In today’s round-up: Lewis Hamilton’s dad regrets not letting go of his son’s career sooner.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
“I stayed a year too long. It was my biggest mistake. I knew it had got to the point where he had his life the way he wanted it; the world title, his own girlfriend, his own money. The problem was the 2009 car was no good. I didn’t want to leave when things were going badly. I did the dad thing.”
Rules for Hamilton chat are the pits (The Age)
“Here is the interview I don’t have with grand prix speed demon Lewis Hamilton. A Sydney PR woman offered an ‘exclusive five-minute interview’ with the McLaren driver (pictured) with these conditions: McLaren has ‘strictly forbidden’ questions about formula one or racing. Um, right, so what’s left?”
F1 Tech Talk: Toro Rosso’s double floor (Toro Rosso)
“We prefer to call them ‘extreme undercut sidepods’. It basically means we raise all the hardware that would normally be housed in the floor and sidepod area and clear a path to the rear of the car. It sounds easy but the installation has to change a lot in order to adopt the concept. The result is an uninterrupted pathway for the air to the rear of the car without having to go around the sidepods.”
“Went to the track in Melbourne everything looks ready to go, walked the track with my engineers, it hasn’t changed much. Only real difference is in turn nine new tarmac, taken one big bump away that was there before just under braking.”
Via the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app
Bernie Ecclestone’s fee is ‘killing our GP’ (Daily Express)
“That will break the camel’s back. We all know that could kill it. We could be priced out of the market in 2015 and that’s what the [Victorian] government is saying.”
Webber questions moveable wing use (Autocourse)
“For qualifying, it is an added distraction and loading which we don’t really need. It is not helping the show – it is another session where you want to do the ultimate lap time but everyone has the same tools to get that lap time, so why overload the driver? There is no real gain for doing it.”
F1 grand prix on track to be a hit with India fans (The National)
Narain Karthikeyan: “With the Indian Grand Prix coming in this year, that was a big factor for me to get back into Formula One. A lot of things have changed since I was with Williams in 2007 and the cars are definitely different, but I should be able to find my feet again quite fast. It’s going to be an incredible feeling to be driving in my home country.”
Shanghai circuit gets license (Shanghai Daily)
“Renovation work, including laying asphalt, covered 6,100 square meters of the circuit, including three turns and an 800-square meter speed-buffering zone to ensure the circuit will no longer be bumpy and the subsidence problem was solved, officials with project operator Shanghai No. 1 Engineering Co Ltd said last week.”
“Of course, I haven’t doubted that at any time. That is one of the reasons why I am here – two of the reasons why I am here. One because I would like to do it with another team and two because I would like to do it with McLaren, a team that has fought for so many world championships.”
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Comment of the day
Meander asks a questions I’ve often wondered: do sponsors not get tired of backing rubbish drivers? No prizes for guessing which of yesterday’s stories this was in response to:
How does this guy keep getting deals? Not that this is such a good one, but I mean even his sponsors must realize by now that he’s not going to be the next world champion.
Meander
From the forum
Here’s controversial question from Butterdori: When will F1 abandon petrol?
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Gman and Sam!
On this day in F1
Happy birthday also to McLaren test driver Gary Paffett who is 30 today.
On this day 20 years ago, Ayrton Senna won his home Grand Prix for the first time.
There is some amazing footage from this race in the film “Senna”, which opens here in Britain on June 3rd.
Senna drove the final laps of the race at Interlagos with his stuck in sixth gear. Despite a rain shower and Riccardo Patrese bearing down on him, he hung on to take a memorable win:
davey (@djdaveyp87)
24th March 2011, 0:11
24hrs to go! I’m staying awake all til 8am to adjust myself for the weekend!
davey (@djdaveyp87)
24th March 2011, 0:11
*all night
Ned Flanders (@ned-flanders)
24th March 2011, 0:37
That makes it sound like he’d been borrowing someone’s elses girlfiend until then… :P
Also, I’ve never understood why anyone would want to sponsor rubbish drivers either. It seems a bit strange that Japanese companies would want to back Yamamoto when his countryman Kobayashi is clearly far better. I remember rumours after Toyota pulled out last winter that Panasonic were looking to follow Kobayashi to Sauber. Shame it never materialised
Mike
24th March 2011, 1:30
I don’t think many people rated Kamui before his Toyota race drive, and even then many dismissed him. So maybe it is a good thing they sponsor drivers we think a rubbish, because they may be actually quite good.
Still, Sakon is quite rubbish…
BasCB (@bascb)
24th March 2011, 6:54
LOL, it does sound a bit like a strange thing to say. But that interview is pretty good, I think.
As for Sakon, isn’t it mostly his family fortune paying? I can remember reading something like that.
topdowntoedown (@topdowntoedown)
24th March 2011, 10:22
Think Joe Saward has said on Sidepodcast that his family own a huge chain of nursing homes :)
RIISE (@riise)
24th March 2011, 0:45
Gary Paffett is 30? I thought he was much younger.
Burnout
24th March 2011, 7:31
Paffett’s been a McLaren tester for a very long time, IIRC even before Montoya joined the team.
DaveW
24th March 2011, 16:53
He’s just as good as Di Resta. Put him in the game.
lewymp4 (@lewymp4)
24th March 2011, 1:08
If it wasn’t for the efforts of hs father, Lewis wouldn’t be in F1 today, and he knows that.
sato113 (@sato113)
24th March 2011, 1:23
plus one.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
24th March 2011, 1:41
I agree yes he had the talent but he needed someone very close to him to guide him through the path.Sad to see that relationship to break.
topdowntoedown (@topdowntoedown)
24th March 2011, 10:26
You could say the same for Button, Alonso, Massa, Webber…
What’s different is that those guys’ parents don’t hover around every minute of the day like a persistent hangover. I’m sure he’s only got Lewis’s best interests at heart but sometimes you’ve got to let them live their own lives…
Neil
24th March 2011, 11:33
“What’s different is that those guys’ parents don’t hover around every minute of the day like a persistent hangover.”
Erm.. yeh, because we never saw father Button when he was winning alot in Brawn, or father Massa in 07′ and 08’….
dkfone
24th March 2011, 17:00
yes but john button plays a more passive role,
Steve P
24th March 2011, 18:11
We even saw Grandma Raikkonen sometimes.
topdowntoedown (@topdowntoedown)
25th March 2011, 11:06
There’s a big difference between ‘being there to share a special moment with your son’ and ‘sitting on his shoulder at all times’.
DaveW
24th March 2011, 17:05
The back-story, or the conventional wisdom, was that dad was not a fan of Nicole or the possible career-distraction(though maybe he was more worried about the cameras being distrated from his brooding mien toward a girl jumping and clapping in a clingy dress), thus the otherwise odd reference to Hamilton’s girlfried, I’m thinking. Im sure stuff came to a head in 09 when it looked like Hamilton’s career was in crisis–crappy car, mentor Dennis out of the picture, and dad went into full Helicopter-Parent mode. Dad defintely needed to step back. Nicole hasn’t ruined his career and McLaren did not collapse without Dennis.
Mike
24th March 2011, 1:39
No offence to the nice lady from the Age, but If I could have a chat with Hamilton for 5 minutes I’d happily ask him what he east for breakfast. If required I might even do his laces up for him, but that’s pushing it. :D
Hamish
24th March 2011, 2:01
Pretty ridiculous of McLarens behalf however.
Oliver
24th March 2011, 2:23
But we only have to remember how a certain lady was hounding Hamilton in the post qualifying press conference of the 2007 Brazillian Grand Prix and see why Mclaren might not want a free for all interview.
Dane
24th March 2011, 3:45
lol, someone hounded him in 4yrs ago?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
24th March 2011, 5:19
I wonder if it was something to do with this:
http://www.lewishamilton.com/news/2011/03/reebokaustralia2011
US_Peter (@us_peter)
24th March 2011, 6:11
So she really should’ve been asking him about oxygen enhancing t-shirts then.
BasCB (@bascb)
24th March 2011, 7:16
That might be it, so they should have been talking about nice trainers and how he does not sweat using this apps.
Bigbadderboom
24th March 2011, 11:40
Trying to please their sponsors while upsetting local media. Bit worrying when that choice is made especially with Lewis’s struggle with his profile away from the UK!!
Icthyes (@icthyes)
24th March 2011, 7:25
Well at the end of the day no-one has a right to an interview, or what it should be about. McLaren and their drivers have released interview after Q& A for weeks now, I bet they’re sick of it.
Typically silly handling by McLaren though.
NW
24th March 2011, 13:26
*yawn*
wake me up only if it goes
“I’m quitting from F1”
or
“Goodbye cruel world”
Lee
25th March 2011, 12:15
Funny that, I think the same every time you post…
macca1977 (@)
24th March 2011, 13:26
Really ? why ? cause he is a good F1 driver ? Maybe because he is rich ? not sure why you would want to ask him something outside of F1. I don’t really think he is interesting as a person at all, he has raced for most of his life and I bet he is not a very intellectual person, not even smart. I’m a Schumi fan and I wouldn’t want to ask him anything outside F1 racing.
Oliver
24th March 2011, 2:11
I feel Anthony invested everything he had on Lewis, all his time, money, energy and was very passionate about him being successful.
The sacrifices he has made is what any new manager will benefit from.
Lets face it, it is way much easier to manage Lewis’ career now, despite the talent, than before he broke into F1, and I will love to know if Simon would ever have shown a willingness to manage such a driver, who was a virtual unknown, 5 years ago.
Regarding the driver whose name should not be mentioned, my guess is that it is easier to find sponsorship if your name sounds like two engines for the price of one.
Regis
24th March 2011, 2:32
I can’t stand Webber complaining all the time, he is never happy that guy. I support him because i am Australian but he really gets on my nerves, can’t he just take the new rules on and get along with it.
You don’t hear all the other drivers complaining all the time, just race Mark !
Hamish
24th March 2011, 7:01
I’d likely have something to say also if the chances of my car losing control at high speed had increased.
He speaks his mind, good on him. Kind of ties back nicely to that article about Lewis in todays round up.
BasCB (@bascb)
24th March 2011, 7:42
Actually I do not see him as “complaining”. He gives opinion and more often than not its worth reading or listening to.
Here I think he has a pretty valid point. He is making it clear what the drivers want with the DRS and why. Why use it in Qualli, if it will just give extra risks in fast corners when its sole purpose was stated to be a support in getting close enough for an overtake?
Vettel and Rubens said about the same, just it did not get over quite as clearly.
George (@george)
24th March 2011, 18:05
Bas: He’s wrong about not adding anything to the show though, I think KERS is far more deserving of his ire than the DRS.
KeeleyObsessed (@keeleyobsessed)
25th March 2011, 23:18
Just to balance the argument, I’m going to side with you, Regis. Webber, despite being a great driver, lost out on crucial moments because of his complaints, he was leading the championship for a fair amount of time before Alonso, and squandered the lead and therefore the championship, blaming it on a team that favoured Vettel, which I don’t believe either, Red Bull wouldn’t favour any of their drivers, Webber just tried for the sympathy vote and it didn’t work with me, he was the only one of the 5 championship contenders last year that didn’t deserve it in my mind
GeeMac (@geemac)
24th March 2011, 4:59
I think its easy for a lot of people to forget that Anthony and Lewis Hamilton have (well had) two very distinct relationships. The first is that of father and son, which no doubt continues as stronly as it ever did today, even if it is behind closed doors where many would argue a drivers private life should remain. The second is (was) a professional, manager client relationship. I’m sure Lewis acknowledges the role his father played in getting him to where he is now, but like all professional or employee/employer relationships, they can break down eventually.
You have to separete the two when discussing the Anthony/Lewis dynamic…
US_Peter (@us_peter)
24th March 2011, 6:14
Following the tweets out of Melbourne, it sounds like there’s some doubt HRT will even be running tomorrow.
Hamish
24th March 2011, 7:09
Who’s sick now? Clearly the dampers weren’t quaranteened long enough.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
24th March 2011, 7:27
Repeating my comment from yesterday, the DRS should only be for the race. There really just is no point to it being used in Practice and Qualifying and is just going to benefit drivers with certain cars.
DaveW
24th March 2011, 17:23
Certain drivers. I think teams are going to have to favor a very tight set up to take full advantage of the wing in qualifying, especially for fast corners and increasing-radius corners, for most drivers. But this will be relatively slow. Those who can live with a loose car on exit and in fast corners will prosper on Saturdays, and get a better set up for Sunday. I can imaging Australia turns 5, 11, 12, even 2, drivers will be tempted to flip the the wing and do the slide. If it plays out like this, in qualifying, Schmacher may gain a little back on Rosberg if his famous reaction times are still there. Hamilton may do away with Button. It may also favor Massa, who seems to have a talent for fast corners/tracks.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
24th March 2011, 7:43
Sounds to me like Anthony Hamilton is being a little harsh on himself :/
Maciek
24th March 2011, 8:02
I wonder how Webber would fare with manual gear shifts…
Tim
24th March 2011, 8:41
He did just fine in Formula 3000, Formula 3 and Formula Ford, all of which have manual gearboxes.
Maciek
24th March 2011, 12:49
So what’s with the ‘unnecessary distraction’ talk…? I usually dig Webber, but methinks that if I had the best machinery and then someone introduced an element likely to level the playing field somewhat I might complain too.
Calum (@calum)
24th March 2011, 11:34
Vettel’s RBR RB-7 is called ‘Kiny Kylie’ by the way – perhaps a dig at team mate Mark Webber’s in regards to his nation’s most famous export – Kylie Minogue :L
NJB
24th March 2011, 13:03
I think Anthony Hamilton had to concede that there isn’t enough room for two ever-present overbearing seniors in Lewis’ life.
yariv
24th March 2011, 14:27
Lol so who’s girlfriend was he borrowing b4 that (shocked face) ;)