Enter the black man
Christmas has come early for some people at McLaren who probably spent the weekend whooping it up and clinking glasses of bubbly. Others at the team are spitting razor blades and searching for voodoo dolls for Christmas on e-bay. The reason is that McLaren announced their driver line-up on Friday after feverish media speculation about the prospects of GP2 world champion, Lewis Hamilton. The young man - he's only 21 - has been a McLaren protégé since 1998 as part of their Young Driver Programme. Now, he has been asked to step up to the plate and take his seat as a fully fledged Formula One driver and the team-mate of double world champion, Fernando Alonso.
The announcement has put the noses of Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett out of joint because they will now be remaining at McLaren as test drivers. For Gary Paffett, his continued employment at McLaren in a testing role is probably not too galling. Doubtless, he would have appreciated a promotion but he has not really lost anything. Pedro de la Rosa on the other hand may be making all the right noises about Hamilton but I have no doubt that he is seething. Having stepped into the breach after the dramatic departure of Juan Pablo Montoya mid-season this year, he probably feels that the team owes him. It doesn't take too much inside knowledge to work out that de la Rosa would probably have expected the young Englishman to join McLaren as a test driver for a year or so before being promoted to a driving seat. Alternatively McLaren could have chosen to lend their young star to a lesser team for a year or so to allow him to clock up some F1 mileage before making the leap into a seat as a McLaren racing driver.
Now, there's the rub. Opinion is divided as to whether it is right for a rookie to begin his career in Formula One at the very top. David Coulthard forcefully argues that this is a bad thing for Lewis Hamilton. He thinks Hamilton should spend a couple of years as a McLaren test driver to allow him to develop "as a driver and as a man." Coulthard thinks that the pressure of being the team-mate of a double world champion will be too much for the lad. He goes as far as suggesting that Hamilton's career may be ruined as a consequence of the demands placed upon him at too early a stage in his career. Coulthard himself began his career as a test driver for Williams, a top team at the time, so he does have the benefit of experience. However, the two years he spent as a test driver don't seem to have been that beneficial to him. Despite spending nearly a decade driving for top teams - Williams and then McLaren - Coulthard never looked even vaguely likely to be a world championship contender. In other words, Hamilton would be within his rights to say that these sentiments are a bit rich if they are coming from a loser like Coulthard.
I would keep my mouth shut if I were Coulthard. There are spectacular precedents of rookies coming into the sport at the top end and blowing everyone away. Think Jacques Villeneuve or, better still - and this has to be the clincher argument - think Michael Schumacher.
I take a more robust view in assessing the suitability of young Mr Hamilton for a top team than the nay sayers. I think if you are going to teach somebody to appreciate good wine, you do not start them on cheap box wine - they will never learn to appreciate how good wine can be. You, instead, get them started on a decent drop of claret and they will be giving you talks on "nose" and "tannins" like the best of them. Stick the black man in a McLaren say I. Let us see what he can do. He has already proved himself as the most outstanding GP2 driver ever - a formula which is not exactly a walk in the park - so I see no reason why he can't mix it with the best at the very top.
For the 2007 F1 paddock I say this: be afraid, be very afraid. Imagine Tiger Woods and you will have some idea what I am talking about. Michael Schumacher did not retire at the end of this season for no reason…
Gitau
27 November 2007
The announcement has put the noses of Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett out of joint because they will now be remaining at McLaren as test drivers. For Gary Paffett, his continued employment at McLaren in a testing role is probably not too galling. Doubtless, he would have appreciated a promotion but he has not really lost anything. Pedro de la Rosa on the other hand may be making all the right noises about Hamilton but I have no doubt that he is seething. Having stepped into the breach after the dramatic departure of Juan Pablo Montoya mid-season this year, he probably feels that the team owes him. It doesn't take too much inside knowledge to work out that de la Rosa would probably have expected the young Englishman to join McLaren as a test driver for a year or so before being promoted to a driving seat. Alternatively McLaren could have chosen to lend their young star to a lesser team for a year or so to allow him to clock up some F1 mileage before making the leap into a seat as a McLaren racing driver.
Now, there's the rub. Opinion is divided as to whether it is right for a rookie to begin his career in Formula One at the very top. David Coulthard forcefully argues that this is a bad thing for Lewis Hamilton. He thinks Hamilton should spend a couple of years as a McLaren test driver to allow him to develop "as a driver and as a man." Coulthard thinks that the pressure of being the team-mate of a double world champion will be too much for the lad. He goes as far as suggesting that Hamilton's career may be ruined as a consequence of the demands placed upon him at too early a stage in his career. Coulthard himself began his career as a test driver for Williams, a top team at the time, so he does have the benefit of experience. However, the two years he spent as a test driver don't seem to have been that beneficial to him. Despite spending nearly a decade driving for top teams - Williams and then McLaren - Coulthard never looked even vaguely likely to be a world championship contender. In other words, Hamilton would be within his rights to say that these sentiments are a bit rich if they are coming from a loser like Coulthard.
I would keep my mouth shut if I were Coulthard. There are spectacular precedents of rookies coming into the sport at the top end and blowing everyone away. Think Jacques Villeneuve or, better still - and this has to be the clincher argument - think Michael Schumacher.
I take a more robust view in assessing the suitability of young Mr Hamilton for a top team than the nay sayers. I think if you are going to teach somebody to appreciate good wine, you do not start them on cheap box wine - they will never learn to appreciate how good wine can be. You, instead, get them started on a decent drop of claret and they will be giving you talks on "nose" and "tannins" like the best of them. Stick the black man in a McLaren say I. Let us see what he can do. He has already proved himself as the most outstanding GP2 driver ever - a formula which is not exactly a walk in the park - so I see no reason why he can't mix it with the best at the very top.
For the 2007 F1 paddock I say this: be afraid, be very afraid. Imagine Tiger Woods and you will have some idea what I am talking about. Michael Schumacher did not retire at the end of this season for no reason…
Gitau
27 November 2007
posted by Gitau at 12:28 pm
