This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
You're right, Marcus.
Personally it is very very unlikely that Mercedes are gonna pay 20-25 millions a year for Hamilton. Paul di Resta (I'm not comparing the two drivers) would drive for them for a lot less than that. Wasn't it Norbert who brought him to F1 since he had won the DTM championship? Anyway, with this team you must be prepared for anything so I wouldn't rule out Hamilton coming. Schumacher's decision is the key to see what is to come next.
"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."~William Shakespeare
Chuckjr wrote:Do you think Schumacher cares who he drives next to, or do you think he's over such intricacies?
Offcourse he cares. It was on his checklist at Ferrari. He wanted Eddie Irvine he got him, then Rubens and then Massa. He always wanted a "number 2" driver as he wanted to be the leader. He always wants to be the dominate one.
"Life is about passions - Thank you for sharing mine" MSC
schumacher is actually in a great position if he is keen to continue, since halfway through 2011 he's been driving very well, on par or perhaps even better than his teammate Rosberg. He clearly has amazing experience and reputation, and has been credited by many engineers as being good to work with to improve the car. But Schumacher has amassed a wealth of nearly $1billion. If he really cares he could just drop his price to zero.
I think schumacher realised recently Rosberg is not the dop dog everyone thought he was´.He will also not be a nice guy to play second fiddle to schumacher as well...so the combo has reached the consume before date...maybe Schumacher is even instrumental in luring Hamilton to mgp looking for the ultimate comparison.
Schumacher has need to ask for weak drivers .it does not suit his agenda anymore.he has two more shots at the title-IF his team is up to it.
To me it´s next year or the year after and he will quit Staying with MGP only if they find the key to perform rather quickly...
his salary is not important -but i doubt he would do it for free -maybe a sauber drive ,yes -but not for MGP.
xpensive wrote:...but I'm not sure if DrZ and the suits believe that 60 MEUR over three years is money wisely spent?
Moreover, I think the Daimler board still view MSC as a priceless marketing asset, while Nico has actually won a race.
Gotta agree with this... Which puts the ball firmly onto MSC's hands. How the latest raft of updates engineered by the 3+1 iron chefs work out over the next couple of races would presumably give him a fair indication of the restructured-&-reinforced organization's ability to finally move up a gear to become a legitimate top team (performance & results-wise) from next year onwards. Final few inputs required for MSC to make that October decision.
ArchAngel wrote:Final few inputs required for MSC to make that October decision.
This makes far more sense.
Daimler aren't going to pay Hammy's salary - noway in hell. As for comparing Schumacher's and Hamilton's marketing potential: . The former is pretty much a household name, the latter is well...
Schumacher is clearly different person internally now than he was at Ferrari and even before. Point is, it seems to me he's just over the whole image thing and as a dyed to the wool racer, which I believe he is, he wants to challenge a top guy in a competitive car. He (Schumi) knows he will never be challenged as any less or even equated to Hamilton since he has achieved impossibly more than Lewis in most every category. He's totally on a different level in most every public and team respect racing experience wise. Now, what's he got left in life that he hasn't accomplished/bought? He's won championships, raced and won at Ferrari, built the house, plenty of dam near impossible to top f1 records, married a beautiful woman, etc etc etc. what's left?
I'd say to prove to yourself you still are at the top. If he, and I most certainly think he does, believes he's faster than Hamilton, what better way to know than race equal machines? If he's the racer I think he is, that's something he cannot buy or find any other way--it's an intangible **need** in ever racer (I'd think) to know you could win at any point if your career against top drivers on equal grounds. He's never really faced that in his career as no team mate could ever even get very close to him each year, or simply were sub par drivers. Whatever the case, this challenge is new and unique and still left open for opportunity. I'd think he'd be happy to take a silent pay cut to bring the kid on and then get it the heck on. One on one.
Now, consider Hamilton. Yea, you leave "home" and that sucks. But they are handing you your hat and professionally saying peace out bro. It's over. So yea that sucks but it may be the case.
What does Merc bring? All he wants.
-Money
-Trophies
-Fully believes he could beat Schumacher.
-Good potential for teams growth
-Huge corporate name, sponsorship, backing money, f1 history, and all that goes with that.
**This one I think is big--the chance to work with and race one on one with one of his central boyhood heros. He's in fact stated Schumacher was one of the guys he most looked up to after Senna. Plus, he gets to work with near the same technical team he watched as a boy take Schumacher to many many WDCs. Some boyhood dreams just never die. Maybe Lewis is on that plain right now in his career.
-His management company would REALLY want Merc and would think of every way possible to encourage him to go there--huge pressure from them I'm sure.
-Lots of exposure how Lewis likes it--glamor, sparkles, you know all the GQ bs he just loves.
-Finally...just ready for a change in scenery.
This is an opportunity he will never have again and he won't get it again ever in his career.
Merc sees stars and piles of money they could make with those two guys.
I therefore think they all have good, solid reason to make this happen. I think it would be fantastic to watch. Wow. It would be amazing.
EDIT: Plus Lewis can prove to the world he can win on a team other than Macca on his own terms. This would help shut up all doubters of his talent.
in reality ,rosberg has marketing value close to zero , as he did not demolish Schumacher -wich was the original plan .
Just think of what would have happened to MGP with a Rosberg/Heidfeld driver pairing...No question Heidfeld would have been shown the door already and we´d see Hulk ,di Resta or Sutil now in the second Merc -but would MGP still exist?
Rosberg is like any other german F1 driver -apart from Vettel -invisible /unknown in Germany so one has to conclude Michael saved MGP from early extinction somehow.
Hamilton and Schumacher as a combo is a make or break thing-the world will not question the speed of Hamilton ,he is undoubtedly and well proven the pinnacle of speed even with dodgy cars .So if Hamsy does fail to deliver ,MGP is done.
Retaining Schumacher really does make sense in the light of this .
My personal view is Schumacher is questioning the ability of MGP to turn the corner quick enough for him .He has exceeded his personal scheduling when commiting to a 2013 and 2014 season and he will not dwell on forever...he stated in his career review interview on RTL that he actually was surprised by the speed he still had when testing the Ferrari and had questioned beforehand a competitive comeback was possible considering his age.
So ,to me he has realised it took him longer to really get back to the sharpness requered but he finally has ticked off that and one can say he is now really performing on top level these days (Hungary discounting)So next year he needs a quick and reliable car +a reliable topnotch team as well.At this time NONE of these boxes are ticked...right?
Look to Sauber -Top car for two years in a row -gutsy top notch teamwork -reliability was always a saubber trademark- moneys do not count high on the priority list for him - but he would undoubtedly attract not only sponsors but technical partners as well to sauber- and one should not forget that it was Peter Sauber who did most of the good things helping Schumis career (even if it was for Mercedes back then) ..
I love the idea of Audi/Volkswagen unable to resist the prospect of marketing Schumacher in a SauberAudi ... or Porsche in 2014....
marcush. wrote:
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I love the idea of Audi/Volkswagen unable to resist the prospect of marketing Schumacher in a SauberAudi ... or Porsche in 2014....
My initial suspicion was that PURE was a cover for WV/Audi, but I was of course terribly wrong, which doesn't mean that they are not contemplating to enter in 2014, still plenty of time for that, I'm sure that Porsche has made a study already.
I think it's difficult to overestimate MSC's value for Daimler's important home-market, losing him to Audi or BMW would be an awful blow. Conclusively, I believe he has a lot of say on who will partner him, while I doubt if HAM is at the top of his list.
"I spent most of my money on wine and women...I wasted the rest"
So x, you believe that he is going to stay while Nico gets canned? I think that Merc's delay is announcing the driver line-up is only "justified" if they are offering a large sum to Hammy and are waiting for his response. Surely if he accepts, that means that Michael goes or maybe not?
"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose." - Ayrton Senna
BMW could yet return. Sounds implausible, but they need bigger platforms of exposure and aren't ruling anything out.
If this comes full circle, it will be Audi and not Porsche that will be the VWGmbh brand in F1. But I expect this in over 3 years probably.
Also in respect to Hamilton to Mercedes, it will not be for 2013 IMO. He will be retained for 2013 at McLaren much to their chagrin, in a compromise year deal. He will have signed a contract with Mercedes for 2014, where he will replace either Schumacher or Rosberg.
One final question. How long does it take to build(or refit) to a 60% windtunnel? I understand Lotus GP took over 12 months?
diego1960 wrote:So x, you believe that he is going to stay while Nico gets canned?
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No, I think they both will stay, Nico has actually won a race, remember. Hamilton has grown into a rather difficult personality, clan and all, and there is no doubt that the Hutt is aware of this. Besides, his monetary xpectations are outrageous.
"I spent most of my money on wine and women...I wasted the rest"
. The former is pretty much a household name, the latter is well...
