Hamilton rubbishes talk of 2017 sabbatical

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton rejects rumours he could take a year off from F1 in 2017.

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Carlos Sainz Jnr was an unsung hero of qualifying:

Sainz just behind of the Ferraris says a lot about that chassis, with an old engine versus a whole Ferrari package at it’s best. Great stuff by Carlos and his team.

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28 comments on “Hamilton rubbishes talk of 2017 sabbatical”

  1. So, Jenson to williams…

    Lewiz sabatical.
    McLaren chassis better than Ferrari, news is rich today..
    In reality Williams should trail McLaren in a few years. Jenson is late with his decission. McLaren is almost there.

    1. I’m not sure he’d want to go to Williams. No manufacturer engine deal pretty much puts paid to any further winning they might do unfortunately, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that unfortunate forecast.

      His best prospects are with McLaren to be honest, but I can’t see him winning his seat against Stoffel and Fernando.

      Sadly, right now, I see Jenson heading to WEC next season unless something amazing happens.

    2. @jureo

      I think he’s trying to save some dignity, because it’s almost certain he’s gone for next year. Stoffel should get the ride for 2017, and between Jenson and Fernando, Mclaren would definitely opt for the Spaniard.

      I don’t see anyone offering him a more competitive ride for next year. Red Bull is stocked with talent with Dan and Max and Mercedes has Lewis and Nico. The 2nd Ferrari seat is maybe up for grabs, but even then I think Grosjean has a better chance of that seat than Button. There is a really strong chance that Mclaren could be ahead of Williams next year, so I wouldn’t really call that a switch to a more competitive team.

  2. “Lewis; can push and attack” until his tyres melt.

    1. Or he breaks his engine using ‘overtake’ mode too often in the race 7 then says ‘its not me, its the car’…

  3. Not sure going to a team that’s trailing the Mercedes, Ferraris and Red Bulls week in, week out is considered “being competitive” these days. The chances that Williams can step up and become a title contender next year, at this point, don’t look that good…

    But I suppose Jenson doesn’t want to end his career trying to push a team forward when he’s never going to enjoy the results of all that effort. This McLaren-Honda project will deliver one day and JB might not be part of it once that happens.

    Thanks for the COTD btw :D!

  4. Neil (@neilosjames)
    15th May 2016, 1:51

    Don’t expect Button will even have a choice in whether he leaves McLaren or not. And I really can’t see him staying.

    1. An Alonso – Vandoorne line-up looks so exciting. :D

  5. Alonso don’t push it. McLaren were on the top 10 because of Massa’s meltdown. Alonso has been doing his job right but you can’t make up your own feats or reputation, why would you? Great career. You are showcasing desperation.

    1. Bottas went through by only 0.18s, so…

    2. Kyart didn’t get use to his new car. If swapping not exist, both of the cars from red bull and Toro rosso can manage into q3 and alonso will he in 11 or 12

    3. ColdFly F1 (@)
      15th May 2016, 10:02

      He’s not pushing it. @peartree
      The article shows the data (sector 3) on which he claims that they are ahead of “Williams, Force India, Ferrari in terms of chassis side.” (Alonso’s words; I added the bold).
      If the chassis is that good it means that they are still lacking on the driver or PU side; coming from FA he probably means the Honda PU.

      We’ll see in 2 weeks if both can make it to the top 10.

      1. The McLaren chassis being better than the Ferrari one is a bad joke at best @coldfly

      2. @coldfly,
        I don’t know for sure, but I assume the 2015 Ferrai PU in the back of the STR isn’t much better compared to current Honda PU. And look how STR’s doing…

        1. ColdFly F1 (@)
          16th May 2016, 12:10

          @praxis, and that’s why he didn’t mention STR.

        2. Actually i think it still is better. Even if Honda PU has the same hp (which i doubt i thing it’s still 15hp to 20 behind even the 2015 engine) they still have to put more fuel because it’s less good at saving fuel so they lose even more time because of that.

    4. Alonso cannot tell what’s good from the outside, proof is his horrific career decisions. McLaren chassis is 7th best at best.

  6. Love how Jenson doesn’t consider the existence of one Stoffel Vandoorne.

    1. @wsrgo regardless of the company line and his want to be in F1, I’m sure Stoffel is glad to be driving Super Formula rather than a crap McLaren.

  7. Lately it seems Alonso is finding more and more faith in Mclaren where as Button seems to be getting more and more fustrated. As a massive Button fan I would be sad to see him go, but on the other hand I cant see him winning a race anytime soon.

  8. Why push the timing to the limit in Q1? If you have a car that can go through even with traffic? 25 seconds earlier is more reasonable choice for me.

    1. Yes, I don’t understand the point made by Symonds either, especially as even he says “Q1 is not a competition”.

      1. I guess he meant it as ‘You don’t need to do much to stay in Q1’.

  9. I was watching a few laps of yesterday’s WSBK race at Sepang, and the new last turn is pretty interesting. Yes it is off camber, but it doesn’t look as annoying and long as those types of turns usually do – maybe it’ll have a different feeling with cars racing on it, but it doesn’t look too uncomfortable as it’s not too big. The corner exit seems to have been made a bit tighter by chipping off from the apex, and it makes the riders and drivers to take a bit different racing line. Apparently there’s been other slight changes in a few turns which aren’t as noticable, but you can read about them in this interview with the guy who made the redesign: http://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/230271/1/zaffelli-explains-new-sepang.html
    (also the race can be found on Youtube if you want to see the track in action)

    1. I’m just so Happy someone other than tilke came around to fix this his Early failure of a tilkedrome by finally adding the Off Camber Corners. Here’s hoping they didn’t forget to put the concrete Desert in Place of all this stupid Grass and gravel!

  10. I agree with Hamilton that anyone proposing that Lewis would seriously consider a year out next season must be looking at the wrong mind stimulants.
    It might be an interesting speculation “what if” but I cannot see any reason why he would. Either he overcomes the points deficit for a 3rd straight title or he misses it and see his teammate take the crown. In the first case, why stop, and in the second case surely he would be even more keen to beat Nico next year!

  11. The only way Hamilton could possibly take a sabbatical is if he is in a similar position to Prost at the end of ’91, but I simply cannot see that happening, especially as he is contracted until the end of 2017 anyway, whilst Rosberg is not, and the relationship at Mercedes seems better than it was say 20 months ago.

  12. MG421982 (@)
    15th May 2016, 22:27

    I don’t know what Alonso takes, but I want it too! He forgot to mention that he doesn’t know the setup of the Ferraris tho. Very probably they are not set up to give max performance for that part of the track. It’s probable that McLaren’s chassis is better than FI and Williams’ indeed because they have the best engine on the grid, yet they are not far in front, but I hardly believe McLaren’s chassis is even on par with Ferrari’s. Anyway, I think it’s something else with Alonso mentioning all the time Ferrari whenever he makes some comparisons etc etc. Maybe deep down inside he feels sorry for leaving them to McLaren, it was his decision, but he “sounds” as if they fired him and he seeks some sort of revenge. With all the restrictions, it becomes more and more obvious he made the wrong move. I don’t think in 2017 will be much different for McLaren, so by the time McLaren will become a title contender again, Alonso might be even out of F1. The biggest chances to even win races, titles even more, is to drive for a manufacturer, so after seeing him going back to McLaren after the 2007 drama, I wouldn’t write off totally another stint at Ferrari after Kimi retires.

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