They insist that they didn’t offer him more money and that he did not seek priority status. The other ‘they’, meanwhile, insist that they fought hard to keep him.
So why did Lewis Hamilton eschew Macca for Merc?
Was it to protect and promote his brand?
Or was it because of the swingeing 2014 engine regs, for which Mercedes-Benz appears best placed?
Or was it because of McLaren’s impending customer status?
No, no, no. It’s much simpler than that: it’s because he had to. Even though any Red Bull and Ferrari aspirations – most drivers’ Plans A and B – were thwarted by that nice Mark Webber and the ruthless Fernando Alonso, his need to leave McLaren had become too urgent for him to deny. His Woking environment, the glasshouse that had nurtured his talent since he was a teenager, had become a glazed cage. Rather than his staring in wonder from its protective within, he now felt stared at – and judged, often unfairly – from the tantalising wide without.
McLaren is a fantastic team with a rich and successful history, present and probably future, but the fact that M-B, a huge industrial combine with a somewhat severe and stolid image, can be seen by Hamilton and his handlers as freer and easier tells you all you need to know about why fastidious McLaren is not every driver’s trophy full of champagne. That nurturing arm around the shoulder can become a bit ‘creepy uncle’.
Even though the team’s atmosphere has lightened with Martin Whitmarsh’s hand upon its tiller, it could not keep pace with its star pupil’s transformation. Hamilton, so fresh-faced that I’m jolted whenever I double-check his age, is a changed man (with perhaps some growing up still to do) from the beaming kid that strung together the greatest rookie season of all F1 time. Then, everything was a bonus, a fresh challenge, and the world was his oyster. Since, the pearl has gradually turned to grit.
As he became increasingly hip so his surroundings appeared increasingly square. The earrings, the on-off superstar ‘squeeze’, the showbiz Svengali – not bad things in themselves – are hardly McLaren fundamentals. And those terse chip-chip-chippy car-to-pit (off) messages and that twitchy tweet from Spa were indicators that this bird was ready to fly the nest.
At 27, Hamilton is approaching his driving pomp. So, better a change of circumstance than a mid-career crisis. He will never recapture entirely the spirit of that first season – probably doesn’t want to or need to – but it wouldn’t do him any harm to claw some of it back. Regaining that smile – win or lose with Mercedes – will be as important as the results themselves.
That is to say very important. Just because he ‘had’ to do it doesn’t make the move automatically the correct decision.
Team swaps by world champions carry extra expectation and pressure. Twelve reigning champs, from Juan Fangio in 1952 to Jenson Button in 2010, have relocated upon completion, be it by choice, coercion or circumstance. All bar the IndyCar-bound Nigel Mansell of 1993 remained within the Grand Prix arena.
Some proved unmitigated disasters: Fangio to Maserati in 1952 – he broke his neck at Monza! – Alberto Ascari to Lancia in 1954 and Damon Hill to Arrows in 1997. Denny Hulme’s move to McLaren in 1968 was filled with honour and honest endeavour over the next seven seasons; Niki Lauda’s to Brabham 10 years later was bad but understandable. Some were good albeit with reservations: Fangio to Ferrari in 1956, Prost to Ferrari in 1990 and Fernando Alonso to McLaren in 2007. And some were (almost) inspired: Mansell’s reputation was burnished by his first term in America’s oval office, as was Jenson Button’s when he joined McLaren.
The latter, all smiles and occasional sensational wins, did not wrench the team from Hamilton’s grasp but rather launched a charm offensive that has finally seen him wrest control – for perhaps a season or two.
Which leaves Hamilton, admittedly now an outside bet for this year’s world title albeit through no fault of his own, exposed in the harsh contrasting light emitted by Fangio and Michael Schumacher, the man he is to replace.
Fangio, who reigned with quiet charisma, had the knack of being in the right car at the right time. That’s how it seemed at least. More apposite is that he made his various situations work in the days when gear ratios and tyre pressures were the only quick-fix set-up tweaks available to a driver.
By 1951, the once-dominant svelte Alfetta was punch-drunk, bloated by a huge thirst for fuel, and Fangio just about clung on in the face of a Ferrari that was a mph match on double the mpg. His 1954 mid-season switch from Maserati to Mercedes-Benz is today viewed as a no-brainer, yet that is to ignore that the W196, a curious mix of new tech and old hat, was no sinecure; Ascari’s much-delayed Lancia D50 had more potential. In Ferrari’s more pragmatic form, some might say blacksmithed, the latter gave Fangio his fourth and least favourite world title: 1956. Juan was no fan of Enzo’s machinations or his macchina.
Best of all was his return to happy-go-lucky Maserati in 1957: its beautiful 250F, the epitome of the front-engined GP car, those 150mph downhill power-slides at Rouen, his remorseless hunt of Ferrari’s Mike Hawthorn and Pete Collins at the Nürburgring, and a fifth world title, aged 46. Helmet tipped back with thumb, puffed-out cheeks blackened by brake dust, engine fumes and road dirt, he knew he could do no more. Homeric.
Schumacher, who reigned with a relentless behind-the-scenes blue-collar work ethic, cannot equal such romance, but his decision to join Ferrari in 1996 after two consecutive title years with Benetton provides the SI unit of this blog’s topic: the schum.
He joined an outfit that had scored just two wins over the five previous seasons; Hamilton has signed for one with one in three. Schumacher united and energised his new team, pulled it and its various key suppliers tightly to him and held them there while he ragged them flat out on every lap – test, practice, qualifying and race – for 11 seasons.
By way of thanks Ferrari squeezed him – a man still wrestling with the fact that he doesn’t know what other roles he might play – out. The three seasons he missed as a result of the Scuderia’s chill-wind planning for the future – which made as much sense to me as does its abject failure to sign Sergio Pérez – might have obviated his need for the done-him-few-favours three he is soon to complete with Mercedes.
Hamilton has stated that he wants to become a multiple world champion. That way greatness beckons. It’s impossible to imagine him matching Schumacher’s 72 wins and five titles with Ferrari; he has the time – Schumacher was 27 when he rocked up at Maranello – but, I suspect, not the long-term focus: too many other interests, distractions and marketing opportunities. Don’t forget, Ayrton Senna was his hero, not Schumacher. But if he successfully unpicks Ross Brawn’s brain – and vice versa – there’s absolutely no reason why he can’t keep the earrings, etc while keeping his nose to the grindstone and foot to the carbon floor.
Yeah, a good, energising move this one – albeit with reservations.
” the swingeing 2014 engine regs, for which Mercedes-Benz appears best placed ”
This is something I see repeated over and over, but I have yet to see any foundation to this claim.
Sure, Mercedes have a great engine today but how does that guarantee they’ll have a great (or the best) engine in 2014? Why are Ferrari and/or Renault not equally placed to be the best of the new rules?
And also don’t forget the McLaren will be using the same engine! Norbert Haug and Martin Whitmarsh have said over and over that they want the McLaren-Mercedes partnership to continue in the long term.
I do not believe for a minute that Lewis to Merc will be anything like a repeat of Schumacher to Ferrari in 1996. Schumacher, while I was no fan of his, was the real deal in that he married incredible talent to, like you say, a fearsome work ethic. He came from having won both titles in the second-best car in 1995, having improved his standing every year since his debut, whereas Lewis seems to have gone backwards. Hamilton has the speed but is not a team-builder (or if he is, he keeps it well hidden) in the mould of someone like Alonso or Robert Kubica. He wants to work hard and play hard – and there’s nothing wrong with that – but the other champs that I can think of that behaved like that – Hunt, Jacques Villeneuve, Raikkonen, are all one-hit wonders. The multiple champs are the ones who are more concerned with hanging out with their mechanics into the small hours than rappers. Lewis, in my opinion, isn’t in the same league as the true greats for that reason, although his raw talent is not in doubt.
Hamilton wanted a car that could win from the front, he wanted the best car. Now he has the best car. And so he decides to sign for Mercedes GP.
If there was ever any proof the boy aint right in the head, its this move.
Clearly he thinks he’ll be better off at Merc, and that’s all that matters really. Trying to make predictions this far out it pretty pointless. But I do know if I had to choose between Brawn/Haug or or Whitmarsh/Michaels to be my team managers, or to share a trench with or even to flip burgers alongside, I’d go for the former pair too. Like Kimi and JPM and Coulthard Ham’s suffered Mclaren’s ‘nearly’ cars for enough seasons to have paid his dues. They might come second a lot, but one single WDC since 98 isn’t a great record – Prost, Senna and even Hakkinen all seem a long time ago now.
Yes, sod’s law says Macca will probably pull a rabbit out of the hat and set Button and Perez up with an unbeatable car next year, but there’s nothing in their recent record to suggest they will. If the Silver Arrows are serious about winning I doubt the likes of Mclaren and RB will be able to hold them off for long…
Hamilton’s raw pace has never been in doubt but I can’t see him building MB around him in the Schumacher style at Ferrari because be has never had to do this. He was parachuted into McLaren as the golden boy and has done well – driven some outstanding races but only from the front. Unless MB deliver him the best car from somewhere I can onlly forsee tears and tantrums and a tail between the legs return to Macca in two or three years at greatly reduces salary. If the will take him back!
I don’t see how it can do Mercedes image much good if he flounders with an underdeveloped car, or worse. I was very surprised at the rumored interest in Hamilton by the three-pointed star, but to know they actually signed him was an even bigger surprise. If the Rosberg/Schumi combo weren’t able to get the car dialed-in I’m not sure how Hamilton will help develop it. But then again, I’ve been surprised twice so far on this one, another isn’t impossible.
Just don’t think you know Hamilton at all. Schumacher was, and is great, that’s no reflect on Lewis. Lauder and others think Lewis can do it so let him try. I want to look to the future many F1 greats (including Fernando) respect and have great hopes for Lewis. Its general knowledge via former and present drivers that he needs to escape McLaren and how he will do it is by driving faster than anyone else. Ross Brawn rates Lewis and that’s good enough for me.
I like your article so thank you for that
Hamilton was quoted on Ch 10 in Australia before Monza as “I’m all about winning” and then he goes and signs with Mercedes? Maybe he meant “I’m all about winning the money stakes”. Unless he knows something we don’t such as Adrian Newey going there as chief designer, then good luck to them both.
I agree with Richard Craig . This will be a defining moment. One hit wonder? Maybe, lets see how the car comes out of the box. As Sir Jackie said , the great ones just get on with it.
It’s going to be interesting to see Nico vs Hamilton in equal equipment!
If Nico kicks ass and Hamilton struggles , does that vindicate Michael for all you Scummi haters?
I don’t think Hamilton knows how to help develop the car. Neither does Kimi and Button as well. It’s either quick out of the box and then they start going backwards. Don’t tell me that Brawn didn’t have the money to develop the car and that’s why the other teams got quicker and closed the gap. Rubens got better. Jenson fell back. All those years and money spent by Honda for one win? Alonso could drive Chitty Chitty bang bang the rest of the year and still add points! The great ones do!
Isnt Mercedes already the benchmark in F1? And isnt it showing with its own team that it doesnt really help?
There are a couple things to consider in Hamilton’s decision as I see it.
01-The move WAS about money. Make no mistake about it.
Maybe more from the “BRAND”making than Mercedes,
but it was money.
02-Hamilton cannot match Schumacher for several reasons
but the more important ones are that he won’t be allowed
to test as much as Michael did under the regulations at the
time he was with Ferrari and have car ad tires designed
around him.
03-Brawn is still in charge of the team (or so he thinks) but
the German management style does not match what
Michael had at Ferrari, not by a long shot. Have you ever
tried telling a German he is wrong? Good luck!
04-Lauda coming to Mercedes as an adviser? With all due
respect Nikki is a devise character, like a vulture in the
background with negative comments just about anything
or anyone. I’d be willing to bet Brawn won’t last very long
at Mercedes or good old Nikki will become Halloween
party decoration somewhere.
05-When Hamilton started wearing the diamond studs in his
ears and sporting the sculptured little beard anyone could
have predicted he no longer fitted the clean, impeccable
McLaren style and appearance.
Let’s hope he does not become the next Villenuve. A former champion that moves from category to category after his F1 career went down the proverbial toilet. If he does, he has no one to blame but himself and his management team.
Hamilton was seen wearing a black band around his bicep this weekend, several journos report on twitter. Apparently not because someone died, but because of a new tattoo that Mclaren dont like :)
Good point about the in season development at Ferrari Joe. It is something I really miss these days. But even if it was allowed, I dont see Hamilton developing a team the way Schumacher, Vettel did. These days he has other prioritys, like being a rapper-driver.
That Twitter business with Jenson Button shows what an immature twerp Lewis can be as well.
He should stick to the Taki Inoue-esque self-deprecation if he’s going to use Twitter at all, not knee-jerk finger pointing.
He is starting to become a celebrity who happens to be excellent at driving cars quickly. People like Alonso and Schumacher are the complete package, they have racing written right the way through them like a stick of rock. Lewis almost seems to find being an F1 driver a nuisance these days.