Hamilton to leave for Mercedes 2013

[elf341]

I wonder if they think they can capture some Intellectual Property through Hamilton too. But I never got the impression that Hamilton cared too much about the technical details of the car, unlike Button who put himself out of the points for a few races when experimenting with novel set-ups.

Like Schumacher in his first career, Hamilton does seem to adjust his driving style to car deficiencies quite well - while good for limiting the damage from development mistakes, it can certainly cause confusion for the engineers when trying to evaluate new parts!

[Nando]

Edit: not aimed at above comment.

That makes no sense.

Mclaren wants to win a world championship regardless of who´s driving the machine. they know they have a chance to do so with Hamilton albeight a small one but still.

Today he is a Mclaren driver, and for the next 6 races he will still be a Mclaren driver so obviously they are gonna push to win this one, it´s a win/win situation.

[simieski]

unlike Button who put himself out of the points for a few races when experimenting with novel set-ups

Read as 'clutching at straws.'

[Hangaku]

I'm a big Hamilton fan, and I'm sad to say that I think he's made a mistake. But that changes nothing, I'm not such a shallow, fickle individual, so I'll support him wherever he goes.

I also think that Perez move to McLaren is good for the team, and he'll easily be the #1 driver there ahead of Button. I rate Perez, and I do not rate Button. Button has only shown himself to be great in the best car, unlike Perez. Personally, I can't wait to see Perez trounce him next season, much like Lewis has this year.

[PlatinumZealot]

Hamilton has scored an average of 142 points/14races or 10 points per race, which is like coming 5th in every race. In other words even though Mclaren has been fastest for the majority of the races so far they have only performed like the third fastest car. So its touch and go, the risk of going to Merc might not be so bad.

I'm a big Hamilton fan, and I'm sad to say that I think he's made a mistake. But that changes nothing, I'm not such a shallow, fickle individual, so I'll support him wherever he goes.

I also think that Perez move to McLaren is good for the team, and he'll easily be the #1 driver there ahead of Button. I rate Perez, and I do not rate Button. Button has only shown himself to be great in the best car, unlike Perez. Personally, I can't wait to see Perez trounce him next season, much like Lewis has this year.

I really have mixed feelings on this. Perez is an unkown quantity. The most we can construe is that his qualifying speed is slower than Kobayashi's. Button, despite being touted as a average qualifier is in fact very fast; he was faster than Barichello for the majority of their time together. Keep in mind Barichello is no slouch as he was faster than Hulkenberg and close to Michael. It is going to be very intriguing to see how Mclaren fares in qualifying against Alonso and vettel next year.

[Nando]

End of an era...bit sad, but very excited even though i don´t agree with the decision.

[stefan_]

Well, it will be slightly awkward at the start of the 2013 season to see Hamilton in overalls & car other than the McLaren ones.

[Red Schneider]

Part of the decision must have been that, in Hamilton's life, McLaren has only been a winning team for two periods: first in 1998-1999, and then 2007-2008. (I generously include 2007 because they had tons of pace that year.)

In other words, Hamilton has lots of experience watching (and competing for) McLaren when they don't win, and the truth is that they really haven't won that often in the last 20 years, in terms of championships. There must be at least a certain sense of exasperation on the driver's side. From his perspective, what is the point in coming in second or third in the next few championships with McLaren? There is no value in that, and historically that is the best they can provide. It's win or nothing, as surely his hero Senna would attest.

McLaren is a consistent podium finisher but never a champion. If you divide the probability at each team into 'winning the title' and 'finishing in any other place from second on down,' then at Mercedes, Hamilton must surely feel he has an equal or better chance to win the title.

[fausto cedros]

i have got a question for every friend in the forum:

What has been in your opinion the weight, if any, of singapore race outcome on Hamilton decision?

[JimClarkFan]

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.

There are no real winners in this other than Sergio Perez, and maybe Button. F1 will be poorer for him at Mercedes if they don't drastically improve the car.

This move is awful for Lewis in my opinion, and awful for Mclaren for reasons you suggested.

The reason why Lewis has not won the title this year is because Macca cocked up several times during the year with faulty pit stops and stupid operational errors unseen in any other team in F1.


And again I say, Perez over Hulkenburg? or DiResta, or even Pastor Maldonardo? The guy just doesn't have the out and out speed of the aforementioned, nor the winning track record of even error prone Maldonardo AND Perez unusual strategies that he employed won't work if he is in a car qualifying in the top 10 because he won't have a choice of the tyres which he starts on - that to me is the silliest move of all.

[smellybeard]

i have got a question for every friend in the forum:

What has been in your opinion the weight, if any, of singapore race outcome on Hamilton decision?

I think there may have been a deal on the table at McLaren that was contingent on Lewis actually winning the championship. Perhaps there was an agreement to match the Merc offer in return for the No.1 plate. Since he was effectively out of the running after sunday, the deal is moot.

[Shakeman]

Part of the decision must have been that, in Hamilton's life, McLaren has only been a winning team for two periods: first in 1998-1999, and then 2007-2008. (I generously include 2007 because they had tons of pace that year.)

In other words, Hamilton has lots of experience watching (and competing for) McLaren when they don't win, and the truth is that they really haven't won that often in the last 20 years, in terms of championships. There must be at least a certain sense of exasperation on the driver's side. From his perspective, what is the point in coming in second or third in the next few championships with McLaren? There is no value in that, and historically that is the best they can provide. It's win or nothing, as surely his hero Senna would attest.

McLaren is a consistent podium finisher but never a champion. If you divide the probability at each team into 'winning the title' and 'finishing in any other place from second on down,' then at Mercedes, Hamilton must surely feel he has an equal or better chance to win the title.

Excellently put. I'm sure that is the calculation.

[JimClarkFan]

i have got a question for every friend in the forum:

What has been in your opinion the weight, if any, of singapore race outcome on Hamilton decision?

I think there may have been a deal on the table at McLaren that was contingent on Lewis actually winning the championship. Perhaps there was an agreement to match the Merc offer in return for the No.1 plate. Since he was effectively out of the running after sunday, the deal is moot.

Through no fault of his own may I add. Lewis has drove very well all year, and probably would have won the championship with ease technical failures, team cockups and forced retirements beside.

I genuinely feel bad for him, despite his at times childish antics.

[Shakeman]

i have got a question for every friend in the forum:

What has been in your opinion the weight, if any, of singapore race outcome on Hamilton decision?

It might well have been the straw that broke the donkey's back.

I think that race sums up McLaren, always there or there abouts but contrive to bin it for themselves in one way or another.

[internetf1fan]

Today he is a Mclaren driver, and for the next 6 races he will still be a Mclaren driver so obviously they are gonna push to win this one, it´s a win/win situation.

McLaren has said they are perfectly happy with Button taking points away from Hamilton.