It's decided, Hamilton goes to Mercedes! * Contains 2013 Spoilers *

Hahaha! Now YOU owe ME a new keyboard. POTY!

 

Mclaren have to pay for their Mercedes engines next year, which will take a huge chunk of their annual budget, and no guarantee on what engine they will have at all for 2014.

Having said that I hope this decision was made purely for sporting reasons and not because of Simon Fuller (Hamilton's manager) wanting a team that will allow more commerical opportunities for Hamilton.

 

IMO it's definitely about money and egos ..ron dennis was trying to call hami's bluff of not leaving, hami's manager would always be after the $$ ...the music stopped and who knows, maybe this move will be better for hami with re-arranged team management pending for mercedes ...IMO perez has potential, but we'll see if he is consistant enough to bring mclaren the points they need, and that's something hami has matured into at least, a points scorer

 

I say good for him. Let's see what he can do in a different car. Personally, I think Hamilton's going to crash and burn at Merc. I don't think the cars going to be at the pointy end of the grid for some time and he's not going to be able to handle driving in the upper mid pack for too long. It definitely will be interesting to see how he performs next to Nico. Hamilton should be faster, IMO.

Mark

PS: I'm happy for Perez, he's shown to be a quick and well thought out driver. I hope he's successful at McLaren.

 

Equal status - according to this. I will enjoy watching this evolve next year....
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102913

 

All of those who flamed and screamed at me for my thread titled "Hamilton is DONE at Mclaren" which I started over three weeks ago need to apologize!
I WAS RIGHT!!!!

 

I think your DONE was a "double entendre" .

So on that basis I cannot give you a apology ..

 

aaaaannnnddd no he won't.

 

I knew when he released that telemetry he was done. Ron Dennis does not suffer fools. Drivers come and go but teams endure

 

Why did Mc up there £££ offer on him then.

You gotta be happy now, the handcuffs are off for Button.

 

Yes.

Looks like LH was unhappy at mcl. we will see how happy he is at merc. Not expecting much. the first year he may not expect much but 2 and 3 could be tense and angry.

 

Mercedes have been relentless the past 1.5 years in building this team. They are at a point now where they have equal staff to anyone on the grid, technical superiority with a brain-trust of engineers, and they are being showered with money from all over the place. Mercedes want this, bad, but next season they need to prove they are able to keep up with the development race. This year they weren't really trying and I know for a fact they started developing W04 in mid May. This can either be a massive fall on their faces, or massive dominance. Brawn, Bell, Costa, Willis, Hamilton frankly terrifies me with what they're capable of.

That all said, Ferrari, Mclaren, Red Bull are still a number of months ahead in the design race and Ferrari's F2012 successor should be a hot car if all they do is work out the fundamental issues which F2012 suffered from. Ferrari have been onto something with that whacky front suspension arrangement which has an unual knack at heating the front tires to just the right temps very quickly, an unusual and positive trick in current F1 cars.

 

True, Slim is a nasty figure. The ony good thing is that his son has been pouring money into auto racing and F1.

 

He's had some good performances and wins in GP2 (and lower forumale). Not Luca Badoer but he still needs to prove himself.

 

The Mercedes team almost seems to good on paper but still. May be they have too many heads running around and I bet Mercedes top management and board are all over the F1 effort trying to make it work.

 

agreed

 

No apology needed. I think your point was that McLaren was going to "drop" Hamilton from McLaren due to his insolence. You opined he would be out of Formula 1 altogether.

Those of us who took your point to task said that Hamilton was in control of the process and could go to any team he wanted if McLaren didn't get their act with him together.

Just understand that McLaren did not "drop" Hamilton, Hamilton "dropped" McLaren.

 

+1 That's my take on it too.

Cheers,
Ian

 

+2 According to Whitmarsh the package offered by McLaren to Hamilton would have made him the highest paid driver in F1. Mercedes paid more and Hami dumped McLaren.

 

Dunno where else to put this, but it sure makes me "nervous".....

Seems to me that ex-drivers don't make good "management".......

Cheers,
Ian
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/9/13851.html

 

This information requires it's own multiple thread discussion.

 

And this is Lauda we are talking about....

 

Epic screw up on Hami's part.
Why in God's name would you leave a top 2 or 3 team for the on again off again antics of Mercedes ?

Something was up a few races ago when Hami's demeanor turned to crap but I still cant believe his ego got in the way of his brain.

Ah well; thats how you learn.

 

I beg to differ. I NEVER said Hamilton was done in F1. I said he was done at Mclaren and would never win another WDC. I STILL stand by that. I don't care if he left them or vice versa. I knew this action of his concerning the leaked telemetry meant he saw himself with no future at Mclaren. I applaude Ron Dennis

 

You still have it wrong. McLaren upped their ante in a bidding war to secure LH's services...Mercedes just won. Why applaud Ron Dennis for losing the bid for Hamilton's services?