Wednesday 17 April 2013

Lewis Hamilton announces move to.....


Mercedes... Ok well I know it's not new news but I thought that now we have the benefit
of hindsight it's best to look at the controversial move now and see just how well he is doing.

I need a dollar, dollar, a dollar is what I need!

At the time of the announcement a lot of people assumed that what he was doing was almost entirely motivated by money, however it has come to light recently that the already highest paid driver was actually offered more money from McLaren when it was suggested he was looking at moving.

With every corner, he's better than Schumacher was
at Mercedes
Money is not something that motivates a F1 driver, the thing that motivates them most is winning and being in a team that they are comfortable in; and although McLaren brought him up through the ranks and gave him one world championship, he felt stifled and a bit mollycoddled, understandably they always saw him as the young-un the brought up.

Now just because Lewis was brought up into racing by the Woking based team, that doesn't mean he should had undying allegiance to them, your primary school (or equivalent in your respective country) technically brought you up, but you still left. Hamilton does have great respect and thanks to McLaren for all that they have done for him, I'm sure his last day wasn't easy, he has always said that he has a place in his heart for the team and hopes that nothing ever bad happens to them.

Moving On

Mercedes hope to emulate their past
Mercedes last year was a basic , almost struggling team, everyone thought it was suicide to move from the fastest car to the silver arrow; however little did know what Merc where planning on doing, Hamilton sure as hell did. Poaching people like Lowe from McLaren and I'm sure many other mechanics from other teams, they are looking to build themselves right back to the point they were at 70 years ago, winning championships. 

The financial support from Mercedes-Benz is huge, and they are willing to back their team with maximum resources, something that any driver would jump at, and they needed a non-german to market themselves, much in the same way McLaren needed a non-brit. Mercedes put an offer Hamilton can't refuse, a seat in a team with steely determination, grit, and Ross Brawn at the helm. 

Another aspect that could have prompt his move was his now teammate Rosberg, the two get on very well, being old friends and karting with each other from a very young age, they make great teammates, respect each other and I'm in no doubt that they'll help one another massively in the future.

And now?

"I've had better trophies"
Now McLaren have a week car, and a currently struggling driver line up, so everyone is saying what an inspiring move Hamilton made.... Hypocrites. Mercedes are going to be racing for a long time from now on, and they will just get faster, and better, it's only a matter of time before they start winning championships, hell they could still do it this year. They've made a huge improvement from last year and if they keep that rate of development up they'll rocket ahead. 

Keep an eye out on McLaren though, their time is not over yet, and I have a feeling they'll commit to a pull back of the century.

Why did Hamilton make the move from McLaren, only he will ever know, we can only speculate, will he ever go back in 5-6 years time, I can almost guarantee that before Hamilton retires he will race for McLaren again, the question is, how many world championships will he have collected in his time away?

Side Note:I see alot of people suggesting that he moved to escape a corporate atmosphere and to escape doing the sponsor stuff, I've seen him in more PR related stunts since he joined Mercedes than I ever did when he was working at McLaren.
Hamilton moved to escape PR work?.....No I don't think he did.


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