9.5 Degrees

Yes, he is. Lauda gave a personal opinion to LH and after LH signed on with MB, Lauda became a payroll employee. However, Lauda doesn't have any inside knowlegde of what's going on from a technical stand point. He's been out of the loop for years and is a figure head for F1 asking silly questions on the podium and giving his opinions to reporters when asked.

The question is has Lewis ever displayed the ability to make good decisions and be a leader within a team? Last year he was whining that his car wasn't good enough and throwing the team under the bus and then whining that he had too many appearance dates with sponsors and he needed more time off -- at a time when there is no in season testing!!

How is a British driver who couldn't get on with his own British team going to go to a frugal German team with an already entrenched German driver and lead them to the WDC? Can it be done, sure, but there is no history of Lewis Hamilton to say it will happen.

Again, this has happened before in history, see J. Villeneuve to see how this story will end.

Flying Finn

I agree 100%.

As I said earlier, I suspect there's been this whole "Lewis Hamilton, Global Brand" bull**** going on from his management & girlfriend and he's bought into it...

Perez must be on top of the World...
What I heard was that MB wanted him to replace Schumi if Hamilton deal didn't go through but now that it did (and folks at Ferrari are idiots!), he's the biggest winner on this.

morganabowen

I don't think that Lewis is an idiot, and this looks like a good move for him to MBZ. Heck, who better to win a championship with then Ross Braun If Perez fills his seat with McLaren, it is a win win for both McLaren and Perez. It is making 2013 look better and better; however, now in order for 2013 to be better, we got to get past the Mayan end of the world (Dec. 21st)

fanny bay r1

You are completely correct - huge mistake by LuLu!!

Jacques followed the money and the wins never came - wasted career that he's never really recovered from!!

Shumi chased the wins and the money came as well!!

Bob Rouleau

Agree about Villeneuve who threw his team and his sponsors under the bus when he failed to win "The engine is down on power the car is slow, the tires have poor grip etc. In one interview he dissed everyone who paid his 25MM a year salary. No wonder no other team would have him.

Now can Rosberg outdrive Hamilton? That would be interesting.

multi21

^^^ This ^^^^^

Let's remember that Schumacher moved from a previously mid pack team which became a two time winner in Benetton to a legendary team in Ferrari that had not won a title in 21 years. The difference is that Ferrari had the resources to make it happen, just didn't have the right mix in key positions and of course in the #1 driver spot. Schumacher brought those key people with him to Ferrari and inturn, those key people believed in Michael's ability to get the job done at Ferrari and followed him. Hamilton isn't bringing anything to the MB AMG team except his baggage.

What Hamilton is doing is going from a well funded team to a so so funded team albeit with Ross Brawn, but no Rory Burne, Jean Todt etc. Couple this with the fact that Rosberg is a quick driver, it's not going to be all peaches and cream.

KurtC

I agree with all of this.

Isn't he bringing one of the three top drivers currently in F1?

C.J. Ichiban

I really think that Button and Perez will do better than the benz team next year...if Fernando gets a legit teammate instead of massa (like Kimi who obviously still has the skills to podium consistently) then Ferrari could finally take the constructors title back. RBF1, Mclaren and Ferrari will still be the top 3 teams next year.

Hamilton probably wants more personal control over his life than he has now- but if he thinks that he's going to win more races in the benz...well he's gonna be in for a rude awakening.

Eifeler

Agreed.

Best of luck to you over the coming months!

Cayman_Sense

Maybe his management team thought they'd each get free Benzo's yo!

Anyway, I think the obvious winner in this is McLaren because both Button and Perez are super-tire-savers with similar driving styles- I think that would accelerate the development of that chassis when compared to opposing styles.

I don't think I could see Hamilton going to Ferrari or RB. Even though Massa has struggled, he may cry himself into a one-year extension. I could Webber going out next year and maybe even Vettel if Newey doesn't hit another homerun with the 2013 chassis.

Flying Finn

Hmmm... Interesting Pete, interesting... Somehow my recollection is a "bit" different....

ChrisFL

No ones going to be able to tell if this is a good move or not. We will only find out in a year or two

When Alonso and Hamilton were together at McLaren, Alonso was upset because he thought he was going to be the #1 driver at McLaren. Being that Hamilton was Ron's pet project, Alonso felt betrayed and promptly left for Ferrari which worked out great for him.

Hamilton I think feels the same way with McLaren now. He needs to be THE #1 driver at McLaren with Button being a distant second. Like the Senna movie stated, in F1, your biggest competition is your teammate. Hamilton need to be coddled like a baby and the whole team needs to be behind him for every pole and every win. This is what I hate about F1 drivers (especially Hamilton), but thats what they want so they have the best shot at winning title. They don't give a crap about team sports or constructors titles.

Maybe Mercedes promised him that he will be the #1 and they will make Nico his "Massa" (poor Massa ). Who knows, but I believe that this is Hamilton saying that he will go to a team that will make him their top priority. And practically speaking he had no where else to go. Ferrari and Red Bull don't need him. Renault may have been the next best option, but they have Kimi now.

I think its good for Button and McLaren. Frankly, if it doesn't work out for Hamilton. GOOD!

C.J. Ichiban

the mercedes was a good car last year- nico was making a lot of progress and then michael changed the wheelbase, etc to suit him more and nico got hosed. I would think that hamilton and nico would probably have more similar driving styles than nico and schumi, so we will see.

I agree that perez and button are a good driving style combination- and in order to win you really need to be able to have one car suit both drivers...too often the drivers are of totally different styles and want two totally different chassis developments, and the car goes nowhere.

TwentySix

Love Perez at McLaren, he and Button should be a good combo of raw talent and control, if they can groom him into the team mold, he is young enough to pick up the pieces Hamilton leaves behind. There has been talk of Hulkenberg to replace Massa, which I think would work out as Massa's time is up.

Money and management aside, I think Lewis is like the kid leaving home to get out from under his parents wings - he may fly or crash and burn...

Right, Todt was the mastermind who assembled the team, did you know that Rory Byrne is still on contract to Ferrari and had a hand in the 2012 car?

The car, under the guidance of technical director and former McLaren designer Pat Fry, is the work of Nikolas Tombazis, with legendary Ferrari designer Rory Byrne a significant contributor in the background. It’s believed that Byrne is behind the innovation on the protective structures in the form of a wing in front of the sidepods http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/0...errari-f1-car/

Flying Finn

Yes indeed, it was Todt who assembled the team, from Brawn to Byrne to Schumi to the engine designer (who's name I can't remember) to the rule that all the team personnel had to shave every morning.
Schumi of course knew those two geniuses but it was 100% Todt who got them to Ferrari.

Yes, I did know also that Byrne is still there, looks quite the same as before although his hair is much more gray!

Since we're quizzing (this is actually easy), did you know that Schumi has not won a single F1 title without Byrne & Brawn?

Newey always gets credit as the F1 car design mastermind and for a reason but Byrne is right up there as well. Now MB only needs to lure Byrne to work with Brawn again...