Comments on: Lewis Hamilton is bigger than McLaren

By: Chris B

Chris B — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:40:58 +0000

Isabel,the reason for the split in people’s perceptions about Hamilton ie love him or hate him, is very simple; he’s disrespectful of others, particularly those who have established reputations and are recognised as being authoratative, he’s arrogant in the extreme about his own abilitites, he’s reticent in the extreme when it comes to admitting his own errors, and perhaps the worst offence is simply that he doesnt’t appear to care that his attitude causes offence; it’s always someone elses problem, not his.

This isn’t a recent phenomenon. His ‘monkeys at the back’ comment came only 5 GP’s into his career and wasn’t a glitch, it was typical of his attitude then and now. He is and always has been arrogant and disrespectful. It’s only now that people are beginning to see what was apparent right from the start. It has nothing to do with race or colour; thought it would be an easy step to make the connection between the two in hamilton’s own mind and perhaps this ‘reverse racism’ is a factor in his own attitude.

As for his book ‘My Story’, it is full of clues as to why he’s the, not entirely universally liked person he is today, and most of them begin with the phrase ‘my Dad……’

By: Michael Counsell

Michael Counsell — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:18:49 +0000

That’s true but no one whos posted hates Lewis and that’s not really the point of this. The point is not much.

By: isabel

isabel — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:07:48 +0000

I am here to say that i never used to watch formula one with my friends until lewis came along. Now we can’t wait for the next episode. He is cool, handsome and intelligent. However we find all the other guys very cool too. I am at Uni here but back in malaysia people have really taken to lewis, people who never knew what f1 was all about. I don’t understand this hate thing, but i think most of it is to do with spanish fans due to alonso. It is illogical and stupid to hate someone because of his colour.

By: the limit

the limit — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:37:25 +0000

There was a good article in F1 Magazine a few months ago about McLaren testing Lambourgini V12 engines back in 1993, and Senna apparently loved it.
The only problem was that they had a tendency to blow up, and McLaren dropped the idea naturally. The article
gives the impression that Senna loved the engine so much, for its sheer power, that he desperately tried to get Dennis to change his mind.
When Ron declined, that was moreorless the end of the Senna/McLaren relationship and he went to Williams.
I like the point that you make Keith, about Senna’s wage demands eating into McLaren’s budget, and there is probably an element of truth in that.
However, if Senna’s influence at McLaren was as extensive as you suggest, why did Ron Dennis turn his nose up at the Lambourgini deal, effectively sending Senna to Williams as F1 Magazine alledge?
The reason is obvious. Ron Dennis calls the shots, and makes the decisions, as Fernando can testify.
Lewis, you have been warned my son!!!

By: Number 38

Number 38 — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:30:15 +0000

“… F1’s first successful mixed-race driver”

“MIXED RACE”? He was black last year, but now with Reebok in his pocket he needs to expand his image.

Wouldn’t it have been nice if Hamilton, the rising star, PERSONALLY had drawn interest to F1, why does “race”, mixed or black have anything to do with it?

Let me re-write the second sentence in the article:

When people started talking about the immense marketing potential of F1’s MOST SUCCESSFUL ROOKIE driver F1 fans were quick to note that McLaren may stop him from maximising that value.

There that’s better.

By: frecon

frecon — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:05:37 +0000

Sorry S Hughes: you were talking about Hamilton opening markets, and i didn’t realize next sentence wasn’t linked with the previous argument. I didn’t try to offend you.

Journeyer: Actually Alonso didn’t lose Santander. Now he has a new personal sponsor which is Universia. Universia is one of the brands registered by Santander for bussines not related with banks.

By: sChUmAcHeRtHeGrEaTeStEvEr

sChUmAcHeRtHeGrEaTeStEvEr — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:59:35 +0000

senna was reportedly on $1 million per race in 1993, raikkonen is on about £1million per race, i dont know what the difference would be in todays money but i doubt its a huge difference.

I think its almost a copy of the senna situation, i thio#nk mclaeren allowed senna his own personal sponsors because they knew he was the future adn he was going to be the best driver in f1 to have. i think mclaren feel the same will happen with hamilton and the happier hamilton is and the more money he earns outside of mclaren the less he will ask for from mclaren for his basic salary, as someone pointed out earlier. i dont see whats wrong with it personally, like others said schumacher always wore that DEKSTRA cap after the races etc.

good luck to him i think having someone like lewis promoting the likes of reebok and pepsi (brands who usually only use footballers to advertise their product) will spread thne appeal of formula 1 worldwide.

By: S Hughes

S Hughes — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:33:52 +0000

Frecon, I made a point of using a semi-colon before I mentioned South America, because I am well aware that F1 has been popular there for some time. I didn’t say Lewis has attracted people to F1 for the first time from S America: I limited that to Africa and the Caribbean. Please read my post carefully before challenging what’s within it.

I know about Africa and the Caribbean because I have read and heard a lot of comments about him opening up the market there, as well as a lot of fan comments from those areas. I have also read that Lewis is a “god” in Brazil and hugely popular in SE Asia.

By: Sri

Sri — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:03:30 +0000

Hey, hey, hey Ollie, i just wanted to give the ol’ man Ron some spot of bother. Also, McLaren does NOT allow its drivers to have personal sponsorship. This is also mentioned there in the write-up by Keith. Now, it does not take too much to add 1+1 to get 2, or does it?

By: Journeyer

Journeyer — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:38:03 +0000

Silly me, I meant DVAG, not DVMB.

By: Journeyer

Journeyer — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:37:00 +0000

“Allegedly Schumacher didn’t go to McLaren when he left Renault because of an issue of personal sponsorship. Ferrari were willing to accept it – also a bank as it goes.”

I think DVMB is a company that does multi-level marketing, not banking.

“Alonso has Santander and I recall some watches he also promotes?”

He lost Santander when he left McLaren. His only personal sponsor is Mutua Madrilena.

“I recall recently Raikkonen has been doing lots of Tag Heuer photo shoots and promotions (which BTW was strange because I thought they where a Mclaren sponsor?)”

TAG ended their team sponsorship deal with McLaren in 2006. Since then, they’ve been signing individual sponsorship deals with drivers. Right now, they have Hamilton, Alonso, and Raikkonen on board. (Yep, the top 3 of modern F1 is with them. Can’t get much better than that, can it?)

By: Oliver

Oliver — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:06:31 +0000

Lets wait if we will see his sponsors logo on his overalls. His private sponsorship might just be him appearing in some commercials. Which is no big deal. Concerning driver equality, who said Heikki can’t have personal sponsors?

By: Sri

Sri — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:31:29 +0000

So much so for equality. now Hamilton’s got personal sponsors. Why not Heikki? Well, i just think it is about time we asked this to that hypocrite Ron to put him in a spot of bother.

By: frecon

frecon — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:58:30 +0000

Just a few things:

“He has opened F1 to many countries who never bothered with it before: Africa, the Caribbean; and also is very popular in South America, and South East Asia.” I have no data about Africa and Caribbean. In South America F1 has been popular since the beginning, and they have their history with drivers like Fangio. And i know FOM is trying in Asia, but i’m not sure if they are succeding.

Kimi, Alonso, Sato are allowed to have personal sponsors because they drive (Sato drove) in teams which allow it. The problem is not Hamilton, the problem is in Mclaren they have some rules: equality with both drivers, no personal sponsorships are allowed, drivers can’t keep their trophys because trophys are for the team… You can agree or not with this rules, but i think in Mclaren are making exceptions with Lewis.

By: DG

DG — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:52:44 +0000

I have a feeling we are going to see much more personal sponsorship of the drivers, either with the teams consent or without, since it costs a lot for the team to train and massage the egos of the drivers.
As I remember correctly ‘Taxi Driver’ Schumacher always wore his personal sponsorship cap during interviews to ensure the money came in – presumably Ferrari were quite happy since it meant they weren’t paying some bills – and since he finished racing Schuey has been advertising vans too!
So the logical step is for most, if not all the drivers to find their own sources of income, either to keep them completely independant of the team (if they are successful enough)or to help the teams finances (and there have always been ‘Pay to Drive’ drivers).
After all, every other type of sportsman (and woman)from athletes to golfers to sailors can all have personal sponsors, so why not racing drivers? And I have a feeling watching IRL and NASCAR that American drivers may need it just to get in the team….

By: KB

KB — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:27:29 +0000

Hamilton is no Senna

By: Sri

Sri — Thu, 15 May 2008 06:41:09 +0000

I would like to second you Melanie on the fact, that Lewis-mania is pretty much a British thing(a small percentage of the rest of the world is an exception). We, the rest of the world wouldn’t mind it too much, if only all the sources for F1 weren’t all too British. Which means it is sometimes(can i say, this is again a nominee for understatement of the year) imposed on us. Yes, he is a fine racer, but there are others too(who are racing equally well, better sometimes), in which we are interested and wished that they get as much coverage as him.

By: Green Flag

Green Flag — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:39:45 +0000

You don’t have to win anything to get major sponsorship money, just be attractive and marketable. Michelle Wie makes millions and has never won, nor probably ever will win, a golf tournament, Anna Kournikova made a fortune and never won an important tennis tournament. Lewis should grab as much as he can; things can change quickly.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:26:20 +0000

I don’t think it is strange that Lewis is getting personal sponsors for himself.

I though all the drivers had some personal endorsements.

Alonso has Santander and I recall some watches he also promotes? I recall recently Raikkonen has been doing lots of Tag Heuer photo shoots and promotions (which BTW was strange because I thought they where a Maclaren sponsor?), and has very recently signed a big deal with MTV3. Why shouldn’t Hamilton also have a few endorsements?

By: Melanie

Melanie — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:16:33 +0000

“He has opened F1 to many countries who never bothered with it before: Africa, the Caribbean; and also is very popular in South America, and South East Asia.”

I think Lewis is much more of a Brtish phenomena then a world wide thing really, which isn’t to bad because Britain properly has one of the biggest motorsport cultures.

Being what you would call from a “non-F1 country”, I can tell you that there isn’t any new interest in F1 because Lewis is there. The same people still watch and they are still devoted to their favorites.

Of course you cant deny the effect Lewis has made in some circles.