Who is number one: team or driver?

[joniebee]

Now maybe im wrong on this but from what i can gather from this season things at McLaren arent great,And im not even talking about the fine they have received,Oh and the championship points deduction.

The problem at McLaren that i feel exists is the one between Alonso and Hamilton,And i could be completely wrong here cos this is a gut feeling i get.It seems to me that cos Hamilton has been such a revelation this year that Alonso is deeply annoyed,I feel he is furious cos his number one position at the team has been threatened by Hamilton,Alonso probably thought that Hamilton was just another rookie who would be swallowed up by his superior speed,But we all know that this couldnt be further from the truth and the reality is that the double world champion has been equalled at every turn from race one,And i sense that at times Alonso has blown his top at the fact that Hamilton is to much of a challenge and Alonso wants Hamilton to make sure he doesnt get in his way,And should behave like a normal number two and make sure he never beats him.This is where i have a problem,As i feel the teams in f1 are to competitive,Thus spoiling races cos certain drivers have to make sure they dont beat there team mates,And when you see this happening on the track it looks ridiculous.My view is that the teams should come behind the individual,And each individual driver can do as he likes,This would make races even better than at current.

[Ralf's Girl]

Hi joniebee, welcome to 10 Tenths.

It might just be worth directing your attention to this thread, which ties in quite nicely with the ideas you've raised.

[BootsOntheSide]

I wonder whether anything in Fernando's contract implied or explicitly states that he would have #1 status at McLaren, and that Lewis would have to remain behind him and not challenge directly in races. The notion that Fernando has stopped giving Lewis his setup data recently seems logical - since the problems in Hungary Lewis has not looked so super-impressive, and he always seemed to improve on Saturday once Fernando had his setup sorted.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

I wonder whether anything in Fernando's contract implied or explicitly states that he would have #1 status at McLaren,

Whilst no-one is privvy to these contracts, i'd seriously doubt that McLaren would state in Fernando's contract that he would be sole #1. I think that Fernando "assumed" that he'd be given #1 status.

[Chiefy]

I think, all-in-all, I agree with your sentiments. The team is, however, for my money, bigger than the driver. It shouldn't be for the driver to call the shots (be it Alonso this season or Michael Schumacher in previous). If I were a team boss getting nothing but grief from my drivers, something would have to be done. Scott Speed is probably the best example of this type of problem - and look at what happened to him. In essence though, you are right: drivers should fight it out on the track (probably until such a time as it might be considered appropriate for one to aid the other attain the WDC). That, of course, is difficult to regulate.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Chiefy

The team is, however, for my money, bigger than the driver. It shouldn't be for the driver to call the shots (be it Alonso this season or Michael Schumacher in previous).

Trouble is, and to use your 2 examples, Ferrari hadn't won a title in 17 years (??), McLaren in 7 years. Both teams turned to drivers (Fernando and Michael) that they knew could get the job done, that is why these drivers are granted more "leniancy" than other drivers. (Though i'd say more so in Michael's case with Ferrari than Fernando's with McLaren).

[pottiella]

quite right Mr V...once again you and I agree

(I'm a poet, and you'd never know it )

[Chiefy]

Quite right Mr V. "Desperate times...", and all.

[rcarr]

McLaren is bigger than Falonso. They have seen champions come and go. I have no idea what he wants to achieve when threatening Ron like that. Senna and Prost will have done similar things behind closed doors. He is contracted to the team for a while so why has he put it upon himself to put the management's backs up?
He is used to smaller teams, Renault are still alot smaller than Ferrari and McLaren and he ruled the roost with them, Minardi too. He hasn't got the experience of a large team like Kimi, Massa or Michael have had.

Uncle Ron keeps talking about equality, there must be something in the contract that says Falonso won't be the sole #1 driver, Ron is so precise with his words he would never have brought it up if it wasn't in the contract, unless Falonso didn't read the small print, remember he did sign that contract when he had won his 1st championship.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by rcarr

He hasn't got the experience of a large team like Kimi, Massa or Michael have had.

Michael maybe not, but your wrong with regards to Kimi and Felipe, bear in mind that Kimi drover for Sauber, McLaren (same as Fernando now does) and Ferrari (McLaren are as big as Ferrari), Ditto for Felipe, Sauber and Ferrari.

Thinking about it, Michael drove for Benetton (the team that became Renault) and Ferrari (equally as big as McLaren)

[pottiella]

interesting from Montoya:

http://cbs.sportsline.com/autoracing/story/10363162/rss