Posts Tagged McLaren

Hakkinen, Be The Hamilton’s Manager?

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Yesterday, it was confirmed that Lewis Hamilton’s interests in Formula One and beyond will no longer be represented by his father Anthony. However, the 2008 Formula One champion did not reveal the name of his future manager, as he’s yet to make that decision in the upcoming few weeks. Until then, McLaren put their driver under the management of Monaco based sports management Aces Group.

The aforementioned firm has been ran for some time by long-time manager Didier Coton, but the interesting fact about it is that former McLaren champion Mika Hakkinen is also an employee there for more than a year, since joining Coton in November 2008.

Which takes us to at least the assumption that Hakkinen could take on a management role with Hamilton. While still very close to his former title-winning team McLaren Mercedes, it has been reported that Hakkinen is also getting along quite well with Hamilton also. When asked about it, Coton argued that such an opportunity should not be turned down for anything.

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Lotus F1 Car is Worse than Minardi’s

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The last day of testing on the Barcelona track on Sunday marked the official finale of the off-season test in Formula One. Less than two weeks from now, the cars will rejoin an official race track to battle for the first points of the new season, meaning that most of the work should have already been finalized in the garage by now.

If the test on the Spanish track has been quite successful for teams such as McLaren, Ferrari or Red Bull, the newly entrants have suffered for most of the time during the month of February. Struggling with lack of spare parts and an aerodynamic package in an incipient stage, both Virgin Racing and Lotus F1 Team ended the testing in Jerez and Barcelona more than 4 or 5 seconds off the leading pace.

Talking to Finland’s Turun Sanomat, Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen made a comparison between his new T127 model and the Minardi car he used to take to the testing track some 6 years ago. And the results are quite worrying for the Malaysian officials at Lotus.

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Alonso always Improving

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Fernando Alonso insisted that he is now a better driver as compared to his first stint at Renault. Back during the 2005 and 2006 seasons, he won consecutive titles in the series, after which he moved to McLaren Mercedes. Although he hasn’t managed to add a 3rd world title in his CV, he reckoned that the one year he spent at Woking, as well as the struggling years he experienced at Renault have made him a more complete racer.

As we have already covered the McLaren story, we’ll focus on Alonso’s comments over his second stint at Renault, when he struggled in the mid-to-rear pack through the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

I knew I was only fighting for seventh or eighth but it was important to learn from that. I have no doubt I am a better driver now,” said Alonso in his interview with The Guardian, hinting that he preferred to leave a team in which he could have battled for the world title (at least theoretically) rather than play second fiddle to newcomer Lewis Hamilton.

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I want Button

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Lewis Hamilton put the rumors to rest during the McLaren Mercedes MP4-25 launch event in Newbury, at least the ones regarding his new teammate Jenson Button. The 2008 world champion told the media that it was his personal choice to see the reigning F1 champion in the same McLaren seat as him, although when he first told that to his team, McLaren was not negotiating with Button.

According to Lewis, he spoke personally with the members from McLaren’s staff and for the first time launched the hypothesis that Button would complete an all-British lineup for the Woking based team.

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McLaren Get Ferrari Aerodynamicist

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John Iley might have failed in securing Ferrari a race-winning machine back in 2009, but he seems good enough for McLaren Mercedes for the upcoming campaign of Formula One. According to a McLaren spokesman confirming to the Reuters news agency, Iley has already started work at the Woking factory earlier this month.

Iley was ousted by Ferrari midway through last season, when the Scuderia officials figured out that the F60 was a complete failure from an aerodynamic standpoint. Iley was then head of aerodynamics and wind tunnel for the Maranello based team and was held responsible for the poor results recorded by the car until that point.

The firing was made without any further explanations from the Ferrari organization.

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Alonso Ignores Hamilton

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Fernando Alonso refused to spend too much time responding to Lewis Hamilton during the media meetings Ferrari held at the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort in northern Italy. Earlier this month, his former McLaren teammate bragged in the British media that he “blew Alonso away” in his first year at the Woking squad, something that almost made up for the lost title in 2007.

Obviously, the international media present at the Wrooom event in Italy decided to piggyback on the topic and asked Alonso to comment Ham’s latest interview. The Spaniard refused to do so, however, while also avoiding to point any fingers at McLaren.

“If I have to answer to all that he says I would use up too much time. McLaren, though, are a good team and when I went there it was a nice moment for me,” said the 28-year old driver.

Earlier in the day, during an official interview set up by the Ferrari official site, the Spaniard also pulled off a strategic answer to one of the reporter’s Hamilton-related questions. Asked who he wants to beat the most in 2010 between Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher, the Spaniard said he prefers to only win the race.
Additionally, he admitted that the best drivers will be in the best cars next season, naming McLaren, Mercedes GP and Red Bull the most important rivals he’ll face in his quest for the world title. However, Alonso admitted it will take some time to get up to speed in 2010, as he’ll only have 7 or 8 days of testing with his brand new car.

“I have only seven or eight days to get used to the new car. There is probably no other sport in which you can only practice seven times before the beginning of a season. Perhaps at the first race I will not be completely familiar with my new environment. But by the third race at the latest, we will see the real Alonso,” added the Spaniard, according to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

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Schumacher’s Contract For Free?

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Mercedes motorsport director Norbert Haug hit back at criticism coming from within the Stuttgart based company in recent weeks, insisting that the German manufacturer has taken the best path to the future in terms of Formula One commitments.

Soon after Daimler AG pulled their support from Team McLaren, some of the voices within the company’s board of directors argued that this would have been a great opportunity for Mercedes to quit the sport completely. Instead, Mercedes bought more than 75 percent of Brawn GP and began its own new team in the series. Needless to say, the move was intensively criticized internally.

In addition to that “costly move”, as argued by a member of Daimler’s supervisory board and Corporate Works Council Erich Klemm, the team then employed Michael Schumacher for an alleged 7 million euro retainer per season. Again, a supervisory board member Uwe Werner argued that the move was “hard to justify” in times of economic regression such as these.

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Button and Brawn Honoured by Queen Elizabeth II

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It’s becoming a quite common tradition in the UK for the world champions of Formula One to make the New Year Honours list of the Queen. After Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 F1 championship, Queen Elizabeth II honored the McLaren racer with the Member of the British Empire (MBE).

Now, it is time for Jenson Button to get the honors, as revealed by several British media in recent weeks. However, he will not stand alone before the Queen, but joined by none other than the very man he let down at the end of the 2009 season, Ross Brawn. According to the Daily Telegraph, the Brawn GP team owner last season will also be honored with distinction from the Queen.

However, the aforementioned source did not disclose any information on Brawn’s honors. Considering his immense contribution to the sport of motor racing in the UK, the 54-year old may receive a higher honor from Queen Elizabeth II, such as an OBE or a knighthood, as compared to Button’s MBE.

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Hamilton Happy with Schumacher’s Comeback

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Former F1 champion Lewis Hamilton insisted that he is delighted with the news that Michael Schumacher will return to Formula One racing for the upcoming 3 seasons. The Brit never got to compete against the 7-time world champion, as he entered F1 in 2007, and will finally get that chance starting 2010; which he waits forward like nothing in the world.

It’s brilliant news. It’s great to have Michael back in Formula 1. I used to watch him race when I was in the junior categories and I always hoped that I would be in F1 while he was still around. I’m really looking forward to seeing him on the track and back at the top,” said Ham, according to Autosport.

He is a legend and a really nice guy, and I am happy for him that he has once again got an opportunity to do the best job in the world - to race in Formula 1. I wish him my absolute best wishes on his comeback with such a fine team and company as Mercedes-Benz,” added the 2008 F1 champion.

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Button Lost to Hamilton in Top Gear Test

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Jenson Button has lost his first head-to-head confrontation with his new teammate and future rival Lewis Hamilton since he joined McLaren Mercedes team. Although the two were not put one alongside another on a track to compete for 1st place, they were given the chance to lap for the fastest time (in different days) during the famous BBC show Top Gear.

While Hamilton’s test happened a couple of years ago - during his very first season in Formula One and before he became world champion for the Woking based team - Jenson Button’s rolled off earlier this month.

However, the reigning world champion failed to top Ham’s time around the Top Gear-selected track, as he eventually crossed the finish line some two-tenths of a second slower than his new teammate (who stopped the clock at 1:44.9). The results didn’t seem to bump Button too much, as he admitted he is still eager to challenge Ham for the upper hand at McLaren.

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