Hamilton's tough decision

Since BBC Sport chief analyst Eddie Jordan reported on this website last week that Lewis Hamilton was on the verge of switching to Mercedes from McLaren next year, Formula 1 has been awash with speculation about the 2008 world champion's future.

McLaren did their best at last weekend's Italian Grand Prix to dismiss the story - team boss Martin Whitmarsh even joked: "Any sentence that begins, 'Eddie Jordan understands' is immediately questionable, isn't it?"

But it was noticeable that not only did McLaren not deny the story was true, they said very little to suggest Hamilton was staying with them.

From Whitmarsh, it was: "Lewis and his management have made their position clear to us", "my understanding is we're talking to him" and "I'm pretty convinced we will have a very good, competitive driving line-up next year."

None of which translates as "Hamilton is staying".

From second left - Lewis Hamilton, Martin Whitmarsh, Jenson Button

Hamilton was triumphant at Monza, but how many more races will he win with McLaren? Photo: Getty

As for the doubts cast on the veracity of the story, the source is strong and credible, and the core information - that Hamilton has agreed terms on a contract with Mercedes for next year - is based in fact.

That does not necessarily mean Hamilton will move but it does mean he is thinking about it seriously. And you can make what you will of his downbeat behaviour throughout the Monza weekend - even after he won the race.

In the paddock, the general view was that a move would be a mistake - but it is a much more complicated decision than that.

Firstly, McLaren have undoubtedly been more competitive than Mercedes in the last three years. Between them, Hamilton and team-mate Jenson Button have won 16 races since the start of 2010; Mercedes only one, with Nico Rosberg in China this season.

Over an extended period, McLaren have a winning pedigree beyond that of any other team. Only Ferrari have won more grands prix, and they have been in F1 for 16 years longer.

Hamilton, who has been nurtured by the team since he was 13, says: "I want to win." On pure performance, there's only one choice, right?

In F1, things are rarely that simple.

Yes, McLaren usually have a good car, but until this year it had been a long time since they had unquestionably the best.

It was close with Ferrari in 2007-8, although hindsight would suggest now that the McLaren was probably not quite as good then. In which case, you probably have to go back to 2005 to find the last time McLaren had conclusively the fastest car in F1.

This is known to have irked Hamilton in 2010-11, and played some part in the cocktail of issues that led to his difficult season last year, when his frustration at the car's inability to compete for the title and problems with his family and his girlfriend led to what he admitted was his worst season in the sport.

That all changed this season. The McLaren is again setting the pace. But a series of operational problems in the opening races badly affected Hamilton, costing him 40 points. Add those points to his current total and he would be leading Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, not trailing him by a win and a fourth place.

Hamilton has done well to disguise his disappointment publicly, but it was around this time that his management started approaching McLaren's rivals about job opportunities.

On top of that, McLaren are entering an uncertain period. For the first time next year, they will have to pay for their Mercedes engines - that's in the region of eight million euros they cannot spend on the performance of the car unless they find it from other sources.

Tied in with this is the question of salary. McLaren have made it clear they cannot afford Hamilton at any price. The word is they have offered him a cut in money for next season, on the basis that they cannot afford anything more. This might be offset by other compromises, such as over PR appearances, flights and so on.

Already on about half of what Alonso earns at Ferrari, one can imagine how that has gone down with Hamilton - especially as McLaren's portfolio of sponsors makes it very difficult for a driver to do personal deals elsewhere to top up his earnings. That's because almost anywhere he looks there's a clash with a company that has links with McLaren.

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Meanwhile, Mercedes are by definition a "works" team with factory engines, have the might of an automotive giant behind them. They can pay Hamilton a lot more than his current salary - believed to be about Ł13m - if they want to. And at Mercedes there is also a lot more freedom for a driver to do personal sponsorship deals.

The funding for Mercedes' F1 team comes entirely from external sponsors - and the budget is reputedly significantly less than enjoyed by Red Bull and Ferrari. But it is underwritten by the parent company so even if there is a sponsorship shortfall it doesn't affect the team.

Performance-wise, the team that is now Mercedes actually won the world title more recently than McLaren, when they were Brawn in 2009. Ironically, the man who won it was Button. His success - and what he interpreted as the team's ambivalence about him staying - led to him moving to McLaren.

Admittedly, Brawn's success in 2009 was tainted by the row over double-diffusers that clouded that season. Once everyone had them, the car was no longer as competitive as it had been.

Mercedes have certainly been under-performing since then, but that can at least partly be explained by the fact that Brawn, facing serious financial problems, slashed their staff by 40% in 2009. As Mercedes, they have been slowly building levels up again.

The pressure on the team to up their game is massive - hence the huge investment in terms of staffing and resources in the last 18 months or so.

And while they are a long way behind McLaren this season, they are on an upward trend, even if it is significantly slower than either the team or the Mercedes board would like.

Equally, few in F1 would disagree that Hamilton is one of the three best drivers in the world, alongside Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes don't have any of them.

It's impossible to know how much faster the car would go in their hands than it has done so far in those of Rosberg and Michael Schumacher. Some might argue not at all. But, that's not how Hamilton, who raced and beat Rosberg in their formative years, will look at it.

Add all that up, and the decision doesn't seem so easy after all.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/09/hamiltons_tough_decision.html

Bernard Collomb Alberto Colombo Erik Comas Franco Comotti George Connor

Alfa Romeo MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde SBK Edition performs stunts at Silverstone [video]

Alfa Romeo has celebrated the launch of the MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde SBK Limited Edition by performing a unique stunt at the Silverstone circuit.

Source: http://feeds.worldcarfans.com/~r/worldcarfans/Jxfz/~3/zehT2OQRlGg/alfa-romeo-mito-quadrifoglio-verde-sbk-edition-performs

Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler Birabongse Bhanubandh

Sauber C32 and C31 compared | 2013 F1 season

Sauber C32 and C31 compared is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

With smaller sidepods, tighter rear packaging and revised suspension the Sauber C32 reveals several interesting developments from the C31.

Sauber C32 and C31 compared is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/DBBm_YB0qt4/

Lucien Bianchi Gino Bianco Hans Binder Clemente Biondetti Pablo Birger

Raikkonen in rude health

Kimi Raikkonen already had a bottle of beer in his hand by the time he joined his Lotus team for the now-traditional group photo following a grand prix victory.

Knowing Raikkonen's reputation, it will almost certainly not have been the last drink that passed his lips in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night as he celebrated his first win since returning to Formula 1 this year after two years in rallying.

"For sure we're going to have a good party today," the sport's most famous hedonist said on he podium, "and hopefully tomorrow, when we are feeling bad after a long night, we will remember how we feel."

How long will you celebrate for, he was asked.

"I have almost two weeks," he said. "As long as I manage to get myself to the next race I think the team is happy. I try to get home at some point."

The party is well deserved. Raikkonen's comeback year has had its ups and downs, but a win has looked a probability since the start of the season, and in many ways the big surprise has been that it has taken so long.

Raikkonen has been remarkably strong and consistent in races this season, but until Abu Dhabi his best chances of victory had been squandered by starting too far down the grid.

Raikkonen has now taken 37% of his career victories after starting from outside the top three on the grid. Photo: Getty

He is the first to admit that he has made too many mistakes in qualifying. Indeed, for the first half of the season he was generally being out-paced over one lap on Saturdays by his novice team-mate Romain Grosjean.

But in the second half of the season his qualifying pace has edged forward, the mistakes have dried up, and this weekend everything came together to produce the result the team and he undoubtedly deserve.

Out of the car, Raikkonen is about as uncommunicative as they come. He simply refuses to engage in the media game. That can be frustrating for journalists who are searching for insight from an undoubtedly great driver, but still there is no mystery about his true character.

The radio messages that caused such amusement during the race sum him up.

His poor race engineer was only doing his job when he informed him of the gap to Fernando Alonso's Ferrari behind him, and some may find it rude that Raikkonen would respond by asking him to "leave me alone, I know what I'm doing".

But that is Raikkonen all over. He's a no-nonsense character, and he just wants things the way he wants them. And if he is not comfortable in the spotlight, he was born to be in a Formula 1 car at the front of a grand prix.

"Kimi is a man of few words but he's all about racing," McLaren driver Jenson Button said, summing up the Finn's unique appeal.

"It's good to see him have a good race here and collect the victory. He does deserve it. He is back for the racing. That's what he loves and it's good to see that."

For all his impressive performance, Raikkonen owed his win to Lewis Hamilton's wretched fortune at McLaren.

Yet another failure - this one in a fuel pump on the McLaren's Mercedes engine - cost Hamilton another victory. It's the second time it has happened in five races and it is the story of his season.

Hamilton said on Sunday that he had "been at my best this year" and so it has looked, but he also made a pointed reference to McLaren's myriad problems throughout the season: "We have not done a good enough job to win this championship."

For the men who can win it, it was a weekend of wildly fluctuating fortunes.

Following Sebastian Vettel's exclusion from qualifying because not enough fuel had been put in his Red Bull to provide the requisite one-litre sample, it appeared that Alonso had a golden opportunity to close down some of the advantage the German had eked out with his four consecutive wins through Singapore, Japan, Korea and India.

But after a wildly topsy-turvy race and an impressive drive by Vettel, the German joined his Spanish rival on the podium.

All three podium finishers gave an object lesson in racing to the many drivers who crash-banged into each other behind them, including each of their team-mates, and while Vettel's drive quite rightly stood out, so too was a little luck involved.

Vettel damaged his front wing against Bruno Senna's Williams on the first lap, but was able to continue and overtake the rabbits at the back of the field.

Then, not for the first time in his career, he made a mistake behind the safety car, misjudging the pace of Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso as the Australian warmed his brakes, veering to avoid him, and finishing off the front wing against a marker board.

The mistake forced Red Bull to pit Vettel when they were not going to and the fresh tyres he fitted at the stop meant he had a grip advantage over the drivers he now had to pass.

Again, he sliced rapidly through the backmarkers - this time without incident - so that he was up to seventh by the time the pit-stop period started for those in front of him.

By the time the leaders had all stopped, Vettel was in second place, and suddenly it looked like he might have a chance of pulling off a sensational victory.

Raikkonen's Lotus team, for one, thought Vettel would not be stopping again, but Red Bull were concerned enough about tyre wear to want to play safe, and the 20 seconds he lost in his second pit stop were then wiped out by another safety car.

Fourth at the re-start, the fastest car in the field and on fresher tyres than Raikkonen, Alonso and Button ahead of him, it again looked like he might win.

In the end, though, Button's clever defence kept him behind long enough to ensure that although he could pass the McLaren, third was as far as he was going to go.

BBC F1 chief analyst Eddie Jordan said Vettel's ability to salvage a podium finish from a pit-lane start must feel like a "dagger in the heart for Ferrari" but if Alonso was disappointed you would not want to play poker with him.

He talked about his pride at finishing second in a race Ferrari had expected to deliver a fifth or sixth place - and as Red Bull team boss Christian Horner pointed out, Alonso celebrated on the podium as if he had won the race.

For a while now, Alonso has been saying Red Bull's winning run would end, that eventually they would have some bad luck.

Well, in Abu Dhabi they had it, and still Alonso could gain only three points on Vettel, and it was noticeable that the tone of his remarks after the race shifted slightly.

In India two weeks ago, he said he was still "100% confident" of winning the title. After Abu Dhabi, though, he did not repeat that remark.

"Without the problem for Sebastian we were thinking we would exit Abu Dhabi with 20 points deficit or something and we are 10 (behind)," Alonso said. "In the end it was a good weekend for us.

"They will have the fastest car in the last two races. There is no magic part that will come for Austin or Brazil. But as I said a couple of races ago, they have the fastest car, we have the best team. So we see who wins."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/11/post_abu_dhabi.html

Jackie Lewis Stuart LewisEvans Guy Ligier Andy Linden Roberto Lippi

Time running out for Alonso

As Sebastian Vettel headed down the pit lane after winning the Indian Grand Prix, team-mate Mark Webber's Red Bull behind gave him a couple of little nudges as they headed to their correct parking places.

"I switched off the car," Vettel said. "I was told to park the car under the podium and I couldn't remember where it was from last year and Mark gave me a little bit of a push."

He added that he thought it was his "only mistake" of the day, which sounds about right.

The victory was his fourth in a row, a new achievement for the German despite his domination on the way to the world championship last year, and he has now led every racing lap since Lewis Hamilton's McLaren retired from the lead of the Singapore Grand Prix four races ago.

It also moves Vettel to one win short of the tally of Sir Jackie Stewart. At this rate, Vettel will not only pass the Scot's number of victories before the end of the year but join him as a three-time world champion as well.

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Vettel is still only 13 points ahead of his only remaining realistic rival, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, which is less than a driver earns for a third place, but it is the scale of Red Bull's current superiority that has led many to suspect the battle is already effectively over.

Vettel was fastest in every practice session in India and took yet another pole position. After the German's crushing wins in Japan and Korea, the only surprise at the Buddh International Circuit was that Red Bull's margin over the rest of the field was smaller than expected in qualifying.

In the race, though, Vettel was completely untouchable.

In the first 20 laps, he was not that much faster than team-mate Mark Webber in second place, and the Australian was being pretty much matched by Alonso.

But then Vettel cut loose, suddenly lapping 0.5 seconds faster than before. Team boss Christian Horner admitted that, not sure about tyre wear, Vettel had simply been measuring his pace in the opening third of the race.

Ferrari and McLaren both appeared to be in better shape after the single pit stops, more comfortable on the 'hard' tyre than the 'soft', but even then it was clear Vettel was in total control.

For the dispassionate observer wanting to see close racing, Red Bull's current form may be depressing, but it is hard not to admire what they have achieved this season.

For the first time in two years, they started the championship without a dominant car, and although they had strong race pace they were struggling to qualify at the front - the position from which they used to crush their opposition in 2011.

But they have worked away diligently at a series of upgrades aimed at allowing them to run the car as they did last year, and the breakthrough came in Singapore.

Further modifications came on stream in Japan and Korea and now Red Bull have a car that on pure pace is out of reach of their rivals.

It is the qualifying pace that is the key - start at the front and you can run in clear air, dictate the pace of the race, and are not affected by the turbulence of other cars. In this position, Vettel is close to unbeatable.

The start of the season, when there were seven different winners in seven races, seems a very long time ago.

Red Bull are a brilliant team, managed without compromise by Christian Horner and led by a genius designer in Adrian Newey, working in perfect harmony with a great driver. In many ways, it is similar to the way Lotus boss Colin Chapman and Jim Clark dominated the mid-1960s.

How they have done it, BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson has expanded on in his column. For now, the problem for their rivals is what to do about it.

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Alonso was as impressive in India as he has been all season, aggressive and inch perfect in the opening laps as he fought past both McLaren drivers, and relentless in his pursuit of Webber for second place.

The fact that the Spaniard passed the Australian was down to a degree of luck, it has to be said. Webber's Kers power-boost system was working only intermittently, and crucially he got held up behind some backmarkers, allowing Alonso to close to within one second - which meant he was within the margin that allows use of the DRS overtaking aid.

Once there, it took only two laps for Alonso to pass Webber, who without Kers, was defenceless on the long straight against a Ferrari with better straight-line speed anyway, and also employing Kers and DRS.

Nevertheless, to even keep the Red Bulls honest was quite an achievement by Alonso - no-one else was even close.

If there is such a thing as a driver 'deserving' the world title more than another, most people in F1 would say Alonso has been the stand-out competitor of the year.

As Lewis Hamilton put it in India: "Fernando unfortunately doesn't have as quick a car as Sebastian; it's nothing to do with his driving skills, that's for sure."

F1, though, is not purely a drivers' championship - he has to have a car, and at the moment Alonso is fighting an unequal battle with inferior equipment.

And in any case, Alonso himself would undoubtedly say that the driver who ends the season with the most points is the deserving champion.

Red Bull are now virtually certain to clinch a third consecutive constructors' title - indeed they seem likely to do so in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

For all Vettel's recent domination, though, in purely mathematical terms the drivers' championship remains wide open.

Thirteen points sounds a decent amount but the margin between Vettel and Alonso is, in F1's old scoring system abandoned only at the end of 2009, the equivalent of less than four points.

One retirement by Vettel, or a marginal improvement in the performance of Ferrari in the final three races, could tip the balance back in Alonso's favour. Time, though, is running out.

Alonso said on Sunday that the team did have improvements due in the next three races, and there was a hint in some of the other things he said over the weekend that the team expect them to amount to something more substantial than Ferrari have introduced for a while.

McLaren sporting director Sam Michael said on Sunday evening: "The performance can swing from one track to the other by a couple of tenths, and that's all there is in it at the moment - 0.2-0.3secs in terms of qualifying.

"And if you can have that performance, from the front row you have a better chance. So even if no-one upgraded their cars there would still be a reasonable chance that people could have a go at them.

"If Ferrari have a competitive car, then obviously Alonso can still do it."

In the context of the overpowering brilliance of Red Bull, though, that is a big if.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/10/time_running_out_for_alonso_in.html

Helm Glöckler Paco Godia Carel Godin de Beaufort Christian Goethals Paul Goldsmith

Lincoln #SteerTheScript Commercial - Geekiest Superbowl commercial so far

With apologies to all weird Super Bowl commercials in the past, Lincoln’s new ad for the big game may have put all else to shame.

First of all, the ad was done in collaboration with Jimmy Fallon, who doesn’t appear on the commercial. From what we’ve been told, people sent tweets to Fallon, who, in turn, wrote a script based on the tweets by the fans. Not exactly the easiest thing to do, even for a world-class comedian like Fallon.

So with the script in hand, Lincoln prepared an MKZ commercial that borders on weird. To be honest, we don’t know what to make of it other than the cameos of some celebrities, including Wil Wheaton, hip hop artist Rev Run, and even retired-NFL-star Emmitt Smith.

Other than that, the whole thing is just a convoluted mash-up that doesn’t do the MKZ any justice. It feels a little too far into twitter world than we would have want to see the new self proclaimed super luxury brand from the Ford group. Let’s hope this isn’t the ad that the "Phoenix" teaser spot was alluding to.

Lincoln #SteerTheScript Commercial - Geekiest Superbowl commercial so far originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 1 February 2013 20:00 EST.

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Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/lincoln-steerthescript-commercialgeekiest-superbowl-commercial-so-far-ar146326.html

Nelson Piquet Jr Renato Pirocchi Didier Pironi Emanuele Pirro AntĂ´nio Pizzonia

Hamilton looks for long-term success at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton's move to Mercedes is the biggest development in the Formula 1 driver market for three years.

Ahead of the 2010 season, Fernando Alonso moved to Ferrari, world champion Jenson Button switched from world champions Brawn (soon to become Mercedes) to McLaren and Michael Schumacher came out of retirement to replace Button.

Now, the man who most consider to be the fastest driver in the world has taken a huge gamble by switching from McLaren, who have the best car this year and have won five races this season alone, to Mercedes, who have won one race in three years.

To make way for Hamilton, Mercedes have ditched the most successful racing driver of all time.

Schumacher's return at the wheel of a Mercedes 'Silver Arrow' was billed as a dream for all concerned, but with one podium finish in three years the German marque have abandoned the project.


Hamilton leaves a team that has won more races in the last 30 years than anyone else. Photo: Getty

That the announcement was made just five days after the latest in a series of collisions in which Schumacher rammed into the back of another driver after misjudging his closing speed simply rubs salt into the wound.

Hamilton will be replaced at McLaren by one of F1's most promising rising stars - Sauber's Mexican driver Sergio Perez, who has taken three excellent podium finishes this year.

That's quite a shake-up, and it raises any number of fascinating questions, the first and most obvious of which is why Hamilton would leave a team that has won more races in the last 30 years than anyone else - even Ferrari - for one that has won one in the last three.

The explanation for that lies both at his new and current teams.

Mercedes sold the drive to Hamilton on the basis that they were in the best position to deliver him long-term success. In this, there are echoes of Schumacher's move to Ferrari in 1996.

Back then, the Italian team were in the doldrums, having won just one race the previous year. But Schumacher fancied a project, and saw potential. It took time, but by 1997 he was competing for the title, and from 2000 he won five in a row.

The architect of that success was Ross Brawn, then Ferrari's technical director and now Mercedes' team boss. Brawn is one of the most respected figures in F1, and Hamilton is banking on him being able to transform Mercedes in the same way as he did Ferrari.

Undoubtedly, Brawn will have made a convincing case to Hamilton; he is a very persuasive and credible man. It is also worth pointing out that Mercedes - in their former guise of Brawn - have won the world title more recently than McLaren. Button succeeded Hamilton as world champion in 2009.

Mercedes believe that the new regulations for 2014, when both the cars and engines will be significantly changed, will play into their hands.

They are devoting a lot of resources towards that year, and are optimistic they will be in good shape - just as Brawn were, in fact, when the last big rule change happened for 2009.

And Mercedes have a technical team that, on paper, is immensely strong. In Bob Bell, Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis, they have three men who have been technical directors in their own right at other top teams all working under Brawn.

Part of this argument is predicated on the fact that new engine regulations always favour teams run or directly supported by engine manufacturers, on the basis that they are best placed to benefit from developments, and to integrate the car with the engine.

But this is where that argument falls down a little - McLaren may be a mere 'customer' of Mercedes for the first time next year, but they are still going to be using Mercedes engines in 2014, and on the basis of parity of performance.

The love affair with McLaren, who took him on as a 13-year-old karting prodigy, ended some time ago.

Since 2010, Hamilton has been complaining from time to time about the McLaren's lack of aerodynamic downforce compared to the best car of the time.

Through 2009-11, he grew increasingly frustrated at his team's apparent inability to challenge Red Bull. Hamilton is well aware of how good he is, and it hurt to watch Sebastian Vettel win two titles on the trot and not be able to challenge him.

That explains his ill-advised - and dangerously public - approach to Red Bull team boss Christian Horner at the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix.

This year, McLaren started the season with the fastest car for the first time since, arguably, 2005. But again they could not get out of their own way.

Pit-stop blunders affected Hamilton's races in Malaysia and China early in the season, and then a terrible mistake in not putting enough fuel in Hamilton's car in qualifying in Spain turned an almost certain win into a battle for minor points.

These errors badly affected his title charge and in early summer his management started approaching other teams.

His favoured choice was almost certainly Red Bull, but they weren't interested. They also approached Ferrari, where Alonso vetoed Hamilton. That left Mercedes.

It is ironic that his decision to move teams has been announced on the back of four races that McLaren have dominated.

Meanwhile, Hamilton's relationship with McLaren Group chairman Ron Dennis, the man who signed him up and who promoted him to the F1 team in 2007, has collapsed.

It was noticeable that after Hamilton's win in Italy earlier this month Dennis stood, arms-folded and stoney-faced, beneath the podium, not applauding once. Nor did Dennis don one of McLaren's 'rocket-red' victory T-shirts, or join in the champagne celebrations with the team once Hamilton had completed his media duties.

In Singapore last weekend, it seemed that McLaren still believed they had a chance of keeping Hamilton; at least that was the impression from talking to the team.

But did Dennis already know in Monza of Hamilton's decision to defect? Was Hamilton's sombre mood after that win a reflection of his wondering whether he had made the right decision?

Was Hamilton's ill-advised decision to post a picture of confidential McLaren telemetry on the social networking site Twitter on the morning of the Belgian Grand Prix, the weekend before Italy, the action of a man who had had enough and didn't care any more because he knew he was leaving?

When was the Mercedes deal actually finally signed?

Was it done before BBC Sport broke the story of it being imminent in the week leading up to the Italian race?

Or was it not inked, finally, until this week, on the basis that only now has the Mercedes board committed to new commercial terms with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone?

In which case, was the gearbox failure that cost Hamilton a certain victory in Singapore, and effectively extinguished his title hopes for good, the straw that broke the camel's back?

In short, was Hamilton's decision based on cold, hard logic, rooted primarily in performance, in making more money, or founded on emotion as much as calculation. Or was it a combination of all those factors?

All these questions will be answered in time. Whatever led to Hamilton's decision, it is fair to say that it is an enormous gamble, one on which the next phase of his career hangs.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/09/hamilton_looks_for_long-term_s.html

Dorino Serafini Chico Serra Doug Serrurier Johnny ServozGavin Tony Settember

Lowe staying with McLaren in 2013

Martin Whitmarsh says that McLaren Technical Director Paddy Lowe will remain with the team in 2013. Lowe chose not to attend the McLaren event to avoid having detracting from the focus of the launch. Whitmarsh said that it was a “certainty” that Lowe would stay with McLaren this year but said that beyond that things [...]

Source: https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/lowe-staying-with-mclaren-in-2013/

Peter Broeker Tony Brooks Alan Brown Walt Brown Warwick Brown