Hamilton to Mercedes? BBC

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Mr Men said:
LOL, so if my post agrees with you then what on earth are you challenging it for?

Lewis has a rep for being a whiny diva.
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because you weren't trying to agree with me, you were trying to counter my point but ended up posting an article which agreed with it :p

debating fail 101
 
DecoySA said:
Now the telemetry tweet, pretty stupid thing to do but i didn't see it as a sign of him having a hissy fit, he just clearly wasn't thinking straight and posted it in order to show his fans where he was losing time. He has been making big efforts to interact with his fans fia Twitter in recent months and this was just another example of it, all be it not the wisest example. Anyway they asked him to take it down, he took it down.
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laughs at how you severely underplay releasing top secret team information on an event still in progress.

Ride-height information etc is paydirt to other teams and gives them fundamental data which they would never have had. Alex Wurz's reply "please also post your race strategy" was obviously a joke, but it also shows how important this info was.

In any other business this would lead to instant dismissal (and potential for legal action against the perpetrator)
 
Mr Men said:
Autosport and F1 Racing are still on the shelves can't really think of any that have gone missing, was an official F1 mag which did not last long, and one other one that had to shut down as they could not pay their libel fees for all the rubbish they printed.

But the internet has made magazines somewhat redundant. I would say there is much more media coverage now compared to 10 years ago.
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The green mag motosport went. It used to cover f1 and then they decided to only focus on classic racing.
 
FrankJH said:
laughs at how you severely underplay releasing top secret team information on an event still in progress.

Ride-height information etc is paydirt to other teams and gives them fundamental data which they would never have had. Alex Wurz's reply "please also post your race strategy" was obviously a joke, but it also shows how important this info was.

In any other business this would lead to instant dismissal (and potential for legal action against the perpetrator)
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there was nothing that useful in the telemetry data, it was the principle of it which was the problem. mclaren have released similar telemetry data to the public post race before.

as mclaren said "storm in a teacup"
 
Lewis Hamilton’s demeanour and that of his team after victory in the Italian Grand Prix bore all the hallmarks of a divorce that has already been agreed. Minimal celebrations on the pit wall and beneath the podium, a team photo for appearances’ sake with an implacable looking Hamilton and Ron Dennis declining to join in.

Despite appearances, team boss Martin Whitmarsh said after the race that suggestions that a deal was already done were “fantasy” and insisted that the door is still open if Hamilton wants to stay.

However driver contracts often get signed during race weekends and there were strong indications that the situation may have been closed out before everyone left Monza.

Hamilton looks like he is moving on, perhaps the only way he can become his own man, certainly the only way he and XIX Entertainment can fully cash in on his status, box office power and his image rights. And that is a big part of what this is about. Mercedes is one of the world’s most powerful brands, while McLaren makes F1 cars and small volume sports cars. This deal will take Hamilton’s name and image well beyond the boundaries of F1. If Hamilton did not want this, why would he had signed up with XIX?

Also McLaren drivers have to work within strict guidelines with team sponsors. Mercedes need Hamilton and this deal will give him greater freedom. The suggested deal with Mercedes and its sponsors is very big and so too will be the impact it will make on the competition in F1 over the next three years and the driver market in the nearer term.

Mercedes had to do this, as one of only two “works” teams in F1 they had to get a champion on board, especially with Michael Schumacher winding down towards retirement again. There is risk if they don’t go on to win, but it’s a risk worth taking.

Ron Dennis’ fellow McLaren shareholders were all in Monza this weekend, from Friday onwards; Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman and long time shareholder Mansour Ojjeh could be observed in discussions with Whitmarsh over the next steps in a painful negotiation with a driver whom the team has nurtured since childhood.

Eddie Jordan, apparently prompted by both XIX and Bernie Ecclestone, lobbed the grenade in on Wednesday, saying that Hamilton was on the point of signing for Mercedes. It was a final call to McLaren to improve the deal on offer or lose their man.

But some signs were there from McLaren’s side that there was not only a reluctance to meet the financial terms, but also a weariness with the whole pantomime of ‘Life with Lewis.’ The tweeting of the set up sheet in Spa was a symbolic watershed in a relationship which has veered off track since the wide eyed enthusiasm of 2007.

The biggest problem for McLaren is how to replace Hamilton without losing significant performance. He’s worth £25 million a year because he’s one of the fastest drivers in the world and whoever sits in the car next year is unlikely to be able to match that speed. Whitmarsh said yesterday that he does not have a Plan B.

Paul di Resta senses an opportunity, but will he be able to meet the numbers on the stopwatch that Hamilton does? And will McLaren want both their drivers to be managed by the same person? Di Resta confirmed his deal with Jenson Button’s manager Richard Goddard this weekend, replacing Lewis’ father Anthony, who is suing Di Resta for wrongful dismissal and loss of earnings.

F1 is an incestuous world, with such complex intertwined relationships but there is great goodwill between Goddard and Whitmarsh. Goddard looked very pleased all weekend in sharp contrast to the careworn faces of the McLaren management.

Kimi Raikkonen is the only driver who could get close to Hamilton’s performance – he is only a single point behind him in the championship – but he seems happy at Lotus and he wasn’t terribly happy last time he drove for McLaren. His qualifying pace has yet to be rediscovered but he’s racing very strongly. He would work well with Button and form a strong team, but he’s come back to F1 to enjoy himself and the sponsor commitments would be a huge sticking point. Button would refuse to do more than his fair share for Vodafone, Mobil and the rest to compensate.

Speaking of Vodafone, there have been suggestions that discussions are taking place for Sergio Perez to join the team; Vodafone has been looking for years into expanding its reach in Latin America and particularly Brazil via Perez’ backers Telmex and America Movil. So this could provide a strong business case for a move. However Perez is a Ferrari Academy driver so there are some hurdles there.

There have been suggestions of a trade with Mercedes on Nico Rosberg, with Michael Schumacher staying on to partner Hamilton. But one senses that Mercedes were waiting to see if they could get Hamilton signed before making their next move, and now may start gently leaning on the seven times champion to ease him into retirement.

Hamilton at Mercedes, if and when confirmed, is good news for Bernie Ecclestone, who keeps Mercedes involved and committed, despite some very rocky times between the two parties recently over Mercedes’ share of the sport’s revenues in comparison with Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren. It could be Mercedes’ turn to do some winning in F1.


Ecclestone has got what he wants, but is known to be suspicious of Simon Fuller and XIX Entertainment. Such a group having so much power and control over one of his biggest stars is a situation he will be monitoring carefully.

This looks like the final push for Mercedes – Ross Brawn knows what it takes to win and has followed the tried and tested formula: he has built up his technical team, they have their own engine facilities and a clear plan and now it looks like they have the driver.

All the pieces are in place and Mercedes must deliver the title in the next three years.

Fail with this group and there would be pressure from Daimler shareholders to call time on the F1 adventure.
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http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/09/hamilton-set-to-move-to-mercedes/
 
Very interesting indeed.

The romantic in me sees a good working relationship between Brawn and Hamilton and I fully agree with the articles point about Hamilton needing something new...
 
As long as Hamilton wins the WDC this year, I won't mind so much if he goes to a lesser team. But if he doesn't win it, I can't really see him--as much as I'd like to be wrong--winning another championship any time soon. It would feel extremely anticlimactic if he moved to another team with only one WDC under his belt.
 
We can gather then that it's pretty much certain he's moving.

James mentioned last week that he'd heard on Monday rumours from various people that Hamilton was signing for Mercedes, but said that he wouldn't post until he had more information.

I reckon Bernie knew Hamilton was going too, hence him jumping to the conclusion that Schumacher is to retire.

I think that it's Rosberg that's going on a 1 to 2 year loan.
 
If he has signed the deal and is moving, will it leave him in a tricky position with McLaren to win the title this year? Will he have their full support?
 
what ever happens, mclaren like their 1 in 4 race wins stat and want to keep it. hamilton is their best chance of a drivers championship and they need both drivers at their best if they want the constructors championship.

i cant see then shunning him with the position he is in.

if it is true then i hope Mercedes come good when the new engines come in and can give him a car to win again.
 
Hamilton could be the key thing that keeps Mercedes in F1. Perez to McLaren to replace him also seems very much on the cards seen as Ferrari are showing little to no interest.

I think its a massive mistake though. I don't think Mercedes are ever going to get up the front, and as good as Hamilton is I don't think he's the kind of guy to drag a team forward in the way Schumacher or Alonso have. I think he's going to spend a couple of years in the mid field expecting a fast car that doesn't arrive before trying to move on again, by which time it could be too late.

I could however be, and hope I am proved wrong.

Edit: hmm, 3 years in a Merc before moving to Ferrari in 2016 to replace Alonso?
 
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