Ron Dennis is favoring lewis ?

Question

i remember last season he used to say they get treated equally between lewis and alonso. but when heikki came as lewis' teammate this season, he was going to be the second driver. we all knew that.

but this time ron himself has admitted it that they have always put lewis first. (we knew that but he didn't admit it until now)

in that interview at the turkish gp., and after it had finished james allen was like heikki did a normal race after the touch with kimi. and then he said something about lewis saying why should he be something. d**n i have forgotten some of it. but you know what i mean. if you saw the interview. it was after the race on the podium.

Answer 1

McClaren would be well shot of Hamilton unless they can get another driver who came through the same pampered route. Ron has made a rod for his own back and you'll find sympathy in the dictionary under S Y.

Answer 2

I thought he had said that it was driver safety first, not sure if he said anything after that. They actually said that Kovy could have won the race were it not for the tyre problem that McLaren is suffering. Hamilton did an amazing race and deserved what he got and I would have liked to see Kovy in the battle too. Alonso did a good job too.

I remember Ron actually once said "We were basically racing Alonso".. Sometimes he is less discrete I guess.. but I did get a bit paranoic when Kovy had another puncture. But I doubted they would do that on purpose I mean, that's just paranoia. I hope he has better luck next time.

EDIT: I think he also said that Hamilton was having more trouble with the tyres according to their data, so maybe that contributed to them worrying more about Hamilton's safety. He struggled in Q2 and he had suffered a puncture last year in that same track so I guess it's understandable.

On equality, I actually agree with Alonso, there is no such thing as perfect equality there's always a better lap to stop, there's always a better time to go out in Q3 and what McLaren does to manage this is that they take turns. But I remember in Hungary last year, Hamilton refused to give Alonso his turn in qualifying which triggered the whole scandal. I remember his response when they asked him why didn't he let Alonso past he said "I like coming first". What's that supposed to mean? Anyway. Alonso blocked him in retaliation. He got penalized. If McLaren can't enforce their policies then there's no equality. I think that the true answer to this is that there is no way you can give total equality.

Answer 3

yh i no he is favourin him but lewis has th talent and ron can see tht. ron has said b4 tht lewis is like a son 2 him, they hav been together for years. ron has made lewis a f1 driver and wants to make him th best he can be x

Answer 4

You are defo rite, Hamillton also let slip at the beginning of the season kovi was number 2.

Also Kovi did his job today buy blocking Kimi at the start and letting Hamilton go straight to second, it was so obvious. but yet again the great commentators didn't pick it up, or maybe chose to ignore it,

Also ITV are starting to annoy me, after the race when the top three go for the interview if Hamilton is not in the top three ITV choose not to show it to us fans watching at home, and like today we got to see some of it because Hamilton was second but once he spoke that was it didn't get to hear what Kimi had to say.

ITV are Hamilton biased.And I can see why Alonso didn't get on with Mclaren last year.

Answer 5

Kovalainen has been almost as quick and probably more consistent then Hamilton so far this year. If it wasn't for bad luck (safety car in Australia, crashing in Spain and puncture in Turkey) he would probably be level or even ahead of Hamilton in the championship.

It's a big shame if McLaren are favouring Lewis, but on the other hand Kovalainen has got a dream drive, so I don't think he'll be too bummered by it at the moment.

Answer 6

What, you expected something else?

Answer 7

Ill check You tube for the interview, I missed it.

It only confirms what everyone knew though as you mentioned. Lewis is like Ron's Son (they even share a similar hairline teehee) And no one else is going to get a look in at that team. In one respect its a good thing a team adopting a young driver and moulding him and then basing a team around, but on the other hand If its completely one sided with regards to the second driver, It just eliminates another part of the completion which F1 sorely needs. At least they stopped the silly pretence that they are both equal.

Answer 8

Ron has always cause they kinda brought him up the ranks...it happened last year with alonso and that ruined the season well apart from the other thing with ferrari,,,,but there was no harmony in the team then,,,,hamilton is protected unfairly,,becaince heiki is actually a good driver and he showed it today when he was moving his way up the grid he made alot of good moves,,but he is fighting a loosing battle with mclaren he is just filing the void till the get another hamilton,,,but they will have to stop this c**p....sure it is evident that hamilton is actually worried about heiki because the are on par with each other and he is now treatened but he knows the team has his back,,,but he has been off form lately and today was the first time he seemed to come back to himself-i guess its just a coincidence that heiki was at the back of the pack (lol) when hamilton gets back to normal ,,

Answer 9

Yah! i smell it!

Answer 10

I did not see that interview but regardless of what Ron D says, I still think that he favours Hamilton a little bit more than Heikki. There was also something Hamilton said earlier that made it sound as if he is the team's Number One. I've always noted taht the ITV commentators talk a lot about Hamilton. Last year especially, most of the time it was Hamilton this, Hamilton that. And I suppose it's still happening

If Heikki wants to cement his status in the team as not just a number 2 driver, he has to beat Hamilton. Only then maybe there will be no clear #1 in the team. I think he'll be able to do a good job, he's been doing quite well so far.

Answer 11

well ofcourse he is favouring lewis

Answer 12

I agree. I was a bit annoyed that he raved about Lewis' race (very good admittedly) but seemed to run out of adjectives for Heikki. Come on, they both had a good Turkish GP and Heikki is to be commended for coming back after THAT crash.

All teams favour one driver. Its economic sense, but there are ways of being subtle about it.

Answer 13

There's nothing on YouTube yet - I didn't see the race broadcast, following things on Live Timing/Scoring instead.  My guess is your quote is out of context - but look forward to hearing the actual words and context once I get home/see it on YouTube.

McLaren has always stated that both drivers have an equal opportunity.  Very few have ever suggested that they have done otherwise - - most have criticized them for NOT having a number 1 driver approach (they can't be quilty of both "crimes" now can they?!)

If McLaren think Heikki is more likely to deliver wins, he'll become the "favoured son" faster than you can say "Fernando Alonso".  Heikki doesn't seem to be complaining and did, after all, out qualify Lewis H in Istanbul.

Answer 14

yeah, mclaren is a british team, and lewis a british, so mclaren want him to be champion

Answer 15

I've not seen it yet but it's no secret that Dennis has a special relationship with Lewis, after all, they have known each other for a while.

Answer 16

Didn't need an interview to confirm that.