Comments on: Ron Dennis doesn’t want a seat filler in 2008

By: Uk

Uk — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:51:01 +0000

Hi Keith, this is my own point of view about Lauda-Prost era in Mc Laren, of course Prost wanted 84 title, as Villeneuve wanted 79 title (maybe this is very difficult to judge) but Villeneuve didnt fight Jody and never pushed him when they were 1 and 2 in the race, not the same that Pironi’s way of doing things.
I’m sure both Lauda and Prost could select their own strategies and had order not to fight betwen them, and talked about how to afford races respecting what they had acorded. Dindt work with Senna, maybe because Senna would break any agreement if winning was a chance.

About Coulthard and Berger being same status as Senna and Mika, sorry but thats not my impression, I see no difference between Rubens and both of them, no diference as a driver and no diference as real number 2 driver behind real n1 Senna and Mika.

About Nigel’s “return” to Mc Laren, of course he knew he wasn’t n1 driver, he was retired of F1, he wasn’t even in good fit to drive, he couldnt even get inside the cockpit, I never understood why both himself and Ron got that agreement, Nigel had allready won his very well deserved tittle with Wiliams fighting against the greatest Senna, for sure Nigel Knew he was out of F1 at the time, the only thing he could do is supporting the team with his knowledge, not asking for N1 driver status.

As I told this is my point of view, every team wants the best drivers possible or availavle for the money they can spend, but they allways have a n1 and a n2, maybe that changes in the season depending of results but total and equal treatmet for both is impossible, allways has been.

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:01:23 +0000

Martin Whitmarsh has given some more insight into the team’s thinking, saying they want someone better than their test drivers:

The reality is that Lewis is now an absolutely proven product. He can lead a team and he can be the talisman that can take us to a championship.

Consequently, there’s not a lot of difficulty for the team – we already have within the team two very competitive and great drivers in the form of Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett. And we’ve got to find people who are better than them – and that’s not easy.

There aren’t many drivers in the world who you could say are materially better than those two, and we’re mindful of the stability that using drivers who are already within the team brings us.

Autosport – Whitmarch: Hamilton can lead McLaren (external)

By: verasaki

verasaki — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 04:50:08 +0000

Conspiracy theory # what now? Is Ron also waiting for the results from tomorrow’s hearing to see if Renault gets bashed, Alonso gets wings and Coulthard finds himself looking for a ride? Or just waiting to see how the cards actually do shuffle?

I think he’d prefer not to have a seat filler but, if he needs to hire a one season off driver, he’ll do it regardless of the smoke and mirrors he spats at the press. And sorry to sound like I’m bashing the sacred bull, I’m not, but was Mansell supposed to be #1 at McLaren in’95? Dennis made no bones about the faith he had in Mika and Mansell ’95 was most apparently not Mansell ’92. I think he signed Mansell for precisely the same reason he signed Andretti. They both made headlines and he already had the driver he had faith in in the other seat.

By: powerline2007

powerline2007 — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:20:47 +0000

This is really a lot of speculations. We’re not privy to any of RD’s or Mclaren’s driver recruitment exercise. For all we know, they may have already prepared a shortlist of drivers already. And who knows, Alonso may yet make a return to the team after a short “divorce.”

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:45:36 +0000

If you’re talking about paying high ammounts for someone’s (Rosberg or Sutil) contractual release, what do you think about hiring Sebastien Bourdais? His a proven champion, and experienced enough to command car development, surely the biggest gap left by Alonso…

Yes, he wouldn’t be the best choice as a “loyal number 2″, but the best bet to continue the so-called ‘McLaren equality policy’, in my opinion…

By: ninguen

ninguen — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:59:02 +0000

I would be very grateful if PDLR was to get the seat, but i´m afraid that is the last option for ron. If alonso finally goes to mclaren probably kovalainen will do the trick, better be number two in mclaren than renault. If any other combination don´t leave a driver enough talented for mclaren (¿Webber?) ron may try with pedro, but the last two times he took de drive he never reached the times of the official drivers, and sometimes he got a strange place in qalify (11 or 12 last year somtimes, that were not the place for mclaren)

By: George

George — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:29:10 +0000

The one factor no one has pointed out (and maybe obvious to everyone) is that Hamilton is Ron’s spoon fed protege, he has a vested interest in seeing that he lives up to the promise his performance in 2007 showed. Drivers in the past have come from outside the team, Ron could say they were not playing favorites. Hamilton is so unique he has to be the defacto numero uno.

PDLR is the choice, as it will keep the Spanish sponsors somewhat placated as well.

By: Clive

Clive — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:26:36 +0000

Excellent excuse, Alex! I claim the same regarding Couthard…

You have to admit that he’s the perfect number two driver, however.

By: Alex Andronov

Alex Andronov — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:24:14 +0000

Can I just say I was very tired this morning when I wrote my comment this morning – I meant Kovalainen.

By: Number 38

Number 38 — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:06:46 +0000

De La Rosa is the driver who SHOULD be in the second seat, he’s experienced, experienced in the McLaren, he’s a good driver, he’s EARNED the seat and he likely could retain some Spanish sponsorship that might move with Alonso, BUT…… this is F1 and common sense doesn’t seem to play the part it should. I’m sure young first timers like Vettel, Piquet, maybe even Kovalainen (and others) are not willing to delay their careers for the sake of playing second fiddle to Hamilton. Many would no doubt like to drive a McLaren car (based on this years performance) but there will definately be a #1 and #2 seat regardless of what Ron Dennis preaches. Those that we the public are so willing to throw overboard, Fisichella to name one, might be a better choice. He’d gladly play second fiddle and still deliver superb performance to McLaren as a team. Ah! but this is all SPECULATION, the game that never ends.