the free seat in 2013

[marmer]

just a thought on who would have got Lewis's seat at Mercedes if he had chosen to stay at Mclaren and any knock-on effects it would have had.

i think its safe to assume Button would have stayed at Mclaren so Perez would have either had to stay at sauber or move to a different team if he stayed we may not have ever seen Hulk at Sauber or Gutierrez. but he could have just as easily gone to force india a year sooner than he did.

looking at potential for the Merc seat the best i can come up with is Kimi. a top driver with name value something they want. only at lotus at the time but getting good results. i can't remember his contract situation at the time but if he was tied down at lotus until the year he moved back to Ferrari. then things get difficult for them having to either pick a rookie or convince Michael to hang around another year. all the other top drivers where at teams chasing the title and not particularly fed up with there teams like Lewis was.

saying the didn't get Kimi for 2013 and picked a rookie any best guess as to who they could have picked up and how they would have compared to rosberg in the new era nothing else changes in terms of car performance just for fun who do people think would have had the chance to share titles with Rosberg and if they would have done a better or worse job against rosberg. i happen to think kimi would have drawn 2-2 with rosberg and retired on 3 titles total last season

[Big Tea]

Well Di Resta was the Merc contracted driver.
Possibly Perez?

[Jolle]

Or another few years of Schumacher. His second retirement wasn’t his choice (again)

[roon]

His second retirement wasn’t his choice (again)

What happened?

[Jolle]

His second retirement wasn’t his choice (again)

What happened?

They signed Hamilton

[roon]

His second retirement wasn’t his choice (again)

What happened?

They signed Hamilton

Hiring and firing based on age... Can't believe such prejudice persists in progressive Europe.

In seriousness: I was wondering if there was more to the situation.

[NL_Fer]

Rosberg 4x world champion and still going for his 5th. Unless they signed Alonso.

[marmer]

What happened?

They signed Hamilton

Hiring and firing based on age... Can't believe such prejudice persists in progressive Europe.

In seriousness: I was wondering if there was more to the situation.

Maybe I am remembering the situation poorly but Schumacher was not great in his comeback often making poor choices. So I am not certain he would have been first choice after Hamilton. And would he have lasted until the 2014 era

[rscsr]

They signed Hamilton

Hiring and firing based on age... Can't believe such prejudice persists in progressive Europe.

In seriousness: I was wondering if there was more to the situation.

Maybe I am remembering the situation poorly but Schumacher was not great in his comeback often making poor choices. So I am not certain he would have been first choice after Hamilton. And would he have lasted until the 2014 era

Everyone expected the greatest driver to wipe the floor with Rosberg. Especially since no one really knew how good Rosberg really was, especially in qualifying. And in 2012 Schumacher was certainly not bad. In qualy more or less equal to Rosberg and in the races often quite good. But back then the car also was not that good, basically where Renault is today. At least he was not really worthy of a replacement, unless they got essentially one of Hamilton, Alonso or Vettel back then.

[Phil]

I personally think Schumacher was good, but even then Rosberg was belittled, so everyone just assumed Schumacher was old and lost it. At the very top and with a car that good as that Mercedes was (relative to the others), the margins can be very small.... even between good, great and spectacular.

[Just_a_fan]

What happened?

They signed Hamilton

Hiring and firing based on age... Can't believe such prejudice persists in progressive Europe.

In seriousness: I was wondering if there was more to the situation.

Here's a left-field thought - perhaps they figured Hamilton was better than Schumacher...

[Zynerji]

Hiring and firing based on age... Can't believe such prejudice persists in progressive Europe.

In seriousness: I was wondering if there was more to the situation.

Maybe I am remembering the situation poorly but Schumacher was not great in his comeback often making poor choices. So I am not certain he would have been first choice after Hamilton. And would he have lasted until the 2014 era

Everyone expected the greatest driver to wipe the floor with Rosberg. Especially since no one really knew how good Rosberg really was, especially in qualifying. And in 2012 Schumacher was certainly not bad. In qualy more or less equal to Rosberg and in the races often quite good. But back then the car also was not that good, basically where Renault is today. At least he was not really worthy of a replacement, unless they got essentially one of Hamilton, Alonso or Vettel back then.

Except for Sir Frank Williams. He was very clear as to the talent in that young man.