ecapox wrote:I'm not quoting all that above, but you are 100% spot on.
I have a feeling Mercedes AMG F1 itself hasn't quite understood the depths and various branches XIX and Lewis can take with the unprecedented amount of freedom they have just bestowed on a driver.
Michael Schumacher suffered three years of trying to attack at the current formula at the highest expectation level. When performance or motivation drops, athletes are expected to leave or shift to another sport. This is what has traditionally happened.
Lewis and XIX, in my view, will innovate in this category because Lewis will actually be immune now to whatever happens to his team or the sport. That's good news for his fans. It means no matter how bad things get, he will never go away, never appear unmotivated (his character must remain 110% motivated). He will probably parrot a lot of the things Schumacher said for the last 3 years and then some of the things Schumacher said back at Ferrari too.
His fans will continue to see him as a fighter. Lewis and XIX know very well that if Mercedes make a terrible car, Lewis as a driver is beyond reproach. He is "the fastest man in the world". That'll be his marketing. I think many F1 fans or even peers consider him the fastest man (even if he only has one World Title).
It's a good image. Lewis can play it all. And he will continue to play at being competitive just like the other F1 greats like Schumacher did.
But he will be different in one important aspect. It simply will no longer matter for him in reality.
I understand a lot of people like rubbishing Mercedes AMG F1... If people think Schumacher suffered trying to make that team work. I'm not sure if Mercedes AMG F1 will appreciate it that his replacement was "someone bigger than the team".
But for some fans they might think it is karma and just punishment? Merc didn't deserve a driver who cared about every result, so they should get a driver who really is no longer interested in anything else except running the tyres to canvass, setting the timing sheets alight (for himself), winning new trophies (that he will now also keep for himself), wearing his own LH-racesuit with his own endorsements (which is all money for him and XIX), and selling his new clothing line (again... all him and XIX).
