Simon Fuller of XIX has announced that Didier Coton has been appointed to Lewis Hamilton’s management team. This is very good news. Coton is a man who understands the F1 world and has a great record working with the F1 stars. Coton is a partner in Aces Management, with his former client Mika Hakkinen and WilliamsF1 shareholder Toto Wolff. He is best known for his years spent with Hakkinen, but also played a very important role in the career of Olivier Panis, notably helping Olivier reach the decision to become the McLaren test driver in 2000 after a series of troubled years with Prost Grand Prix. This resulted in Panis not only showing his pace, but also rediscovering his confidence and he went on to spend two years with BAR Honda before moving to Toyota where he ended his career at the end of 2004.

Coton has also been involved in the management of Alexander Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre, James Rossiter, Oliver Turvey and Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton had a turbulent time in 2011 and said that he needed to have a more settled group around him.