Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes

WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BRING?

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will be team mates in 2013



The news that Lewis Hamilton will move to Mercedes for 2013 came to many as a surprise. The 2008 World Champion choosing to sever his ties with the team of which he has been connected to since he was 13 years old. Differing views on the matter are; brave, stupid or smart. On the one hand it could lead to slump in his career, if not decline, while on the other hand it could mark a return to championship glory.

Logically, moving from McLaren to Mercedes would be a mistake. Granted, the team in its previous incarnation, Brawn GP, won the constructors and drivers championship with Hamilton's current team mate, Jenson Button in 2009. And yes, this is more recent than Hamilton's championship year, furthermore the last time McLaren won the constructor's championship was in 1998. But since the German manufacturer returned as a works Formula One team in 2010, they have won only one race in China this year. Lewis Hamilton has won 20 races for McLaren since making his debut in 2007.

Hamilton and McLaren = World Champions.
Since 2008, their fortunes have faded

But since his success in 2008, the Hamilton and McLaren marriage had been slowly heading for divorce and the signs were ever present. Although the 2012 car started the season as the fastest, and has been the class of the field in recent races, McLaren have not produced a car that has been as competitive as it was in '08. 2009 was a difficult season for Hamilton, starting the season with a slow car that was not a winner, after being caught providing misleading information to the stewards in the first race of the season in Australia, he was disqualified from his third place finish. His race engineer, Dave Ryan was sacked, and Ron Dennis stepped down as the team principal. A barren spell followed, with the champion trailing round towards the back of the field. Competent development allowed Hamilton to return to the front and he won in Hungary and Singapore, by the end of the season he had fought back to fifth in the championship but it had been a forgettable season.

2010 saw Hamilton back in championship contention but the McLaren was not as quick as the Red Bull and if the Milton Keynes based team had endured stronger reliability and better luck, its feasible that the championship would not have gone down to the wire given the pace of their car. Furthermore, towards the end of the season, the McLaren had fallen behind the Ferrari in terms of speed. And two consecutive collisions in Italy and Singapore further decreased Hamilton's chances. The Englishman finished fourth in the standings.

2011 was the worst yet, this time it was more the fault of himself rather than McLaren, though the Woking based squad again could not produce a car that matched the Red Bull for pace. There was even rumours circulating about a move to Red Bull. Hamilton took three victories, all of them great in themselves, but all too often, Hamilton was not driving with his head. His attitude was also up for debate, with the former champion seemingly unable to ever admit blame for any incident he was involved in. Silly manoeuvres in Monaco and Singapore cost him valuable time, while over aggressive driving in Canada and Belgium caused him to retire from both races. For the first time in his career, he has was outscored by his team mate.

The 2012 season has been a case of McLaren's mistakes costing him, to be fair to Lewis his driving has been much better this year. Some poor pit stops early in the season cost him points, then in Spain the team stupidly under-fuelled his car in qualifying meaning he failed to return to the pits after setting the fastest time, thus breaking the regulations and relegating him to the back of the grid, costing him a potential win. A gearbox failure in Singapore meant another possible victory was lost. In Belgium, he upset the team by revealing their telemetry via Twitter, prompting further speculation that the partnership was coming to an end.

But what else is there to this? Money has been cited as the reason, Hamilton's marketing appeal is something Mercedes would welcome greatly. But Ross Brawn has stated that his offer was no more than an offer that McLaren were making for a contract extension. Though Lewis Hamilton does fit the profile of a man motivated by money. Mercedes can certainly afford to pay a huge salary. There is also the chance that Hamilton could weld the team around himself, something that Michael Schumacher did with Benetton and Ferrari, while Ross Brawn was in the team. Mercedes also designed their 2012 car around Schumacher. Both Hamilton and Mercedes have said that this will not be the case, but it would hardly be a surprise. It is certainly more possible to do this at Mercedes, McLaren have never really done this with any driver.

Mercedes have had only one race win since their return
to F1 in 2010

If we were to call Mercedes a lesser team than McLaren, which the results over the last three years suggest they are. History has told us that a world champion moving from a team where he has enjoyed a close and lengthy association to a team for a "new challenge" has not been a successful move. Emerson Fittipaldi moved from McLaren to his family run Copersucar team in 1976, the double world champion would never win a Grand Prix again and four years later retired from the sport. Niki Lauda left Ferrari after winning his second world championship with the Scuderia in 1977. A disappointing two seasons with Brabham followed while Ferrari took the title in 1979. Jacques Villeneuve left Williams to join the fledgling BAR squad for 1999, run by his manager Craig Pollock. 5 years with the team resulted in just two podium finishes, the 1997 champion also ended 1999 without a single point. The only concession to this is of course, Michael Schumacher who left Benetton and joined Ferrari in 1996. The combination started slowly but turned into championship winning material. 10 years later, Ferrari had won five driver's championships and six constructor's championships with Schumacher in the team. There is no guarantee that Hamilton and Mercedes will not be a championship winning combination.

One interesting point is that this is a good move for his own development, not just as a racing driver but also as a person. Some will say he still has a lot of growing up to do. Leaving McLaren will be much like finally leaving home. McLaren have supported him since he was a young karter. Perhaps it is now time to prove that he can make it on his own. Whether he wins races with Mercedes or not, this move will make Lewis a stronger and more mature driver. We already know he is a fast driver with incredible talent, so no harm will be done there, he will be praised for any success and it will be deserved. However, should he fail, and McLaren head for long-term success with his replacement, the bright young star, Sergio Perez. Hamilton will have no-one to blame but himself.