wasn't completely his own man yet, and I'm glad he left and developed as a man and as a driver.

People keep forgetting despite many reminders, that it was Ron who hired JB whilst MW was on holiday, and it was Ron who caused Lewis to leave.

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#911 hollowstar

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Posted 18 May 2014 - 17:09

People keep forgetting despite many reminders, that it was Ron who hired JB whilst MW was on holiday, and it was Ron who caused Lewis to leave.

I'm not convinced it was Ron, and even if it were him, the general understanding at the time was that it was Martin who did recruit JB. And it was Martin who had been at the helm for about a year. So he was always gonna take praise or blame, still had to live up to the expectations and either enjoy or face the consequences of JB's performance.

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#912 Risil

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Posted 18 May 2014 - 17:20

I'm not convinced it was Ron, and even if it were him, the general understanding at the time was that it was Martin who did recruit JB.

Yeah! Take a hike, truth! We don't need you anymore!

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#913 MikeV1987

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Posted 18 May 2014 - 20:28

hindsight is 20/20

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#914 peroa

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Posted 18 May 2014 - 22:18

People keep forgetting despite many reminders, that it was Ron who hired JB whilst MW was on holiday, and it was Ron who caused Lewis to leave.

Yeah, it seems to me MW was on holiday from 2010 - 2013 and enjoyed a lovely bromance...

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#915 P123

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Posted 18 May 2014 - 22:38

This is why

great excuse to post this

Thank you Reddit

Heh- some of that just highlights the wild PR optimism that goes with F1 car launches.

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#916 P123

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Posted 18 May 2014 - 22:44

People keep forgetting despite many reminders, that it was Ron who hired JB whilst MW was on holiday, and it was Ron who caused Lewis to leave.

Is that really true though? I've read one nippy statement about that from the good old press favourite, the 'source', that came after Whitmarsh's removal, just to reinforce the notion that he never made any good decisions.