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Monday, October 8, 2012

Should Lewis be a "twit"? Disharmony approaches

I guess I'll start with Lewis and his tweeting issues.

This morning he derided Jenson Button for "unfollowing" him on twitter:

"Just noticed @jensonbutton unfollowed, thats a shame. After 3 years as teammates, I thought we respected one another but clearly he doesn't," Hamilton tweeted

"Funny thing is, we are STILL teammates! All good tho, I plan on giving this team & fans all I got til I cross the finish line in brazil!!!,"

This was followed quickly by:

"My bad, just found out Jenson never followed me. Don't blame him! Need to be on Twitter more".

Lewis should know by now that Twitter is a dangerous toy.  Since his now infamous telemetry tweet he's been relatively quiet, posting photo's of himself along with short, inspiring, quotes but once again the gremlins have got to him and the result is another crack in the ever widening fracture that is the McLaren garage.

It doesn't help the public perception of the team that the photographs coming out of McLaren are showing a relaxed, open and smiling Jenson Button while the images show Lewis wearing sunglasses, with his visor down, or unsmiling.  These official images show the conflicted nature of the garage and the team and may do more harm than good to their Constructor's Title hopes.  All of the images which follow are attributable to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

Friday - Suzuka
Lewis Hamilton at Japanese GP
Jenson Button at Japanese GP
Lewis Hamilton at Japanese GP
Jenson Button at Japanese GP
Lewis Hamilton at Japanese GP

Saturday - Suzuka
Jenson Button at Japanese GP
Lewis Hamilton at Japanese GP

Lewis Hamilton at Japanese GP
Jenson Button at Japanese GP
Lewis Hamilton at Japanese GP
Lewis Hamilton at Japanese GP
Jenson Button at Japanese GP

Sunday - Suzuka
Lewis Hamilton at Japanese GP
Jenson Button at Japanese GPLewis Hamilton at Japanese GP
Lewis Hamilton at Japanese GPJenson Button at Japanese GP
Jenson Button at Japanese GP
Lewis Hamilton at Japanese GP

The foregoing official photos show Hamilton cutting a forlorn figure in the garage looking away from people, wearing his sunglasses in conversation with his mechanics and keeping his visor down when in the car, in the garage.  The psychological story of the photographs, and now the tweets, would appear to show a man who is unsure of his place within the team, and certainly some of the photos make me think that it is only now that he is really coming to terms with the enormity of the decision that he, presumably, has made.

I'm a big fan of having him go to Mercedes - I think it's good for him and good for the sport - I think it will push Mercedes and Nico to improve - and I think it will require him to explore his boundaries and expand his abilities.  I look forward to seeing him in the Mercedes next year, but, critically for him, he needs to learn the same maturity that Jenson did during his hard times at BAR Honda: It will round out his character, will deliver a team ethic, and hopefully Ross Brawn can deliver a more complete Lewis a world championship, just as he did for a more complete Jenson.