Hamilton leaves Mclaren for Mercedes.

[PJC]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/19755236

[Ian_C]

He's an idiot imo

[adsgreen]

He's an idiot imo

I disagree...

So many levels to this new deal
- Mercedes is a far more marketable brand. He'll make a fortune.
- Pay is higher (but would pale into significance with the brand marketing opportunities).
- New engine regs will favour larger manufacturers. Renault are the obvious favourites with track record but Merceds are not going to be far behind. Mclaren haven't built their own engine for a while and it remains to be seen what is going to happen there.
- Mclaren is a 2 car team. Whilst seen as fair it doesn't help the drivers. Your chance of personally winning is reduced and aferall, they all want to win. Nico is a great driver with potential but I don't think he has the making of a world champion. Also hard to ignore that a partnership with 2 ex world champions no matter how nice it all appears to be is diffult to manage for everybody.
- Hamilton already has connections with Mercedes from the Mclaren partnership. This works for both Hamilton and Mercedes as they are known quantities.
- The Mercedes car has shown to be reasonable - up to the pace this year? no, probably not but it will be interesting to see what Hamilton can do with it. It certainly has the pace as there have been instances where cars with DRS open have struggled to make easy passes on them.
- How many PR disasters have been caused by McLaren...
- Ditto on pit stops...
- Another Ditto on race strategy...

Oh there are downsides - it's a big risk but I don't think it's been a decision taken lightly. I think after all the time spent there Hamilton would do well to move on and Mercedes seems no worse than some of the other options.

[psg001]

Mclaren are great at making a competitive car, and then not capitalising on it with a WDC or WCC, they should have had one in 2007 (with either alonso or hamilton) and again this year as their car is probably overall the quickest. they have a poor tally of WDC, they just aren't good at winning championships for some reason.

they refuse to have a no.1 driver, and its cost them. Even in a recent interview Whitmarsh refused to ask Jenson to support the team as a no.2, leaving it upto the drivers? at least Red bull / Ferrari are clear who is no.1, the drivers know it and they can focus on winning stuff.

might be good if merc make a good car, its a gamble.

Perez might do really well and outshine Button, he's a better driver than Button, they should make him the Mclaren no.1!

[andre3k]

Mclaren don't pay for their Merc engines apparently as they were considered the defacto works Merc team up until a fe yrs ago. With Merc committing to F1 by acquiring Brawn GP, the level of support they receive will drop to a Sauber-Ferrari or ForceIndia-Merc level ie. pretty basic.

I really hope not but I fear Mclaren will drop backwards when everything shakes out.

Still, congrats Hamilton - right decision IMO
Congrats Perez
Poor luck & godspeed Schamacher - it's been an interesting career
Poor luck Di Resta - in fairness Mclaren need a racer to compliment Button not another manager. Would be a disastrous pairing

[DSB]

I think its the right move for LH, although I'm sad as I really liked the all British Maclaren team.

I think the main reason for his move is the chance to be truely number one in a big factory team and it will give him the platform to really go at Alonso and Vettel - I think these three drivers are the real Fangio's, Senna's, Schumacher's of the day.

The whole money thing has obviously had its part to play though, I don't think you can even talk about Formula one these days and not mention the dollar !!

[F@tBoyF@t]

Going by the site traffic to this thread, it's fairly obvious that F1 is a minority interest sport?