Hamilton to leave for Mercedes 2013

[Nando]

Well it was awesome seeing you at the top Hamilton. Most likely you will end up in the mid-field as a has-been while everyone else used their brain to make decisions.

I can´t for the life of me understand how you would want to trade down teams like that. If the goal is to win races that is.

Congratulations to Perez, i think you will do great things at Mclaren.

[Shakeman]

The eerie similarities with Jacques I hope will remain just that - similarities. I wish him the best. I expect next year to be the toughest for him yet. He had done well with an off the pace car in 2009, no reason why he can't repeat that though. We will see.

Why not see the move to Merc like the move MS made to Ferrari? I expect Hamilton sees this as a great challenge to get the Merc up the grid, make a step forward next year then have a big payoff in 2014 with new rules.

No one here knows what the reasons are behind his move, money is only likely to be a side issue. There's obviously more to the decision than just the pay cheque.

Staying with McLaren would've been the easy move but he chose to take a risk and forge his own legacy free from the "Ron gave him a silver spoon" BS that is written so much about him. He knows exactly what he's going to get with Macca a good car every couple of years but his chances dashed by poor even schoolboy errors from the team and corporate marketing overdrive.

The sport is dull and he's the only reason for me tuning in on a Sunday and even in an uncompetitive car Hamilton is exciting. However, I am expecting to see Hamilton go from strength to strength and drag the Merc team to a world championship during his period with them.

A bold move

[JimClarkFan]

The eerie similarities with Jacques I hope will remain just that - similarities. I wish him the best. I expect next year to be the toughest for him yet. He had done well with an off the pace car in 2009, no reason why he can't repeat that though. We will see.

Why not see the move to Merc like the move MS made to Ferrari? I expect Hamilton sees this as a great challenge to get the Merc up the grid, make a step forward next year then have a big payoff in 2014 with new rules.

No one here knows what the reasons are behind his move, money is only likely to be a side issue. There's obviously more to the decision than just the pay cheque.

Staying with McLaren would've been the easy move but he chose to take a risk and forge his own legacy free from the "Ron gave him a silver spoon" BS that is written so much about him. He knows exactly what he's going to get with Macca a good car every couple of years but his chances dashed by poor even schoolboy errors from the team and corporate marketing overdrive.

The sport is dull and he's the only reason for me tuning in on a Sunday and even in an uncompetitive car Hamilton is exciting. However, I am expecting to see Hamilton go from strength to strength and drag the Merc team to a world championship during his period with them.

A bold move

Because when Michael left he took a whole chuck of staff with him and completely over hauled Ferrari's technical section. Lewis will have done none of this.

[gridwalker]

We may still be waiting 100% official confirmation that Lewis is out (despite the many leaks we have seen today) but ESPN says that McLaren HAVE confirmed that Perez is in ...

http://en.espnf1.com/mclaren/motorsport ... 90120.html

I'm going to love seeing what he can do against Button, but how are Mclaren going to balance the competing sponsorship interests of Vodafone and TelMex???

TelMex and Vodafone are the same company IIRC

They aren't the same company, but they seem to have a strategic partnership ...
http://en.inforapid.org/index.php?search=Telmex

[snoop1050]

Why not see the move to Merc like the move MS made to Ferrari?

is lewis bringing the winning team from mclaren to mercedes like schumacher did?

[stefan_]

Now this is getting interesting. Hamilton to Mercedes was somehow predictable, but I wasn't expecting Perez to go to McLaren, I thought it was just another rumour-speculation thing that appeared around the paddock.

All in all, I hope they both do well in their new seats.

[zyphro]

Why not see the move to Merc like the move MS made to Ferrari?

is lewis bringing the winning team from mclaren to mercedes like schumacher did?

Lol.

From my perspective, they have very different motivations in what they want out of F1.

Why the heck are Merc and Ferrari even being compared? Ferrari was not that bad in 1995; it was once said that the car was capable of challenging the championship that year. Can't say the same for the Merc obviously.

[FoxHound]

@ zyphro,

You don't remember the piston/crank being fired out the back of the Ferrari to thunderous laughter from other teams?

[gridwalker]

Why not see the move to Merc like the move MS made to Ferrari?

is lewis bringing the winning team from mclaren to mercedes like schumacher did?

Lol.

From my perspective, they have very different motivations in what they want out of F1.

Why the heck are Merc and Ferrari even being compared? Ferrari was not that bad in 1995; it was once said that the car was capable of challenging the championship that year. Can't say the same for the Merc obviously.

It may have been said at some point, but I watched every race of the 1995 season and I don't remember that car even getting close to championship contention ... the 95 Ferrari won as many races as the 2012 Mercedes has so far, and that in a season with several fewer race winners than we've had this year. Not exactly what I'd call a title contending season!

[smellybeard]

Now this is getting interesting. Hamilton to Mercedes was somehow predictable, but I wasn't expecting Perez to go to McLaren, I thought it was just another rumour-speculation thing that appeared around the paddock.

All in all, I hope they both do well in their new seats.

Agreed. I did think Perez was ready for the big drive but I never saw the connection with Mac.

is lewis bringing the winning team from mclaren to mercedes like schumacher did?

Nope. Lewis is selling more aftershave, jewelry, sunglasses at a bigger brand company. Piggyback marketing. He may never win another GP. There is an echo of Hunt about.

[myurr]

Have to say that whilst I worry about Mercedes ability to deliver a championship winning car, even if they diverted all their resources to 2014 now, I think McLaren are the bigger losers in this. Hamilton has made Button look very second rate this year, and for all Perez's capabilities in driving fast whilst looking after the tyres, he's a very similar driver to Button. When everything is on song then he can put in a world class performance, but I haven't seen him drag a spectacular performance out of a car that isn't working well.

With Button and Perez I just can't see McLaren mounting a season long championship challenge unless they can deliver a large car advantage. I'm sure they'll both do their best and pick up the occasional win, but they aren't going to string together a series of race wins whilst getting podiums in those races they cannot win.

For Hamilton I hope this is a chance for him to build a team around him and get the level of service that Vettel and Alonso have managed to engineer for themselves. If this gets him to a happy place then even a having a bad car for a year will probably be enjoyable. But for his sake I really hope he has a performance clause in his contract for 2014. If Mercedes deliver another shocker then he won't want to have to sit out the 2014 and 2015 title fights only to have to move team again in 2016.

[fiohaa]

So Merc think that Hamilton is better than Schumacher for building the team up? LOL.

The whole thing is so absurd, and im absolutely gutted for schumi. He deserves so much better than this.
Unceremoniously pushed out...again. His old buddy Brawn has totally backstabbed him.

i can't see schumi going anywhere else, hes retiring again. Going to sauber would be a backwards step. Alonso certainly would not want him at Ferrari.

jamesallenonf1.com says that schumi has wished them well. i can't see him sticking around in Merc has some sort of advisor, he was never that into it at Ferrari.

[gridwalker]

is lewis bringing the winning team from mclaren to mercedes like schumacher did?

HEY! I never said that!

[fiohaa]

For Hamilton I hope this is a chance for him to build a team around him and get the level of service that Vettel and Alonso have managed to engineer for themselves.

there is absolutely Zero evidence that Hamilton has the brains or capability to build a team around him the way schumi, alonso or Vettel have. If anything, he alienates them if things arent going well.

he simply doesnt have the brains, which is why he'll never be this multiple championship winning driver. Alonso is in a different league right now, and Vettel is the next schumi. I can't see that stopping for the next 4 years.

[myurr]

Wow, thanks for the insight fiohaa. I can see you've really thought long and hard about this.