Hamilton to Mercedes? BBC

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arknor said:
msc denied that and hulkenberg is beating di resta so i dont get all the di resta hype the brits seem to have
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It is a weird situation to be in, drivers always say I want to stay with this team and no I haven't been talking to team X etc then move to the other team. So MSC saying no doesn't strike me in any way definate, however someone does not get into Bernie's position by saying the wrong thing so if he does know the MSC is leaving it seems odd to let slip when usually he keeps quiet about things he knows.

As for Di Resta, it comes down to A. He is British and B. he has done well in other race series. As for Hulkenberg beating Di Resta, prior to Spa

Quali: Di Resta 6, Hulkenberg 5
Best Finish: Hulkenberg 5th, Di Resta 6
WDC points: Di Resta 27, Hulkenberg 19

I can't remember if either of them have had car trouble in the previous races however Di Resta did loose KERS during the spa race. How much on effect that had I don't know but it was given as a reason for him finishing so low down comparted to Hulkenberg. However it currently stands as

Quali: Di Resta 7, Hulkenberg 5
Best Finish: Hulkenberg 4th, Di Resta 6th
WDC Points: Hulkenberg 31, Di Resta 28.

So I wouldn't really say Hulkenberg is beating Di Resta, they are pretty evenly matched.

Now going on Mercedes could very well take a driver from Force India due to the ties between the teams then out of the two I would rather see what Di Resta could do in a higher team than Hulkenberg.
 
As I said before. If anyone is replacing Schumacher at merc it'll be Di Resta.

The way things have gone this year (for schuey) I can see him calling it a day soon.
 
I imagine it's a leaked rumour by Lewis management to get McLaren talking, but maybe McLaren will call his bluff, he was asked at the weekend how he would feel about sitting out a year is McLaren did not sign him, dangerous game he is playing.
 
The_Abyss said:
Nope. Mercedes board doesn't want to be in F1 when they're not winning.
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This. That same board were all for it when they bought the championship winning team just 3 years ago. But it's nothing new. Honda, Toyota, Renault and BMW have all done the same thing. F1 is a marketing tool for them, and being beaten by your rivals is not good marketing.
 
I certainly wouldn't be surprised if Hamilton did go to Mercedes, the relationship between Mclaren and Hamilton doesn't seem to be a great one right now.

If the rumours of Vettel signing a pre-contract with Ferrari is the case, I can quite easily see Hamilton sign up with Mercedes for a year to give them an opportunity to show they can build a race winning car. If not then he can bolt over to Red Bull if Vettel goes to Ferrari.

I also half expect Schumacher to go back to Ferrari for a year IF Hamilton switches.
 
I don't think 1 year deals are that common or easy to negotiate for people in the middle of their career for there to be loads floating about.

However, if Vettel has signed for Ferrari in 2014 then I can see Hamilton signing for RBR to replace him, and then Mclaren letting him go because that seems to be how they deal with people signing contracts they don't like (a la Montoya), in which case Hamilton would have to find a 1 year deal or risk sitting out 2013.

I don't get the Ferrari Schumacher talk though? Surely if they wanted an average driver at the end of his career but with a lot of Ferrari history they would just keep Massa?
 
Contracts have many different shapes and sizes. Just look at Kimi's, where he's signed for more than one year but clearly could leave it at the end of this season for minimal cost should he have not delivered on the expectations of Lotus. Not surprising really - bringing him back was a risk - one calculated and managed by just such a contract.

If needed, Hamilton could get a 2 year deal with a 1 year option with Mercedes. Those initial two years could again have breakout clauses, to do with Hamilton's performance and to do with Mercedes' performance, such as finishing no lower than 2nd in the constructor's championship. That would leave a relatively straightforward route for both parties if he then needed to leave to join someone such as RBR to facilitate a Lewis move to RBR if Vettell then went to Ferrari.

There are simply so many options that anything is possible.

From a marketing angle (that's sort of what I do) noise and share of voice about your brand is only one angle - it needs to be focussed and aligned to your brand. Team Hamilton does indeed appear to come with a number of pros and cons. The positives are that there will always, with a little help, be a huge buzz about him. He's a driver that attracts attention - we're all discussing him now, the BBC blogs are, F1Fanatic is etc etc. Blogs about his girlfriend are talking about him. The downside is that you then have to manage that volume of talk to make sure that most of it is relevant and consistent with your own brand values.

I've long said that being the PR for Lewis Hamilton is a fantastic job, because it is busy and pretty much a job for life. It is definitely more 'involved' than it would be for many other drivers, but the return for that is the extra appeal and coverage.

Ultimately, that coverage and noise has to deliver value back to the employing brand, and help support the delivery of sales. The brand team at Mercedes may well take a view that a 'maverick bad boy' (just examples, not my opinion) are actually what they need. They can position this at the top, and then cascade down that feeling so that when someone buys an A1 they feel great about it.

That's the employer side. The question for me is what Hamilton wants out of all of this, and how his advisers are directing him. Is it all about cash, short, medium or longer term? Is he going to be a Beckham that tries to build a highly valuable individual brand that can be sold across countless markets and products for a huge cash return, also promoting their other stars too? Or is it about Hamilton wanting to genuinely race, be successful and win?

The two are so different. Maldonado's agent and plan could easily be 'win some, lose a lot more, race hard and unfair' - we can market this for a lot of short term gain. Kovaleinen's might be to be professional, race steady, keep clean, build a career, move the career outside of F1 and long into other motorsports. Throwaway examples, probably not accurate, but nevertheless relevant and big decisions for a young man to make. He may not even realises he's making them.

Anyway, I've gone on too long - soapbox moment over. Whatever happens will be interesting indeed. Maybe he'll just sign for McLaren right after Monza and the last 500 words I've typed will be pointless!
 
who cares where hamilton goes,hes a bit rubbish at driving,maybe he should try another career? button is better,not as big headed either
 
smr said:
Yeah, he said MSC would join F1 again, and he did.
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I remember when Eddie also got the incident involving Massa spot on.
He seemed to know that an object had hit Massa, through the helmet before most people.
Eddie knows what he is talking about.
 
OldCoals said:
So Hamilton unhappy at a team that is under performing wants to join a team that is performing even worse?
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In fact, given that McLaren have won the last 2 races, on merit, I would suggest that at present, McLaren have the fastest car.

Under performing: I think not.

The simple truth is that Alonso and Vettel are better drivers. You can't blame McLaren for that.
 
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