He will never return to McLaren. It's just not the same.nevill3 wrote: ↑07 Oct 2018, 19:26I thought Hamilton only signed his shorter deal because of the impending changes to F1 in 2021. A lot of the teams have similar deals with their drivers and Hamilton has been clever enough to ensure he can either get out or move when the new regs start. I can just see Hamilton driving for Bugatti in 2021 (VW), retiring with 7 WDCs or driving for a record eighth WDC one last season with a resurgent McLaren
hmmm, they might, but Hamilton doing a Rosberg are very minimal. Rosberg had one goal: beat Hamilton. Hamilton has one big goal: enjoy racing (and make a lot of money in the proces). He almost enjoys races with lots of battles and coming in fourth more then a dominating one from the front. Also, he's not moved by numbers, as for instance Vettel is. I can see Vettel walk away when a all time record is out of his reach. Hamilton knows, as long as he loves racing, he has to be in a F1 car, while fashion and music will still be there when you're 40 something. Look at Schumacher. Great champion and still had to retire twice when he didn't really wanted to. A lot of great drivers didn't end their career on their own terms (like Raikkonen is doing).jjn9128 wrote: ↑08 Oct 2018, 14:31I've a feeling that one of the reasons why Mercedes are so keen to retain Ocon is in case of the scenario that Hamilton pulls a Rosberg after this season, if not they can replace Bottas in '20 if he doesn't up his game. I don't see Hamilton as having the same drive to beat Schumacher's records (it's utterly meaningless anyway as you can never compare eras, Schumacher's pole position count is significantly lower than his race wins because of 1 lap and race fuel qualifying, while his wins-to-starts is worse because of racing in an era with worse reliability) as Vettel does and he seems content with moving into fashion and music.
Yeah I agree, I think if Lewis wins 19 & 20, he will definitely stay for another year or 2. If he doesn't win then he will leave with 5 titles and 80+ wins.Jolle wrote: ↑08 Oct 2018, 15:05hmmm, they might, but Hamilton doing a Rosberg are very minimal. Rosberg had one goal: beat Hamilton. Hamilton has one big goal: enjoy racing (and make a lot of money in the proces). He almost enjoys races with lots of battles and coming in fourth more then a dominating one from the front. Also, he's not moved by numbers, as for instance Vettel is. I can see Vettel walk away when a all time record is out of his reach. Hamilton knows, as long as he loves racing, he has to be in a F1 car, while fashion and music will still be there when you're 40 something. Look at Schumacher. Great champion and still had to retire twice when he didn't really wanted to. A lot of great drivers didn't end their career on their own terms (like Raikkonen is doing).jjn9128 wrote: ↑08 Oct 2018, 14:31I've a feeling that one of the reasons why Mercedes are so keen to retain Ocon is in case of the scenario that Hamilton pulls a Rosberg after this season, if not they can replace Bottas in '20 if he doesn't up his game. I don't see Hamilton as having the same drive to beat Schumacher's records (it's utterly meaningless anyway as you can never compare eras, Schumacher's pole position count is significantly lower than his race wins because of 1 lap and race fuel qualifying, while his wins-to-starts is worse because of racing in an era with worse reliability) as Vettel does and he seems content with moving into fashion and music.
But just imagine: breaking every record the coming seasons and then as a final push, a few years at Ferrari, because of a check you can't see no too, an eights championship and breaking 100 wins.
Fangio won WDC with 4 different teams (Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes and Ferrari).
Mclaren drivers must have plenty of free time now thenJust_a_fan wrote: ↑08 Oct 2018, 20:59One important question - would Ferrari give Hamilton the freedom to be his own man in the way that Mercedes does? One of the reasons for leaving McLaren was that they were very controlling of the drivers' time. They had lots of sponsor and other corporate stuff to do leaving little time for the drivers. Going to fashion shows and "partying" (this is 2010+ F1 driver partying, of course, not the "getting legless and throwing up everywhere" partying of the frat house) were not in Ron Dennis's driver playbook.
Mercedes allows Hamilton to go off and "do his thing", they allow him to impose what appears to be a punishing private schedule on himself. Lots of people say that Hamilton shouldn't do these things, how can he be fresh and ready to compete etc. Would Ferrari take that line? Would they let Hamilton be Hamilton? If not, Hamilton won't win them a title.
Kimi: Gee, Seb, what do you want to do tonight?NathanOlder wrote: ↑09 Oct 2018, 14:01...Come to think of it, what does Seb get up to in his spare time ?