Perez ‘not paying for McLaren seat’ – manager

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Sergio Perez’s manager says he his not paying for his drive at McLaren.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Perez Not Bringing Money To McLaren, Says Manager Fernandez (Speed)

Adrian Fernandez (Sergio Perez’s manager): “Sergio is an unbelievable driver and he has earned his place at McLaren. He is not bringing money to the team. He has been hired to race. His performances earned him this position, and that made my job easier because people were interested in him.”

Hamilton has full faith in brains of Brawn (The Telegraph)

Ross Brawn: “The changes we have made in the last two years will be measured in 2013. Geoff Willis, Aldo Costa, Mike Elliott, our new head of aero. I’m very excited about Mike. He’s a really strong guy. That has to show through in 2013 and I am pretty optimistic and confident that it will.”

Hamilton ‘sparked’ Mercedes move (BBC)

Martin Brundle: “Last weekend I got the firm impression from McLaren that they thought they were going to keep Lewis. I believe this deal happened two days ago, when he finally made the jump to the new team.”

“Lewis’s management expressed interest, wanted to know what our plans were and it grew from there.”

Mercedes move is Lewis Hamilton’s bid to strike out on his own (The Guardian)

John Watson: “Because he came in so young he doesn’t know anything differently. Jenson is a more rounded personality and character by virtue of life experiences. Lewis’s life experiences are very much contained within the strictures of McLaren.”

Comment of the day

There were lots of good suggestions for yesterday’s Caption Competition – I particularly liked those from James Brickles, Sozavele, Icemangrins, Timtoo and Hairs.

But my favourite was this one from Boris (@Bozdee):

Hamilton: “Jenson, you reckon Mercedes are going to have a championship-winning car next season?”

From the forum

Happy birthday!

No F1 Fanatic birthdays today.

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

Five years ago today F1 returned to Fuji for the first time in three decades. The Japanese Grand Prix was held in foul conditions, the drivers circulating behind the safety car for a preposterous 18 laps at the start.

When the race finally began Lewis Hamilton mastered the appalling conditions to take a brilliant win. Team mate Fernando Alonso crashed out and fell 12 points behind Hamilton in the championship with two races to go.

Ferrari took themselves out of contention by starting their drivers on intermediate tyres, but Kimi Raikkonen recovered to an excellent third, while Heikki Kovalainen impressed by keeping his fellow Finn at bay for second place.

Mark Webber was taken out of the race while running second when future Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel, then driving for Toro Rosso, crashed into him.

Image © Sauber F1 Team, McLaren/Hoch Zwei

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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70 comments on “Perez ‘not paying for McLaren seat’ – manager”

  1. “Lewis’s management expressed interest, wanted to know what our plans were and it grew from there.”

    DAMN YOU SIMON FULLER!!!!!

    1. “Simon says…”

    2. Well duhhh that’s his management’s job

    3. He should have kept his dad to run things for him.. Not an entertainment management. But it says it all, “Entertainment”, starlike airs. Lewis personality has totally changed since he joined F1 and not in a good way. I’m still a fan of his racecraft, but it’s years ago I was a fan of his personality.. In a way I think this step will help him mature and take nothing for granted.

      However I will miss my favourite driver in my favourite car.

  2. Is Mclaren really losing Vodafone backing at the end of this season? Because for as far as I know Hamilton has no personal sponsors. Perez is cheaper than Lewis and he brings in more money, it’s a win-win situation.

    1. Doesn’t look like at the moment.

      1. so are we gonna see both telmex and vodafone in mclaren next year? wonder if vodafone will think about move out from mclaren though

        1. Is Telmex a global company? Because at least Claro is just the South American brand, and there’s no Vodafone here, so it doesn’t mix up…

          I’d be weird to have both telephone companies together, but if it’s targeted to a market where one of the brands don’t even exist…….

          1. América Móvil (owner of Telmex, Telcel, Claro & Tracfone) do compete with Vodafone brands in 4 or 5 countries.

            América Móvil service area: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Am%C3%A9ricaM%C3%B3vil.png
            Vodafone service area: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vodafone-global-footprint.jpg

        2. Well, if Perez joined on merit they might not take the sponsorship.

        3. Kate Walker (twitter: @F1Kate) commented on BBC news that Telmex is a distributor (or some other thing, I forget the actual wording) of Vodafone in some countries, and that the deal was beneficial from a sponsorship point of view in that way.

    2. The situation with Vodafone is unknown. Their contract ends after 2013, but there are apparently exit clauses that mean they could end their sponsorship after 2012.

      Hamilton does not have personal sponsors because McLaren does not allow it. Their drivers endorse the team sponsors, which creates a uniform public image. It’s believed to be one of the reasons why Hamilton left.

    3. @Kingshark Lewis has Reebok. Will be interesting to see how they dovetail it with Mercedes’ contract with Puma…

      1. …. and you think the deal with reebok is EVERLASTING? ….. Can it just be that that contract has also ENDED?

    4. davidnotcoulthard
      30th September 2012, 8:44

      Well, I read a PitPass article a few months ago which said that Coca Cola might be McLaren’s sponsor next year…

      1. Which has since been thoroughly debunked. Will Buxton had a very good article on it a while aho, picking it to pieces.

        For future reference, Pitpass has a very poor reputation among Formula 1 fans.

    5. Well @kingshark, first of all Hamilton does have some personal sponsors, but the lack of them is not because of Hamilton, but because McLaren is really restrictive as far as allowing these for their drivers goes.

  3. Team mate Fernando Alonso crashed out and fell 12 points behind Hamilton in the championship with two laps to go.

    Ferrari took themselves out of contention by starting their drivers on intermediate tyres, but Kimi Raikkonen recovered to an excellent second

    I believe that should say ‘two races’ and ‘third’.

    1. Yeah I was reading it and was like… I’m sure that happened more than 2 laps from the end. And I distinctly remember an interview with Heikki after the race about him keeping Kimi behind at the end of the race.

      And no mention of the fantastic Kubica and (I think) Massa rally cross on the last lap constantly switching positions!

  4. Well McLaren may not be contractually obligated to have Telmex as a sponsor but I’m sure that will not stop them putting one or two logos in next year’s cars hehe

    1. Telmex, Claro and the America Movil brands can sponsor the team if their own volition. And I believe there is a strategic relationship between Vodafone and America Movil to use infrastructure in Latin America, so there shouldn’t be too many problems between sharing space on the car.

    2. Whitmarsh is aware of the potential lucrative repercussions of bringing in Perez as he said: “I did have a conversation with Carlos. But we have made an offer to Sergio, we are paying him well and there are no side deals or other deals on it.

      “I’m not saying that ultimately there may be other fresh partners coming forward because of it, but that wasn’t the motivating force.

      http://www.sportinglife.com/formula1/news/article/669/8118395/whitmarsh-sees-the-positive

  5. Wise words from John Watson there, perhaps this is the start of greater things for Lewis.

  6. i’m somewhat suprised at the unfunniness of the winning ‘comment of the day’. :|

    1. @TX2012 Everyone’s wired differently, so one person’s unfunniness is another’s LOL.

      I actually thought the caption from @brickles was the best, and interestingly it’s not the first time Keith has nominated the first post as one of his favorites, so I guess the trick to being picked is to get in early ;-)

      1. @pault – I won’t protest the F1F’s decision ;)

    2. I thought it was brilliant.

  7. What a sad thing that we’re not going be seeing a race as foul as Fuji 07 anymore. Any weather conditions even remotely similar to that will get red-flagged in this day and age. What once separated the men from the boys will no longer serve as a barometer.

    1. Fuji 2007 was not a race that “separated the men from the boys”. The monsoonal conditions were atrocious, and the race should not have been run.

      1. I agree the conditions were monsoonal for a period, but your statement regarding the race should not have been run I cannot buy. There was a clear demonstration of talent displayed in this race, Kimi was one of them. Strategies were important, skills were required and entertainment was provided. Today’s formula is too precise and if the cars cannot cope, then it’s time to change the design.

        1. yeah the incidents were pretty minimal, the times the races need to be stopped is when you get a river like at turn 1 in germany that year.

        2. We hardly had any racing at all. They spent more time under safety car. It was one of those races where the Race Director had the cars circulate forever under SC just so the race distance would meet the requirement for full points, something that obviously, completely, misses the point of the regulation.

    2. Any weather conditions even remotely similar to that will get red-flagged in this day and age.

      Hopefully. I’ve certainly no interest in seeing them parade around behind the safety car for lap after lap as they did then.

      In very wet conditions like that they need to keep the race under the red flag until it’s safe to race. Once the risk of aquaplaning is on having a safety car start and bring the safety car in immediately, not going around dozens of laps, wasting the race duration and distance with no racing going on.

  8. Some days before Hamilton’s announcement, he published in Twitter his car’s telemetry…
    Not very wise movement. There will be people asking why he published such important car’s information just few days before he left McLaren.

    1. @idr In light of his move that does look rather dodgy now.

      1. @keithcollantine @idr I was thinking about that yesterday and also thought it now comes across as less of an innocent mistake…

    2. That was about a month ago.

    3. I think thats looking into it too much, it seems obvious he posted it to show the world why/where jenson was quicker, rather than to show other teams their car data, i mean, thats the sort of information he can take with him in his head, to another team.

      I think he just had a brain fart and didnt realise about ride heights n such. Besides, regardless of where he races next year, he still wants to win this years, and giving data out wouldnt help him.

    4. From an competitors perspective there’s very little important information in that telemetry image anyway.

      The data is mostly of use to the driver himself which in turn is specific to the McLaren cars’ as they were setup on that day in those conditions on that track at that time on that lap.

      1. In addition, the traces relate to the status of the selected parameters at the given moments around the lap. The setup details themselves are not exposed, just the consequences of the setup if that makes sense.

        In other words interesting but not very useful from a competitors point of view.

  9. I just realised, Perez started his career in Sauber, then ferrari said he is inexperienced and not good enough and mclaren picked him up. Raikkonen started his f1 carrer in Sauber, ferrrari said he was inexperienced and not good enough and mclaren picked him up.

    1. And Raikkonnen and 5 seasons later then left for Ferrari in 2007. SO wouldn’t be surprised if Perez jumps to Ferrari in 2017. (Fernando’s contract currently runs out in 2016) :)

      1. As ironic as it may seem, I actually think that:

        Vettel is Schumacher.
        Hamilton is Villeneuve.
        Perez is Raikkonen.

        :D

        1. davidnotcoulthard
          30th September 2012, 8:49

          Hey, You’re right! Lewis is actually joining BAR, or BAT, Brawn, or Tyrrell, , or Merc, or whatever sounds better to you….

        2. In that analogy, I think Alonso should be Schumacher, isn’t it? Vettel might be…Hakkinen? :)

    2. Perez started his career in Sauber, then ferrari said he is inexperienced and not good enough and mclaren picked him up. Raikkonen started his f1 carrer in Sauber, ferrrari said he was inexperienced and not good enough and mclaren picked him up.

      I seem to recall Jean Todt, in his Ferrari days around 2005/2006, dismissing Alonso as a potential Schumacher replacement. Come 2010, of course…

      Which probably means we can expect to see Perez at the Scuderia by 2018 at the very latest.

  10. @KeithCollantine Heikki Kovalainen was second, Kimi Raikkonen was third…

  11. davidnotcoulthard
    30th September 2012, 9:49

    Lewis Hamilton mastered the appalling conditions to take a brilliant win.

    Didn’t I read somewhere that Lewis indirectly caused the Vettel-Webber accident, and that the stewards dropped Vettel’s penalty (Only for Vettel to earn another one)?

    1. That was under safety car conditions. I forget how much Hamilton was actually to blame, but the stewards clearly didn’t think it was a lot, and the part about mastering the conditions is still true.

    2. Some fan footage surfaced after the race which appeared to show Lewis slowing erratically, followed by the Vettel/Webber collision. There was some speculation that Hamilton would be penalised, but nothing came of it. However the FIA subsequently introduced a rule covering how the lead driver is expected to behave under the safety car.

  12. It’s good to see competitive drivers switching teams, even more if they go from one top team to another. However out of all the drivers I wished at least Hamilton didn’t move. He and McLaren had been associated for years and it was nice to see a “loyal” driver. The likes of Alonso and Button have changed team frequently, so it wouldn’t be strange to see them change team, if not that their current teams are very competitive.
    I thought for 2013 nothing would have changed in the line-up and that the moves would have been programmed for 2014.

  13. That caption was absolute pants..

  14. I think Lewis did a kind of Fernando 2005 by moving out of his initially beloved team. I wonder if his decision will be more successful than that of Fernando in terms of results.

    Fernando actually came out arguably stronger from 2007, a textbook example of ‘what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger’. He became a more complete driver by not allowing that much ego for himself as he did before, simply learning from 2007 what it feels like to be on the wrong end of another driver’s applied pressure. He had to retreat back to his cave, Renault, yes, but he recovered and emerged as a more comprehensive driver. He wouldn’t be where he is now, if he hadn’t left Renault for McLaren IMO.

    Lewis also made a big step to the unknown. It is this time when it is just startling just how much younger Lewis is. He has all these years before him, in which those things happened to Fernando. Only time will tell, how his career will pan out from here…

    Speaking of comparisons, I think Lewis is very much like Senna and not because of his helmet. He is the kind of controversial man, prone to controversial accidents and situations, and one who – I think – can be quicker than anyone, including Alonso and Vettel, on a single lap in the same machinery. He also won one title nearing the end of his sixth year in F1 and finished a strong candidate in 2nd once. He may lack the steep learning curve of Senna as he achieved the aforementioned 1st and 2nd places in the championship in his first two years, stepping back on the ladder since then, but hey – Lewis got the machinery out of the box, whereas Senna did not.

    Alonso very much resembles to Prost for me. His composure, his complete character, attention to details – overall, his very calculated manner of racing. He might not as quick as Lewis (or Senna) in terms of outright pace – but even that is arguable, given how he consistenly outperformed his Ferrari for two years now. So I think he resembles Prost the most, but he could be even greater.

    Vettel is very much like Schumacher and not (only) because he is German as well. He has the kind of same cold precision, bit arrogance, same successes, full of records and great numbers.

    But then again, Vettel’s pole count is as impressive as Senna’s and Alonso motivates Ferrari almost as much as Schumacher did, so these comparisons are very much subjective to a great extent.

    1. I don’t agree. Alonso is the fastest driver out there. Hamilton is fast in qualifying but in race trim he is nowhere near . Also let me remind you. Hamilton has has the best and second best carcin all of his f1 seasons while alonso does not. So it is hard to see and say that hamilton is fast in qualifying since alonso had had a slower car than hamilton in all of his f1 seasons.

  15. hi Keith Collantine,

    Its amazing how much you HATE Lewis Hamilton and I have been a big fan of your blog for the past 2 years but totally disgusted by your innuendos . Its a shame Keith hating Lewis doesnt help you any bit if you could just check your stats actually posts on LH have higher stats.

    Keep hating my friend what a shame.

    Jim

    1. When the race finally began Lewis Hamilton mastered the appalling conditions to take a brilliant win.

      Oh, yes, I sense a spiteful undertone in that line as well…

    2. I haven’t got anything against Lewis Hamilton and I have no idea what you’re referring to.

    3. What innuendo?

    4. Ehm, right Jim. I guess it would be nice if you gave us a bit more reasons for your post, because I am the 4th one now who does not really understand what makes you come to this conclusion.

      1. JimmyTheIllustratedBlindSolidSilverBeachStackapopolis III
        30th September 2012, 13:43

        5th

        “but totally disgusted by your innuendos”

        Well don’t put it there then.

    5. JimmyTheIllustratedBlindSolidSilverBeachStackapopolis III
      30th September 2012, 13:59

      Ok i can’t resist some lewis hamilton innuendo.

      “hey baby wana come back to monaco and ride my massive yacht?”

    6. Please elaborate, Jim.

    7. loving mclaren more than lewis doesn´t mean hating the later! :-)

      Come on….. how can you say this…..

    8. Good absinthe, I like it too :)

    9. Another Lewis fan that thinks the world is against him… The stewards because of his skin colour, Whitmarsh because he doesn’t like winning WDC’s or WCC because of one driver… and the list goes on…

  16. Following the link to that article on Perez quoting Fernandez (nice read), I saw the headline Bernie doesn’t want turbo in 2014 – I can see that, but I don’t see how he can really convince the FIA to change.

    I mean, it is not as if changing plans (delaying?) now would be cheaper, the engines are already designed and on the test banks since at least a month we have herad. If they scrap them now the engine guys have spent a lot of the required money already, and for nothing. They will ask for compensation, or just change plans to leave (Renault if they can’t get the smaller turbo they really want?)

    1. @bosyber It’s similar to an article featured in yesterdays round-up. It almost makes it sound like right now it’s too expensive for F1, like the economic situation is going to ever be in a place where it won’t be expensive! Sounds like people trying to make up some weak excuses to suit their own silly, out-dated agendas

      1. I do suppose that’s the usual story in F1 (and the world, all too often?) @andrewtanner: having a goal, then tell a story to make that goal seem reasonable/reachable (different from debating/reasoning by not needing to stick to facts and logic).

  17. Side note; Perez is really hairy.

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