“There is going to be someone out there who can do the same [as Brawn] or
better and they just haven’t had the chance to do so,” he said when asked if
Brawn and Newey were the two indispensable figures in Formula One. “I don’t
think there is anyone like Adrian [Newey]. I don’t there will ever be anyone
like Adrian.
“[But] those two individuals are totally different. Adrian designs the car,
which inevitably is the thing that wins the races. Ross gets the team
together – it is a different job.
“You’ve got others: [McLaren team principal] Martin Whitmarsh, who does an
incredible job, you’ve got [Red Bull team principal] Christian Horner, who
has clearly done an incredible job, so there a lot of them here. There is
[Stefano] Domenicali, who has done a great job at Ferrari.
“The team’s success does not depend on one individual. So I’m not stressing.”
Asked whether Brawn had not been a major factor in his decision to join the
team, Hamilton added: “When I made the decision, it was based on a lot more
things than just Ross. It was a bonus to have Ross here because of how much
experience he had had and the success he had in his previous teams.
“At the time he was the one who came and showed me the progress the team were
making and the direction they were going. But any boss would have done that.
We’ve had a great working relationship.”
Meanwhile, rumours that Raikkonen might boycott this weekend’s race and
possibly end his Lotus career early spread after the Ferrari-bound Finn
decided to opt out of his media commitments.
Team sources insisted he was due to arrive on a flight from his home
Switzerland on Thursday night. Last month Raikkonen revealed that Lotus had
not paid up his salary for this year.