Hamilton is not to be pitied according to McLaren
While the McLaren driver had complained about his workload to commercial partners, Jonathan Neale reminds them of what the team and its drivers owe them and assures that Hamilton would be wrong to think he would be better off elsewhere.
On the sidelines of the British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton publicly complained about his commercial representation obligations with team partners and sponsors: « I’m sure that if you look around the paddock, there won’t be many other drivers who have done what I’ve done over the last two weeks. I’m excited about going on vacation… »
While he is in negotiations with his team for an extension of his contract beyond 2012, the British driver had set as a condition the reduction in the number of promotional days: « When I extend my contract with McLaren, they will be shocked at the number of days they can no longer make me do. I will do much less work. »
On the occasion of an event organized for Vodafone, on the sidelines of the German Grand Prix, McLaren publicly reprimanded its driver through its executive director, Jonathan Neale: « We are a commercially managed team with a fantastic group of partners. Obviously, Vodafone and Mercedes have expectations, and our technical partners are all doing an incredible job as well. We have long-term partnerships because they work well: Exxon Mobil has been with us since 1995, for example. This makes us a well-funded and winning team, and we are known for that. »
Jonathan Neale also points out that Lewis Hamilton is not more solicited than his teammate and that he would be just as much in other teams: « We recognize that drivers are human beings and that they have their limits, so we try to balance things as best we can, but we have relatively the same functioning as Red Bull or Ferrari. It has to be give-and-take. This is true behind the scenes as it is on the track: we have two champions with the same obligations. Lewis and Jenson share this burden of responsibility equally. »
Unlike some less fortunate teams, McLaren can also rely on its squad of test drivers: « We have been able to use, very successfully, Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett, and occasionally Oliver Turvey to lighten the load of representation and meet the expectations of our partners: when you have two world champions in your team and the partners we have, everyone wants to see them, we must be aware of that. »
