Hamilton rubbishes “£1m per week” contract report

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton scoffs at a recent report which claims he asked Mercedes for a salary for £1 million per week.

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Lewis Hamilton column: 'I don’t want £1m a week' (BBC)

"I heard about one story that I had been asking for £1m a week. That is the biggest piece of rubbish that has been written for some time."

No issues with my superlicence, says Van der Garde (Adam Cooper's F1 Blog)

"It was revealed in court today that Monisha Kaltenborn wrote to the CRB last week to tell them that Van der Garde’s contract had been terminated in February."

JB: Sauber unfair to cite safety (Sky)

"For me it is a shame that they have gone in that direction, because safety is always a concern in motorsport and we shouldn’t be throwing it around lightly. Personally him driving the car is not a safety issue. I think it is unfair to use that against Giedo."

Perez supports van der Garde in Sauber feud (Crash)

"f there is a contract, it should be respected, because there are rules and they have to be followed. Sometimes in F1, you hear stories of drivers having a contract with a team or drivers who are owed money for three and four years."

Stevens insists Manor unconcerned by 107% (F1i)

"In all honesty, we’re just going to go out and do the best job we can. If that’s within 107% or not, I don’t know, but we’re confident in the package we’ve got and we’ll do the best job we can."

Software wurde geloscht (Auto Motor und Spor - German)

Manor may be unable to run during practice today because of a software problem.

Meet F1's latest Brit (The Telegraph)

"He brings significant financial backing – thought to be around £5 million a year – as did his reliable but slow predecessor Max Chilton."

Mercedes sticks to policy of open warfare between drivers (ESPN)

"The management of Nico and Lewis is not a difficult topic. We have a very open and transparent relationship. We discuss a lot; sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree but it's a positive thing and not at all a difficulty."

I'm yet to peak in F1 - Rosberg (Autosport)

"I need to find a little bit more and I'm pushing hard to get that. I'm surely not at my peak of Formula 1 performance yet - I'm only 29."

F1 2015 preview by Martin Brundle (Autocar)

"(Vettel) started moaning early last year and he’s still doing it, which is disappointing. The rules are the same for everyone – and it’s not such a bad job, is it?"

Getting into F1 (F1 Elvis)

"Try as many different types of motorsport as you can, as many different roles as you can. Write to as many companies as you can, show your passion, give up your spare time for it, make yourself stand out from the pile of CVs on the team manger’s desk."

Former McLaren chief Whitmarsh sets sail with Ainslie (Reuters)

"Former McLaren Formula One chief Martin Whitmarsh has joined Britain's bid to return the America's Cup to its shores for the first time after being named as CEO of Ben Ainslie Racing on Thursday."


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Comment of the day

Several readers are disappointed that Kamui Kobayashi is no longer on the grid:

I always felt Kobayashi’s career highlighted why the sport needs its midfield teams and why it should be trying harder to keep them alive.

He was a driver who lacked that little bit of pace/consistency to land a drive at one of the big teams but would occasionally punch above the weight of the machinery he was in and would go wheel to wheel with anyone and everyone if the opportunity was there. He was a driver who would take points off of and punish the big teams when they made a mistake or got the strategy wrong and it was exciting to watch.

But as the smaller teams get squeezed and forced to rely on pay drivers places for drivers like Kobayashi, Grosjean, Perez etc… will continue to disappear and the sport will surely be worse off without them.
Steve Rogers (@Yossarian)

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Mike Spence won the non-championship Race of Champions at Brands Hatch 50 years ago today, beating a field which included Jim Clark, John Surtees and Dan Gurney:

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67 comments on “Hamilton rubbishes “£1m per week” contract report”

  1. Good to hear the drivers supporting Giedo. I bet both Nasr and Ericsson would feel the same if they weren’t on the losing end of this battle.

    I particularly like Timo’s comment. If this isn’t a bright red alarm for F1, what is? it’s been going brighter month by month, but come on…

    1. Bernie’s getting quite old, so his eyesight might require it to get brighter still, before he takes notice! :)

    2. I wonder how Bernie would handle this mess…if he ever go into it in the first place!

      I suspect Peter Sauber will be back to run the team soon.

  2. Giedo went on to Sauber pit and pick up a Marcus Ericsson overalls… Lit bit too smug for my liking..
    And the mechanics left him alone on the garage hahaha.
    http://grandepremio.uol.com.br/f1/noticias/na-chegada-ao-albert-park-van-der-garde-toma-cha-de-cadeira-e-ve-mecanicos-da-sauber-lhe-darem-as-costas

    1. Well, FP1 starts in an hour, so it’s pretty much the time to get into overalls and start preparing.

    2. He might be right, but he’s tearing the team, and his own average reputation, down by doing this. I can’t blame the mechanics for hating him.

      1. Nobody can blame him for tearing the team down, that’s Monisha’s fault, not his.

        1. No, they can´t blame him, but as human beens and with emotions they will certanly don´t just smile politely to him…

          1. You mean like they do to Monisha?

      2. If the mechanics have an issue im sure theyll get over it. No way is it GVD fault. He had every right to do what he did and got his Just reward

        1. In what kind of world you live? People are not machines. They are afraid of losing their jobs because of all this. And that is a real possibility, and I don’t know why so many are trying to deny it. Of course he is right, but his I don’t agree with his actions, he should go after the money and not the seat. And yes, he is putting his F1 career in jeopardy. Probaly his future on F1 is doomed. And is not me that is saying that, but almost every F1 insider that I read. Don’t understand why people are trying to deny this too.

          Is ridiculous the guy enter into the pit and wear another driver overalls, i find this extremely disrespectful to Ericsson (could have been Nasr, don’t matter), after all he is much as a victm as VDG.

        2. And yes, he is putting his F1 career in jeopardy. Probaly his future on F1 is doomed.

          This is his last chance to drive an F1 car, there’s no denying that. He’s almost 30 and a pay driver.

      3. @jmc200 not his fault … you cannot judge someone for trying to defend himself and claim what he owns. There’s a contract, both parties have to comply. Sauber put themselves in this mess, desperate for the money.

        1. And why are Sauber desperate for money? The ridiculous financial inequalities within F1. Monisha did what she had to do after Bianchi’s accident, I’m not saying it’s right, but she had to do it for Sauber’s survival.

          1. But what she did could actually spell the end of the team. Great strategy.

    3. If that’s true than he should be ashamed of himself. I am supporting him in his actions against Sauber as what Monisha did is just pathetic but doing something like that to the team and fellow drivers is crossing the line.
      On the other hand Sauber’s management should do something ages ago in regards to this issue and clear the air around.
      They all act like some freakin kids.

      1. That is a little smug. There is no need for him drag Ericsson into the problem personally, just keep it as business.

      2. ColdFly F1 (@)
        13th March 2015, 0:53

        no worries @toxic, nothing sinister!
        The article only says (and showed in a photo) that he was wearing Ericsson’s overall. You should assume that’s the one the team gave him.

        What is more worrying is that the team did not give him a pass to enter the circuit (he had to wait 25 minutes to get that sorted), and that the team allows/condones the mechanics to ignore vdG.
        Sauber has made many mistakes, and they should now show that that they can accept the loss and work with all parties to build bridges (that includes renegotiating at least 1 of the 3 valid driver contracts they have). I do not care who races this weekend, but Sauber should eat some humble pie and stop sabotaging vdG or others.

        1. I think the pass are prepared long in advance so I doubt anyone had thought about that to be honest.

    4. If the mechanics refuse to speak with Van der Garde, there may be a real safety risk now.

      This is disgusting.

    5. Such a mess. Geide has a contract, Sauber failed him but I don’t thinks it’s a gracious way to claim his rights.

      F1 is not an individual sport, if you don’t have a team behind you there’s not a single possibility to race.

  3. Seems Van Der Garde has been refused a super license because Sauber sent a letter to the CRB last week informing them they had terminated his contract.

    Bailiffs are in the paddock ready to seize Sauber’s cars if required.

    VDG did get a seat fitting earlier using Ericsson’s car.

    VDG’s lawyer told the court that Monisha Kaltenborn should be sent to prison.

    1. What a mess.

      Back to the 90’s.

  4. Of course Manor should be allowed to race even if they aren’t within the 107% rule. I’d say a rule such as this is only really worth applying in a motorsport series with a large grid, or around tracks which there’s not a lot of space like Monaco where traffic can become an issue. But with Caterham and HRT no longer in the sport, the field is so small that it just isn’t an issue. And shouldn’t this percentage be altered anyway with fewer teams/drivers in the sport? As long as they aren’t something like 15 seconds off the pace then they should be perfectly allowed to race – and what a shambles it would be if they weren’t after all they’ve been through during the winter and since the accident in Japan.

  5. I noticed today the F1 website has had a big facelift. Judging by the website’s videos, we’re set for new FOM TV graphics in FP1 this morning! The slanted graphics had been in place since 2010.

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      13th March 2015, 0:59

      I noticed that they now have Melbourne GP go anti-clockwise (first photo). (@deej92)

      Big news we all missed – I hope they told the drivers ;)

    2. Here in Oz the TV coverage is now promoting online coverage all weekend with various options to view, I think this must be happening in partnership with FOM, 7 hours of coverage per day on TV but pretty bloody awful with breakfast TV and kiddy TV presenters featuring, must go cars about to roll out.

  6. I must say, this saga has been making Van der Garde fans out of many of the same people who were slagging him off as a no-talent pay driver when he signed at Caterham two years ago. Which is as predictable as a Mercedes 1-2 finish on Sunday.

    1. Do you have direct quotes of the people defending him now previously having slagged him off or is that just a bold yet unsubstantiated statement?

      In the end he may be a part driver, but so are the others. And it doesn’t make screwing him over any less wrong.

      1. +1

        Yes he’s a pay driver and yes he is slow but I respect him for standing up for his rights.

  7. Quick comment on YoYo’s COTD before I dash to the telly for the 1st. view of F1 2015 in Oz.
    I agree with the COTD but am still going to point out that KKs fate was sealed as soon as the marshmallow Pirellis were introduced, KKs entertaining style of throwing the car around is just to hard on these tyres to be successful, good car on car battles are scarce nowadays because the tyres degrade so rapidly in these situations.

    1. @hohum I agree. That blocked his path to the top teams. And despite very good performances in 2011-12,14 the sorry financial state of F1’s midfield and backend did the rest

      By the way, might this be also a factor in Nico Hulkenberg’s non-promotion to the top teams? I’ve heard many respected journos like Roebuck repeatedly say that his style is hard on the rears?

    2. Also DRS didn’t help.

  8. More drama, VdG has had to leave the track to sort out his licence as FIA seem to be non-cooperative, if VdG does not get to race I hope he sues FIA for conspiracy.

    1. Nasr and Ericsson are in their overalls on the Sauber pit now.

  9. I don’t get Brundle’s comments in that article regarding Vettel. He’s stated his opinion about the current state of F1, and how he’d prefer things to be different. I wouldn’t call that moaning.

    F1 pundits are the first to talk of how the sport needs personality and how less and less drivers speak their minds, yet when Vettel does so he’s derided? Great double standard you’ve got there, Martin. Keep it up.

    1. Would love to see David Coulthard or someone like Damon Hill commenting. Martin Brundle is part of the Politically Correct vanilla troupe. Maybe now that the BBC is sacking Clarkson, Sky or Fox could hire him for some lively commentary. Would be great!

      1. I think you have something there! In many ways two hours of Clarkson shouting “POWERRRRRRRRR!” would be an improvement.

    2. +1 @colossal-squid
      Had its been the opposite of whats happening now , Martin would be the first one to come out and say the opposite of his current statements

  10. Does anyone know what Romain is talking about with Argentina?

      1. Ahh thanks, yes I did hear about that, thought he was referring to racing. Poor things.

  11. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    13th March 2015, 1:24

    Has Lewis Hamilton’s new contract amount been revealed? Because if it’s more than 52 million a year, that is exactly a million a week.

    1. It wont be. That’s 156 million for a three year contract. That’s just ridiculous and tabloid speak

      1. Are you having a laugh?
        156 divided by 3 is still 52 million per year.

        1. @jaanusl yeah, that is what I said. Then I said it wont be that much and that it was made up by the papers

    2. On the other hand, a million per *race* weekend, with performance bonuses, would probably be pretty reasonable.

      … well, reasonable if you’re a top tier F1 driver. Everything is relative. ;)

  12. Both Ericsson and Nasr in Saubers ! The judge will be unamused, an unamused judge can be very dangerous.

  13. Another thing about Kobayashi is that he was one of the few that was able to go to Europe and work his way up to Formula 1. I think that’s why many Japanese drivers just compete in Super Formula or the Super GT Series. The same reasons why Aussies and Kiwis go to V8 Supercars and Americans go to NASCAR and IndyCar.

    1. Kamui Kobayashi is definitely a talented driver. Many look at his GP2 results and use it as reference. But on the even field of Formula 3, he was faster than the likes of Paul Di Resta, Grojean, Kazuki Nakajima, and Vettel. He won the qualification race (first race on Saturday), but on the sunday race had a Lisboa corner fallout with Di Resta, similar to what Hamilton had against Rosberg on the previous year.

      When he jumped in on the Toyota and surprised everyone, I was not surprised at all. Its a shame he didn’t get the chance he deserves. A podium and high qualifying results and pace don’t seem to matter anymore in F1.

      1. Of course I’m talking about the Macau race. Yeah, I’m sort of a broken record on this.

  14. “yes rubbish i say, everyone knows I’m worth 2m a week” – LH

    I joke but seriously, he doesnt seem like he’ll be able to handle not being paid more than Alonso or Vettel. So that puts him over 30-40m a year, he’d want a healthy margin on top of those guys based on his performance last year (which had nothing to do with the car). 52m/yr sounds about right then – strong confirmation via denial.

  15. It’s revealed Sauber may be punished for not following the court’s ruling in allowing van der Garde to drive and Monisha Kaltenborn may be spending time in prison. I hope I’m reading this wrong but I can’t believe it has gotten to this point.

      1. @hohum
        Someone wrote a few comments above

        “Seems Van Der Garde has been refused a super license because Sauber sent a letter to the CRB last week informing them they had terminated his contract.”

        Knowing the timeline of the Swiss court verdict, it seems that Sauber did this AFTER they were already told by the court that they must let him race.
        So they probably figured they’ll just ignore Swiss court, since they can’t enforce it on foreign soil, and decided to further hamper VDG’s progress in this case by lying a relevant license-issuing body about the state of VDG’s contract.

        That’s 100% criminal behavior.

  16. I must say I am dissapointed in Monisha. I would have thought of better from her. But it so seems that poor understanding of the law is the blame. In right, she did break the law. And from how I see it, this is a criminal offence. Just to be punished by a prison sentence. How is this different from breaking into GvdG house and stealing food from his fridge? its not.

    Peter must be red hot from anger. This woman needs to get fired ASAP.

    I see comments about all drivers except Sutil? Did Sauber pay him off or rightfully terminate his contract?

    1. I suppose Sutil and Sauber found an agreement.

  17. I don’t agree with Romain. 10 people died in result of a mid air Helicopter collision, the whole country is mourning. Daily, dozens of normal french people die for probably more noble causes, the french only care about a tv show, and so does Romain, and you talk about maturity…

    1. Sure, let’s just throw our hate at a driver who is just trying to show sympathy…

      1. He doesn’t seem to have the Jules Bianchi logo on his helmet that he was going to run (although there is a sticker). I hope the FIA haven’t enforced any petty meanness.

    2. Three great French athletes died in that crash, so it likely hit a little too close to home for Romain (another great French athlete).

      1. Was about the say the same.

    3. There were 3 of France’s top athletes killed in the crash, I would guess that Romain may have known them personally, as I believe they also held a celebrity status within their own country.

  18. Joni (@theflyingfinns)
    13th March 2015, 7:40

    Breaking news: Sauber contract situation resolved!

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_4-MmJVIAEIVMG.jpg

    1. Classic , that’s Gold

      Great reporting @theflyingfinns

  19. Great article with Brundle by Steve Cropley. Hes certainly missed on terrestrial TV and he cuts through some of the bun fights with steady common sense that surely would’ve consigned all the boring commentary on DRS/noise/helmut design and other minutiae fans get bogged down in, to the dustbin. He’s certainly got credibility so when he proffers a view on someone like Vettel, you believe it.

    Is it time to pay Murdoch his piece of gold….?

  20. F1 is a lost cause. Only when the ‘star’ drivers start feeling the need to look elsewhere to satisfy their salary demands will f1 notice that it is not above public opinion.

    The sport IS losing popularity so even the massive companies that sponsor it will one day no longer be able to justify propping it up just because their CEO is a fan/Bernie’s pal.

    As we are in an age of wildly high technology which has been foist upon us by the conceits of the manufacturers, we should also be seeing said manufacturers subsidising (heavily) the customer teams whom they expect to run their absurdly expensive PUS. For a start that is.

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