[Davros]

Not according to ross brawn
lewis has not asked for number 1 status
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula-one/19766766

[DJ12]

I'm sure he did. It's not like he's going to admit it. Rosberg is good, but not Hamilton good so I doubt it will become evident.

[UniversalTruth]

Originally Posted by DJ12

Whitmarsh said the move wasn't about money

Oukey, then what exactly is it about?
Does he know something which other people don't know? Like performance of future cars?

To me this is an idiotic decision to jump in the completely unknown. Of course, they will say it's not about money because otherwise he would not only look stupid but also avid. And a betrayer too.

Or probably because F1 is a complete circus (theater) and they want to change the roles, like in a movie, to make it somehow more interesting?

[DJ12]

No he's just pointing out they offered Hamilton the same money Mercedes were.

[Tahir2]

Perez signs for McLaren... excellent news for McLaren and hope he delivers!

Sorry to see Lewis go but maybe it was time for him to move on.

[Phil]

Originally Posted by UniversalTruth

Oukey, then what exactly is it about?

I sincerely believe the move has various reasons:
His relationship with the team/Whitmarsh hasn't been all that well it seems - certainly not as good as Fernando or Vettel within their teams. He's also been with the team since 5 years in F1 and much longer if you take his previous race-career into consideration - perhaps this is to go his own way. Mercedes seems like a good move, given the 2014 reg changes and he knows Norbert Haug as well.

Of course it's a huge risk - but who knows - it just might prove to be the best move he could do. As also a McLaren fan, I'm of course a bit disappointed and I will be interested to see if them losing Hamilton will turn any heads at McLaren. This will be also a very defining move for Perez I feel. This is his chance.

[tongue_of_colicab]

Why does everybody keep going on about 2014 reg changes? There is really no reason to think they will do better than the 3 top teams and all the reason to think they will actually do worse. There is no way of knowing what the merc engine will do and besides, it's not like the Ferrari or Renault engines will be bad. Not to mention that you can bet on it the FIA will make sure some engine development will be allowed (even if they don't tell us that) to make sure all engines are in the same ballpark just like they are know.

Besides, having the best engine still doesn't mean anything if your aero isn't any good. And apart from 1 lucky year with Brawn that whole outfit doesn't exactly have a history of producing good cars. Even after 3 years the mercedes still isn't even close to being a top car.

Why would they suddenly have a top car under 2014 regs?

[Phil]

I think you are exagerating my/our points here.

Big reg changes always have the potential to shuffle around the order quite substantially. Right now, the cars and rules are an evolution year upon year. Come 2014 (if the reg changes become reality) and we will see a substantial change. This will allow teams that are currently underperforming to up their game. It's not a guarantee, but the potential there is far higher because everyone will have to adapt to new regulations, new rules... it's a new game in many areas for everyone. It's also a game-changer because engines will be new for everyone and you will probably see differences between Renault, the Ferrari and the Mercedes one.

Mercedes has the financial means and the technical staff to make it happen. As a works-team and engine supplier, their advantage lies in that they can effectively already plan their car in advance to suit their engine. While the engines that will be handed out are strictly controlled by the FIA, there's no chance that customer engines and the ones being places in their own works-team will vary however.

To sum this up - regulation changes in 2014 is no guarantee that Mercedes will come out on top. Mercedes is gearing up for this big change though and if there is a time in which a works-team could have an advantage, 2014 is the year it could happen.

Hamilton could be either in a very good position to capitalize on that - or a bad one, if Mercedes once again falls short in other areas. How 2014 will turn out is everyone's guess. If Renault or Ferrari will have a better package, who knows - but this is hardly relevant to Hamilton's decision as his two options seemed to be to either stay with McLaren (a potential Mercedes customer in 2014) or change to Mercedes GP (works-team). He chose the latter - if for better or for worse, we'll find out soon enough.

[Dave Baumann]

Regs changes are often more about who has the most creative interpretation of the rules (i.e. double diffusers) when they come in.

Win regards to the Merc situation the thinking is that slough all the customer teams will receive the new enigines at a set time, the works team will have prior knowledge of the engine and they may be able to get a head start on the packaging of it, etc. The combustion engine itself is smaller, now with a turbo, and also more KERS capacity, so there are a lot of commiserations on the packaging side.

However, having seriously delete staff as Brawn in 2009 to survive the season, this past year Merc have been staffing back up again and signing some fairly big names. It'll be interesting to see what they deliver in 2013.

[Gerry]

Originally Posted by Dave Baumann

Regs changes are often more about who has the most creative interpretation of the rules (i.e. double diffusers) when they come in.

Win regards to the Merc situation the thinking is that slough all the customer teams will receive the new enigines at a set time, the works team will have prior knowledge of the engine and they may be able to get a head start on the packaging of it, etc. The combustion engine itself is smaller, now with a turbo, and also more KERS capacity, so there are a lot of commiserations on the packaging side.

However, having seriously delete staff as Brawn in 2009 to survive the season, this past year Merc have been staffing back up again and signing some fairly big names. It'll be interesting to see what they deliver in 2013.

Please tell me that was typed in on a phone with autocorrect.

[Phil]

It's amazing how much a brain auto-corrects while reading... I must have read over those miss-spellings without noticing it... but yeah, definately looks like some phone-auto-correction software...

Back on topic - seems like not everyone is looking forward to the 2014 regulation changes. There's a post on J.Allens site that's new, but Joe also covered it a couple of days ago. Make of it what you like:

• James Allen - Marussia chief warns 2014 engines 'threat to the sustainability of the F1 grid'
• Joe Saward - Scrapping engines rules

[Bludd]

Bleh, Kimi's off spoiled Q3.

[Tahir2]

Originally Posted by Bludd

Bleh, Kimi's off spoiled Q3.

Nah, Vettel had it covered and Kimi was reminding everyone of his Rally days.

[Kaotik]

Originally Posted by Tahir2

Nah, Vettel had it covered and Kimi was reminding everyone of his Rally days.

The bad part is that the lap would have probably gotten him 3rd position had he not spun

[UniversalTruth]

Originally Posted by Tahir2

Nah, Vettel had it covered and Kimi was reminding everyone of his Rally days.

And ruining Fernando Alonso's lap as he said it would have been very good. What a shame.

I don't know what exactly people like in Kimi, his pretty face perhaps?

[Tahir2]

Alonso did mention perhaps they could have gotten up to 4th maximum in his interview but overall wasn't too disappointed.

As to Kimi love... it's just that he is sooooooooo charming.

[Bludd]

Kimi's baby blue eyes and his rakish demeanour?

[Kaotik]

Ha! Alonso tried squeezing Kimi out of track and got himself out in first corner! Justice served, say bye bye to the lead!

[Billy Idol]

Grosjean...

[Billy Idol]

Well done Kobayashi!

[UniversalTruth]

Originally Posted by Kaotik

Ha! Alonso tried squeezing Kimi out of track and got himself out in first corner! Justice served, say bye bye to the lead!

You are so evil, you even don't know what exactly you are talking about.
So, you think that the revenge should be so cruel, how can you equalise things so naively?

In any case, in my eyes from this moment on Kimi is nothing more than an ordinary idiot. Last races it was another such to try to kill Fernando, this weekend it is this to ruin everything.

At least, Felipe did somehow manage to soften the damages with this second place.

But one thing is almost clear- with that move to Mercedes, Hamilton most probably lost any chances for the title this year. And he had a lot prior to the move,

[Kaotik]

For crying out loud, are you seriously suggesting that Kimi should have just ran off the track and yielded, or lift his pedal and risk someone smashing his rear just because Alonso wanted to go from where he wanted?

Alonso got what he deserved for pushing someone else off the track and smashing into him (even if not purposely, he was the one that initiated it all)

Nothing worth penalties for him though, as it was racing incident, but he can't blame anyone else but himself, several, non-finnish commentators including ex-f1 drivers agree on this too

Maybe you'd prefer that everyone else just start by running off the track and stay there so Fernando can do what he wants where he wants, and win?

[UniversalTruth]

Originally Posted by Kaotik

For crying out loud, are you seriously suggesting that Kimi should have just ran off the track and yielded, or lift his pedal and risk someone smashing his rear just because Alonso wanted to go from where he wanted?

Yup, the one that is behind is always responsible to protect the other which is in front. The one behind is always guilty and should protect the other. Read the laws for driving and you will see.

And I don't care what the other drivers and commentators say. I doubt they are smart enough to judge it properly.

[Ike Turner]

Originally Posted by UniversalTruth

And I don't care what the other drivers and commentators say. I doubt they are smart enough to judge it properly.

Says the crazy loon who thinks that we never landed on the moon and that the WTC towers were taken down by TNT... ��������

[UniversalTruth]

Originally Posted by Ike Turner

Says the crazy loon who thinks that we never landed on the moon and that the WTC towers were taken down by TNT... ��������

That doesn't prove anything about today and has no relation to this particular case.

And thank you for the definition. Highly appreciated. What a******s everywhere. :rolleyes: