Button 'targeted by Ferrari'

My understanding is that McLaren have a dedicated department dealing purely with race strategy and nothing else. These are paid professional strategists. Do you not think that it would make sense to make use of the services of professional strategists?

I know what you are saying, in that McLaren strategy has usually been poor, however, if you have strategists at your disposal, it makes sense to use them. Right?

Also bear in mind that up until the last race, Hamilton was 2nd; 2nd only to the almighty Vettel, who is the form of his life and in one of the best cars. Even Alonso is unable to hang on to Vettel.

Based on the above, I would have to say that even based on this season, Hamilton has shown that he is one of the best drivers and I'm sure that by the end of the season, he should finish up ahead of Button (who is actually a pretty good racing driver...ex-world champion, etc).
 
full department sounds like a massive waste of human resources.

most of the time everyone just reacts to what is happening with the other teams anyway even the ones at the back of the field can give you an estimate of how much faster the tyres can be at various points in the race
 
sunama said:
I know what you are saying, in that McLaren strategy has usually been poor, however, if you have strategists at your disposal, it makes sense to use them. Right?.
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Contradictory statement is contradictory. Why use them if they're rubbish.. because you have the option? :/

McLaren have a notoriously crap strategy department. Constantly over-analysing things and going for the "clever" angle, instead of just playing it safe or making obvious moves that 99% of people on the forum scream at any given moment when it's do or die.

They'd be better suited to sourcing their team decisions to Twitter :p
 
EVH said:
They'd be better suited to sourcing their team decisions to Twitter :p
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LMAO.

Can you imagine McLaren placing polls on a website, asking people to vote on what the next strategic decision to be. This is to replace their strategic department which is basically ****e.
 
Button will stay at McLaren, Ferrari have zero interest in him, Lewis will probably leave as they must be getting sick of his constant whinging and moaning, and with uncle Ron now in the back seat his time is probably up, Ferrari won't want him around as he is no team player so maybe Red Bull will take him but they have Vettel just where they want him, so maybe he can go Nascar or do some movies or make some gangsta rap :)

Would love to see him in a midfield car, the carnage he would cause would be immense.
 
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Whitmarsh (not R.Denis), has a policy of hiring the best drivers he can lay his hands on.
Before Button arrived, I thought he was BS'ing when he stated this in the F1 Forum. After Button's arrival, I believe him.

As such, I think Whitmarsh would fight tooth and nail to keep Hamilton.

Based on last season's WDC standings, Hamilton is the 2nd best driver, behind Alonso (of all the non-RedBull drivers, Hamilton was beaten last year, only by Alonso).

If anybody is going to leave McLaren, it will be Button (though I think this is unlikely).
 
Hamilton has no place to go, does he? Red Bull have Vettel as their #1, Ferrari have Alonso as their #1 and we know he isn't going anywhere. LH is in the fastest team that have a slot for a #1 driver. A move to Mercedes would be another year where he can't challenge for a title.

If he wants to move forwards he is going to have to move to a team where he will at best be equal to another driver but no chance of being the clear number 1. He isn't going to work alongside Alonso again so that's Ferrari out, leaving Mark Webber's seat as the only realistic choice left. That would be fantastic to see, Hamilton and Vettel racing each other in the same machinery but I can't see it being a happy partnership after the stuff MW has said about the favouritism towards SV...
 
Horner has not hidden the fact that he is a fan of Hamilton.
Also Nuts stated on this forum that he would like Hamilton to be in his team perhaps his colleagues also feel the same).

I think RBR would take Hamilton. The big problem for Hamilton though is that Vettel is the darling of RBR. The team bosses all seem to like Vettel, so Hamilton will have to overcome this if he moves to RBR.

Personally, I think Hamilton and Button will both be with McLaren next year.
 
I'd also like to see Hamilton with Vettel at RBR - I think the atmosphere in the team would suit him more. If he could cope with the competition from Vettel is another matter.

No team will put up with drivers knocking each other off the track and I fear if Hamilton found it tough to out qualify Vettel that's exactly what he would do.

Mclaren would need a real talent to replace him but if he wants to go there's not a great deal they can do about it. Perhaps they would stick with Button and bring in an up and coming talent (di-resta?). I'd actually quite like watching the racing with those pairings next year, at the moment you know vettel beats webber and you know hamilton beats button.
 
ShakenNstirred said:
cant see him going to ferrari as he would have to drive as number 2 to that guy alonso
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In the run up to retirement, most sportsmen sell out, for a big pay day. This is quite normal in pretty much any professional sport.

Button has to decide if that time has come. If that time has come, he can take a huge pay increase, move to Ferrari and spend his remaining years in F1, earning big bucks, knowing that his and his family's future, is secure. I'd be very tempted to move to Ferrari on a 5 year contract @ US$20M per year, to drive 2nd fiddle to Alonso. And if they fire me within those 5 years, they still have to pay me the full US$100M.

Its funny when sports fans label certain sports people as "sell-outs", when a sportsman decides to change teams (in football this is very common). Yet, those same sports fans wouldn't hesitate to quit their current job/company, if they got a phone call offering to double their salary, for doing the same job. Ashley Cole comes to mind, where he was given all sorts of derogatory labels, when he moved from Arsenal to Chelsea. Apparently sportsmen are not allowed to think about their own career, sporting ambitions or financial future.

But anyway, considering that so many things have to happen for Button to move to Ferrari, it is most likely that he will be driving for McLaren next year and not Ferrari.
 
sunama said:
Button has to decide if that time has come. If that time has come, he can take a huge pay increase, move to Ferrari and spend his remaining years in F1, earning big bucks, knowing that his and his family's future, is secure. I'd be very tempted to move to Ferrari on a 5 year contract @ US$20M per year, to drive 2nd fiddle to Alonso. And if they fire me within those 5 years, they still have to pay me the full US$100M.

Its funny when sports fans label certain sports people as "sell-outs", when a sportsman decides to change teams (in football this is very common). Yet, those same sports fans wouldn't hesitate to quit their current job/company, if they got a phone call offering to double their salary, for doing the same job. Ashley Cole comes to mind, where he was given all sorts of derogatory labels, when he moved from Arsenal to Chelsea. Apparently sportsmen are not allowed to think about their own career, sporting ambitions or financial future.

But anyway, considering that so many things have to happen for Button to move to Ferrari, it is most likely that he will be driving for McLaren next year and not Ferrari.
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None of your comparisons are relevant, IMO. For starters Ashley Cole going from Arsenal to Chelsea is nothing like Button going to Ferrari. Cole was not going to play second fiddle, he was going and still having the ability to win things. He got stick because he wrote he had to pull over when his agent told him he was being offered 70k per week because he couldn't believe he was being treated like a slave.

If Mclaren offer button 15 million and he says he's being treated like a slave expect the fans to be equally as harsh

Cole didn't move to Chelsea knowing he would be on the bench, he went as first choice left back. Button to Ferrari would be accepting his was effectively benched and would only get the chance to win if Fernando got injured. The circumstances aren't even similar.

Comparing my mundane job to getting double the money to do nothing somewhere else is a completely different scenario to being a world champion.

With only 24 places on the grid for everyone in the world, there should be no places in top teams for sellouts as you call them. Let a hungry fast young driver get the seat.

Anyway doesn't this reek of Sunama double standards?

You spent the best part of 2 years or more telling us what a sell out button was going from team to team and being playboy. Now it's ok to sell out for money?

If he's going to go to ferrari and take on the challenge of Alonso and gets equal billing, kudos to him for taking and even bigger gamble than the one he's taken. It would be the bravest thing I've seen for years. If he's going for the money and happy to play the no2 while doing as Rubens or Massa then F1 isn't for him anymore.
 
FrankJH said:
except he isnt (and Lewis was lucky in Valencia that JB's KERS didnt work for 50% of the race otherwise it would have been 3 races in a row JB beat him fair and square)
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Thats a bold statement, especially as they are saying the lack of rear downforce was causing the Mclaren to spin wheels and wear the tyres. Maybe had Button had Kers he would have been eating tyres as fast as hamilton.

Would Button have gone faster, definately, but I reckon he would have also had issues with tyre wear.

The other two races he had incidents, debatable ones to some people. I doubt very much he would have beaten Lewis without those retirements.

When they are both still running Lewis has him beat most of the time.
 
dannyjo22 said:
You spent the best part of 2 years or more telling us what a sell out button was going from team to team and being playboy. Now it's ok to sell out for money?
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As I stated in my earlier post, as a driver (or any sportsman), enters the final years of his career, he has to consider his future. His family's future. There is nothing wrong with this. Who wouldn't want to sort out their future by taking a (high paying, crap) job for the final few years of their career?

I would never begrudge someone wanting to do this.
 
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He's 31, you are going on likes hes 37,38.

I'm pretty sure his financial future is more than sorted that he doesn't need to go be Alonso's latest whipping boy. It's not like they are going to give him a 5 year deal without get out clauses of their own as a no 2 driver.
 
dannyjo22 said:
He's 31, you are going on likes hes 37,38.

I'm pretty sure his financial future is more than sorted that he doesn't need to go be Alonso's latest whipping boy. It's not like they are going to give him a 5 year deal without get out clauses of their own as a no 2 driver.
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This is the attitude that many people take.

Oh...he's a millionaire...his future is sorted...he doesn't need to worry about his future or money.

This absolutely not the case. There are many millionaires...billionaires even. Yet, they bust a gut trying to maximise their earnings at all times.

Just because someone is already super rich, does not mean that they are not entitled to seek a big "final" pay day.

If I recall, did Damon Hill not do exactly this? If he did, I do not begrudge him this.

There are plenty of footballers around who are already super rich, yet, they "sell out" for the final big pay day. As I stated, for me, there is nothing wrong with this.

He is 31 indeed, but if he could get a 5 year contract (something like what Irvine did), taking him to 36 years...this would pretty much take him to retirement age.

I don't think anybody (sportsfan or otherwise) has the right to ask that their sporting idol not do what is right for him...and that includes Ashley Cole.
 
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