Lewis Hamilton Larbalestier

[Scott Webber]

Lewis Hamilton says he's eager to sort out a new deal to remain at McLaren alongside Jenson Button, who recently signed a contract through to 2014.

Hamilton, who is out of contract at the end of the new season, is keen to avoid further rumours that he may switch to Red Bull after a meeting with Christian Horner last year at the Canadian GP.

"At the moment the focus is on the preparation we have coming up for the season," he said at the launch of the MP4-27 on Wednesday.
"Probably after the first couple of races it's something we will probably want to get out of the way," he told the Press Association.

"We can then focus on the rest of the year without the team being concerned and without it being something hanging around, so then you guys [the media] won't have to ask questions about it.

"So I'll try to get that out of the way at some stage, probably in the earlier part of the year rather than later."

source

 

[Ben Tusting]

Go to Red Bull and kick Vettel's arse!

 

[ufunacaoenn]

There we go, he has a reason to give it all on each race now and hopefully this will bring the old Hamilton back.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I hope the macca is quick from the start, someone has to chop Vettel's finger off

 

[Ryan Hayes]

I love how if the McLaren is on form, no-one gives JB a chance of touching hamilton. He beat him fair and square this year, and he can do it again!

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I love how if the McLaren is on form, no-one gives JB a chance of touching hamilton. He beat him fair and square this year, and he can do it again!

Hamilton had his worst year of his career.

Who has won every battle between them? Hamilton.
Who was clearly the quicker man at Canada (which Button won) before the incident? Hamilton.

Fact is Hamilton is a way quicker driver then Button, he just had massive amounts of bad luck last year.

Race goes well for both = Hamilton will come out on top in 99% of the races.

 

[TheHemps]

Go to Red Bull and kick Vettel's arse!

Stay at McLaren and kick Vettel's arse

 

[Ben Tusting]

Stay at McLaren and kick Vettel's arse

Could do, but with everyone saying how good Vettel is, it would be brilliant to see Hamilton kick Vettel's arse in the same car!

 

[Alexander Macdonald]

Go to HRT and still kick Vettel's arse.

 

[Danny Asbury]

Hmm, what's with all the hate for Vettel?

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Hmm, what's with all the hate for Vettel?

we just want to see what he would do in the same equipment as Hamilton or Alonso for example.
Impossible to know how good he is when he haven´t been in the same team as either of them.

I don´t buy the "Vettel is the greatest"-talk simply because of the dominant cars he´s had.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Hampus, you don't "buy" anything that the majority thinks!

But I would really like to see Vettel in a, midfield car.

 

[Danny Asbury]

we just want to see what he would do in the same equipment as Hamilton or Alonso for example.
Impossible to know how good he is when he haven´t been in the same team as either of them.

I don´t buy the "Vettel is the greatest"-talk simply because of the dominant cars he´s had.

True, but Redbull don't win the 2010 driver's championship if not for Vettel. And although Webber isn't the greatest measuring stick, he's still pretty good.

Just think, people thought Button would be absolutely thrashed and shown up as some type of frued champion by Hamilton. That hasn't exactly been the case...

 

[Hampus Andersson]

True, but Redbull don't win the 2010 driver's championship if not for Vettel. And although Webber isn't the greatest measuring stick, he's still pretty good.

Just think, people thought Button would be absolutely thrashed and shown up as some type of frued champion by Hamilton. That hasn't exactly been the case...

Webber was the one with the biggest chance of taking the title that year of the two going into the first race.
Had Ferrari not messed up their pit stop and got stuck behind Petrov, Alonso would have been champ.

The universe alligned perfectly for Vettel to take the crown that year. Pure luck.

Yea Button did good this year. Ironically it was a year where Hamilton did bad...

2010 B won 2 races, H won 3.
2011 they won exactly the same amount of races, 3 despite Hamilton having several races where he got caught up in stupid stuff, mostly with a midget called Massa.

Hamilton is the quicker guy of the two without a doubt. He just had his worst year ever, first time a teammate has beaten him as well.

Hampus, you don't "buy" anything that the majority thinks!

I don´t swallow stuff without questioning it like the majority does if that´s what you are getting at

 

[Chris Butcher]

Hampus - Hamilton may be quicker over a single lap, however Button sees the bigger picture and I would argue is a more intelligent driver - hence him being able to keep his cool and keep producing the results. Over a race distance Button is certainly more consistent.

It's his ego, attitude and lack of patience which allowed Button to beat him. Which is why Button is the better driver - he didn't let things get to him, but Hamilton did.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Hampus - Hamilton may be quicker over a single lap, however Button sees the bigger picture and I would argue is a more intelligent driver - hence him being able to keep his cool and keep producing the results. Over a race distance Button is certainly more consistent.

It's his ego, attitude and lack of patience which allowed Button to beat him. Which is why Button is the better driver - he didn't let things get to him, but Hamilton did.

That does not explain how Hamilton managed to win as many races as Button did though.
Again, Hamilton collided with Massa 5-6 times this year. Then you have the Kobayashi incident. Then you have the Maldonado incident.
then you have the Button incident..

It was his worst year ever of his career. That´s why Button came out on top. When stuff goes well Hamilton will come out on top as we saw the first year.

You can´t beat your teammate simply by being faster over a lap, because it would be impossible for Hamilton to beat Button in 2010 if that was the case.
People praise Button for this and that but fail to acknowledge what year Hamilton had.

He had one bad year, that does not make him a worse driver in any way. button in 2011 was the better driver but overall he is very far from the level of Hamilton.

If he stays out of trouble like he usually does he will beat Button i can guarantee that.

 

[Chris Butcher]

The point I was trying to make was that his bad year was his own making. A good driver doesn't make silly mistakes like Hamilton does.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

The point I was trying to make was that his bad year was his own making. A good driver doesn't make silly mistakes like Hamilton does.

Yea but again, it was one year... not every year..

 

[Danny Asbury]

Webber was the one with the biggest chance of taking the title that year of the two going into the first race.
Had Ferrari not messed up their pit stop and got stuck behind Petrov, Alonso would have been champ.

The universe alligned perfectly for Vettel to take the crown that year. Pure luck.

Yea Button did good this year. Ironically it was a year where Hamilton did bad...

2010 B won 2 races, H won 3.
2011 they won exactly the same amount of races, 3 despite Hamilton having several races where he got caught up in stupid stuff, mostly with a midget called Massa.

Hamilton is the quicker guy of the two without a doubt. He just had his worst year ever, first time a teammate has beaten him as well.



I don´t swallow stuff without questioning it like the majority does if that´s what you are getting at

This is just ridiculous. When Vettel had to be on top of his game, HE was. Nothing lucky about that whatsoever. Webber really didn't need to do too much for the '10 finale in order to win, but he couldn't even do that, despite his car's performance (though that may have had more to do with his supposed injury then his skill level.)

And from what I recall, Alonso didn't have a good start in that race, which cost him a position (if memory serves me right). But, like you said, it didn't even matter, because Vettel pretty much had no chance to win the title heading into that race. Yet he didn't worry about that and kept his nose down, smashing the field. Meanwhile Webber and Alonso did nothing (which, yeah, a lot of which had to do with their teams.) Fact is, Vettel could have easily slipped up in quali and had been screwed like the rest of the midfielders. But he didn't. No luck whatsoever. (Well, unless you count the BAD luck he had to start the season...) You cheapen the sport with comments like that, Hampus, which is odd because I consider you one of the foremost F1 heads on RD

Also, about this Hamilton vs Button stuff, I have to side with Butchie on this one. Hamilton is quicker, I don't think anyone can argue that, but Button makes up for that in other areas. For instance, I still remember Australian GP from 2010, where Button took the win in the wet. From my understanding it was Button that wanted to come into the pits to mix it up a bit (switching to slicks while everyone else stayed on the wets, I think). So it's fair to say that without him, McLaren don't win that race. Likewise, without Button, they don't beat Mark Webber for 2nd place last year... The guy is a world champion for a reason. If Hamilton is better, than it isn't by that much.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

That´s what i´m saying.. In order for Vettel to win he needed Alonso to come no better then 5th i believe and Webber no better then 3rd.
Both of which is so unlikely that there would probably be a bigger chance the earth gets wiped out by our own moon.
All Vettel could do was to win the race, then it was all about LUCK, hoping that Webber AND Alonso destroys their races.

I see it as Ferrari throwing a championship away based on an idiotic decision to pit him at the wrong time.
RBR had lots of technical failures, Vettel did lots of mistakes and this was the year to steal the title but they fell on the finish line.