Did Mercedes outbid McLaren for Hamilton?

[raymondu999]

A significant question over Lewis Hamilton’s decision to join Mercedes for 2013 is how great a role money played. Back in negotiation time McLaren said they were “ready to match Mercedes’ offer”. However since then reports have claimed Hamilton will make more at Mercedes.

The Guardian says: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/se ... -whitmarsh

McLaren’s original offer was believed to be just two-thirds of Hamilton’s current deal. The contract with Mercedes is more lucrative at £15m a year and gives the driver potential to earn more commercially than he did at the Woking-based team.

F1 Racing (December issue) says:

He is earning about £15m this year, including bonuses. McLaren’s original offer for his new contract was £12.5m.

Mercedes initial offer was £17.5m, with the prospect of significantly fewer promotional days and the chance to make more money out of personal endorsements.

When it became clear to McLaren that they were facing serious opposition for Hamilton’s services, they upped their offer to £13.7m. Mercedes responded by upping their to £19.4m.

The point about promotional days is interesting. It reminded me of a story I heard about how Jenson Button was astonished when he joined McLaren from Brawn (now Mercedes) discovered his sponsor days for 2010 numbered in triple-digits. Money is one thing, time is another…

[wesley123]

I dont see how McLAren could even consider offering him less than he was paid in the previous years, certainly not considering his performance. I dont know how McLaren even managed to actually do this, that is just outright offensive towards Lewis.

Either way, even if McLaren offered him like 17M, I'd doubt he would stay at McLaren.

[Mika1]

Hamilton has more freedom to exploit his image rights ($$) and more spare time at Mercedes.

[CHT]

XIX entertainment = BU$iNE$$

LH will likely end up like David Beckham, filty rich holywood celebrity status but very little success in his career.

[Nando]

You mean like winning Premier League 6 times, FA cup twice, 1 Champions League, 1 La Liga?
I´d say Beckham has enjoyed his fair share of success.

[raymondu999]

I think CHT means Beckham during his Galaxy tenure, coincidentally, or not very coincidentally, brokered by XIX too. In a way, some parallels can be drawn between Hamilton-Mercedes and Beckham-Galaxie

[wesley123]

I dont think you can compare either, they might serve similar roles in the sport they are in, but they are in no way similar imo.

[iotar__]

No. Simplest answer: Hamilton did not want to drive for McLaren. Why? There's no way of telling and dubious second hand evidence cited above prove nothing.

These kind of questions are IMO a way of shifting the responsibility. It's probably not the smartest idea to leave McLaren now, although good for the show and F1. And since it can't be ever Hamilton's fault let's pretend and blame the team for not offering enough money. Or forcing him to sell some watches with his presence.

First hand responses as I remember them:
Hamilton - priority is to have the best car, which turned later into "need for a new challenge"
Whitmarsh - we gave him the best offer in F1 (or sth like that), hard to say what was the reference point, current or future earnings, with or without personal sponsors and so on.
Brawn (in response to the above) - it wasn't about money. Oh, I even found the quote:
"...But Lewis didn't come here because we offered more money - because we didn't," "As far as I am aware, didn't offer any more than McLaren from a financial point of view. There may be some more freedoms on the branding or imaging side, but that is the kind of freedom our drivers had already - we are not changing what we are offering in that respect.

Quite straightforward as far as I can see, although they all may be lying. After all it's F1 with all the "as far as I'm aware" BS. So let's assume: similar contract, less promotional days, more money from personal sponsors and probably worse car (we'll see).

BTW, I for one have zero sympathy for McLaren (or any F1 team) divers' whining about sponsors related work. It must reallyyyyy exhausting to travel to some place, sit on your bottom, answer questions and smile for couple of hours you lazy over-privileged a..holes.

[Nando]

Agreed. edit: (wesley´s post)

Beckham has won what most can only dream of then when his career was in decline he decided to do what´s best for him financially. He stopped being a good player before going to Galaxy, Hamilton has yet to reach his peak.

[raymondu999]

Unfortunately I don't really watch football - so I can't really relate to the analogies. The only reason I brought up Beckham-Galaxy is that it was pointed out in a blog post I read (in Will Buxton's blog)

[bill shoe]

From the same article--

McLaren, at least, have saved millions by agreeing a three-year deal with Pérez, worth £20m over that period.

I can respect Perez as a good driver, but they are paying him over $10 million per year!!! He is obviously not worth that. McLaren are trying to convince themselves that Perez is top-shelf material by paying him top-shelf money. Surely McLaren could have gotten Perez cheaper. Or nearly free. I think McLaren rushed negotiations with Perez so they could look like they had everything under control when Hamilton-to-Mercedes was announced.

[beelsebob]

Various in the know McLaren personal have stated that the deal they offered him would have made him the highest paid driver on the grid, so presumably they offered more than FA's €30m a year.

[Touristas]

I think it was reported that Hamilton was offered a 5 year deal from Mclaren,instead of 3 from Mercedes,
and also his salary was scaled,meaning most of his money would come in the last two years of his contact.

His current contract,signed in 2008,also had the same scale,giving him 24mil£ this year.

It's the way McLaren does it's deals,trying to keep their drivers in,seeing out their contracts.

So,maybe he would make more money in McLaren but in a five year span...

[Nando]

That would sound more logically as Martin on several occasions persisted that they gave Lewis the best deal out of anyone, to his knowledge at least.

I think at first they honestly thought he was bluffing, gave him a sub-par pay, then when they realized he was serious they started upping it not really knowing he probably made up his mind a long time ago. (relatively speaking)

[Mika1]

At the moment McLaren Mercedes isn't a team that can win a title. Even this year with the fastest car of the grid, they ruined it. I understand the choice of Hamilton to try something different.