Don't read this if you don't like F1. It'll probably bore you to death. And some may say 'perhaps you should post it on an F1 formum'. But I've only got time for one, TLB. And it's in general discussion, where we can talk about anything, right? I'd love my questions to be addressed by someone in 'the know'. Maybe the BBC team could do this? I'd love to know how I could put these questions to them (Martin, David and Eddie). Does anyone know? Firstly, is it true that Mercedes GP currently only have half the funding of each of the top three teams? If so, is it true that Mercedes intend to increase this massively (to a level exceeding each of the current top three teams) from next season? Secondly, is it true that there's a high chance of Schumacher extending his racing contract through both 2013 and 2014? Let's face it. If it took 5 years for Schumacher to win the world championship in a Ferrari (something which many pundits forget to mention nowadays) then it'll be a while yet before he can do it in the Merc. Until Spa and Monza, so many suggested Schumacher would retire at the end of 2011. Clearly, they do not know Michael Schumacher. He has only one thing in mind. An 8th world title. Do you think that's highly unlikely? Well, many thought a 3rd was highly unlikely when he was 18 months into his contract at Ferrari. And looked what happened 3 years later! He's one of the fittest guys on the circuit. Age is not likely to prove a hindrance. Thirdly, why was Hamilton so quiet after Monza? The real Hamilton would have vented his anger at Schumacher in public. But there was nothing. Is it true that only 3 months ago Rosberg was in talks with McClaren in a bid to take Button's seat in 2012? If it were, the end obvioulsy came when Jenson made a long-term commitment to the team. But there's been rumours too that Hamilton may leave McClaren. Perhaps McClaren and Mercedes GP are right now negotiating a straight swap? Rosberg to McClaren, Hamilton to Mercedes GP? It would explain why Lewis was so quiet.
Mercedes GP is the former Honda Team. When Honda pulled out it was the second best funded team on the grid. Teams like McLaren have sidelines which support their business activities and allow them to build things such as the MTC. Honda was a pure race team. Whilst it wasn't in the s******iest of buildings the facilities were absolutely state of the art. I've been around Mclaren, Williams, Toyota Cologne, Honda, Jordan (now FI) over the past few years - Honda was certainly top 3 in terms of facilities and people. Ross Brawn's MBO of the Honda Team was done on some ridiculousy small deal - he took over the team pretty much for free - however, this then gave him full responsibility over the whole team - if he failed to get investors he would be responsible for the employees. He did a great job, but don't forget, the Brawn F1 Team was basically the Honda car designed in the previous year using the Honda resources and money, with the largest budget. It was fortunate for them that Honda pulled out, because they benefited from then getting by far the best engine on the grid - the Mercedes. Mercedes current woes follows the basic trends of a non-Newey designed car - other teams find it difficult to sustain championship winning cars over multiple seasons - the only ones who have managed this have been Renault (at the height of Renaults investment) and Ferrari. Mercedes will point to them not being funded as much as other teams - the difference is negligible, its likely that they are better funded than Red Bull. Michael Schumacher is undoubtedly the same driver he was when he left, however, he was out of the sport for so long that he hasn't been able to make the most of the evolutions and revolutions that have taken place. The race in Monza showed him at his best. I very much doubt Mclaren would trade in Button for Rosberg. He's got some talent but he's not a racer. Mclaren have by far the best driver pairing with 2 former Champions both able to deliver further Championships - maybe this is where they are going wrong - all of the other top teams only have one proper champion material driver, Vettel, Schumi, Alonso. If drivers (like Mark Webber) are slagging off Schumachers actions they need to a) grow some fecking balls, b) stop fecking whining and c) take a look at some of their back catalogue videos. Webber is a whining pussy who obviously forgets some of his antics on track - Autosport seem to be dedicating a feature to this under par driver every other week. Hamilton was smart with his comments after Monza - he knows that in the same position he'd have broken the ridiculous one move ruling. The rule book on driver behaviour has swung too far towards the nanny state mentality and rules we all seem to be forced into in this day and age, don't do this, don't do that, do it this way do it that way. These are racers - they are not being allowed to race with ridiculous regulations like this and I think the false application of DRS is damaging to the sport. To the casual viewer it might look good but its fake and its not racing in the true spirit of the sport. KERS is one thing, DRS is a joke. The Mansel/Prost/Senna era was by the best form of pure racing - the sport rights holders seem to be more concerned with attracting the casual viewer rather than having a true sporting spectacle of man and machine
On a different note the McLaren team was the only team to respond when I was going to take my terminally I'll dad to he British GP a few years ago. They sent a signed photo and a letter from Lewis the week before the british GP and an offer to visit tne factory which we couldn't do as he became to I'll to go to the GP or factory. At least they have a small bit of compassion.
McLaren is very good with the PR. My kids wanted to write to Lewis & Jenson to show some lego racing cars they had built. They wrote a letter to them sent a couple of photos and within a week had a lovely letter back thanking them for their support and sending 2 signed photos each of Jenson & Lewis along with another couple of photos of the cars. Daniel & Hannah were over the moon with these O0. Well done McLaren
