Did Mercedes outbid McLaren for Hamilton?

[beelsebob]

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...

That would manage to explain both the €15m and "more than €30m" rumors in one. Great insight, thanks!

[CHT]

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

Yes, most of Beckham achievement and highlight of his career was during his time with ManU, which is almost equivalent to Mclaren for Hamilton. Once XIX entertainment took over, everything about Beckham is fame, money, hollywood and red carpet. And I do think that Hamilton is slowly moving towards that. celebrity girlfriend Nico, XIX Entertainment, tattoo etc..

And dont be surprise that LH could end up quitting F1 prematurely; especially if Merc couldnt deliver and switch over to NASCAR in America. I think the value proposition to be the first black male Nascar driver will be a very lucrative for both XIX and LH.

[Cam]

Hamilton had a tough couple of years - with 2011 being a real cracker. His personal life was all over the place and this was reflected behind the wheel. He's placed overall, 4, 5, 4, 5 in the last 4 years.

From a McLaren point of view - you have a guy who's attitude is shite, doesn't respect what he has at his disposal, he's not finishing races, ranks mid top ten and wants to be the highest paid driver because he thinks he deserves it. McLaren see it as they have already put in all the ground work and investment to get Hamilton here.

In December 1995, at the age of ten, he approached McLaren team principal Ron Dennis at the Autosport Awards ceremony and told him, "I want to race for you one day ... I want to race for McLaren." Less than three years later McLaren and Mercedes-Benz signed him to their Young Driver Support Programme

Ron gave Hamilton what he wanted - he gave him unprecedented support, the finest resources and a F1 WDC. So 'hardball' negotiating from Hamilton would seem like a slap in the face - and that's exactly how Ron saw it. It was a lack of respect for what McLaren had done for Hamilton to date - be that right or wrong - that's how he saw it.

Power and ego. This is what Hamiltons decision boils down to and Mercedes F1 were there to capitalise. If hamilton backed down to Ron and taken the McLaren offer then he would have been seen to have no balls. This would have been clearly stated by his 'advisors'. So Mercedes get a bargain, Hamilton gets some extra spare change and McLaren loose their star.

There is definitely some regrets happening and certainly some lessons to be learnt - but ego, power and bad advice - all played a part in this sorry saga.

[wesley123]

From a McLaren point of view - you have a guy who's attitude is shite, doesn't respect what he has at his disposal, he's not finishing races, ranks mid top ten and wants to be the highest paid driver because he thinks he deserves it. McLaren see it as they have already put in all the ground work and investment to get Hamilton here.

Hamilton has been the fastest driver last year. The year before he was really bad yes, the year before had his ups and downs. In 2009 he was pretty good too, and scored the most points in the second half of the season.

There is definitely some regrets happening and certainly some lessons to be learnt - but ego, power and bad advice - all played a part in this sorry saga.

It is how you look at it. On one point McLaren didnt like what Hamilton was doing (twittergate for example), and on the other hand Hamilton felt the same about his team throwing away at least 100 points. It was something that was doomed to fail, just like with Senna and Prost(yes I'm naming that because we got some similarities here), McLaren has learned nothing from their past it seems, and to me their attitude has been crap too. I mean, they would have won the WDC and WCC easily if it wasnt for misfortune, and yet they are still cheering for a good year? Excuse me, but as a team you should be ashamed, very ashamed for last year. You dont see Ferrari cheering either when Alonso ends in 5th place do we? McLAren praised their fans and their own team for throwing away what would have been an easy WDC and WCC, that is something I would respect as a driver.

Then we have Hamilton being fastest at the start of the season, with Button having problems since spain. The team decides to give a lot of effort into Button for fixing the problems. Hamilton, on that point had a good looking for the WDC, that just isnt the right thing to do. I can see that point as a breaking point for the relation, Hamilton and McLaren are having different goals.

I cannot see how McLaren is just able to do all this, and then call it a great year. I had a huge favor towards McLaren and Lewis, but the crappy attitude of the McLaren team, they really should be ashamed of themselves, very, very ashamed. I can only call it a understandable decision on Lewis' side to leave.

Whether or not Merc will make a good car in the coming 3 years, Hamilton now has the chance to show himself, show what he is able to do.

[Just_a_fan]

I think one thing people are forgetting is that Hamilton has grown up since the day he told Ron Dennis that he would drive for him. McLaren was a heroic icon for Hamilton. His dream team. His Ferrari, if you will.

He got there and found that the reality wasn't anything like the fantasy. In his first season he found out that being the quickest guy isn't enough - you have to play the politics game too. He lucked in because Alonso left early which meant Hamilton got the best of McLaren the following year. And he won the title.

Since then, he has had his problems (but no more than Alonso, for example, who has divorced from his wife - hardly something that helps a driver's mind I'm sure). He has also found that his image of McLaren was flawed. They're very good, yes, but not without issues. He's grown weary of the unforced errors and the realisation that equal treatment means just that at McLaren - even when another team would have thrown their weight behind the leading driver at mid season this year, McLaren didn't. The result was that Hamilton finished the season only a few points ahead of Button even though he's out driven him all year.

Some are saying it's ego on Hamilton's part. Sure, it is. But it's also ego on McLaren's part. They've effectively said to Hamilton: "it's our way or go away" and he's gone. He might not win anymore titles in his career but, from his point of view, he probably won't at McLaren based on their performance this year when, with a bit of care, they could have had another driver's title on their list. But they dropped the ball in a year when Hamilton did his part - he drove the wheels off the car. Unfortunately, the team messed up too often.

So Hamilton has finally realised that one truth: you should never meet your heroes because you'll probably end up disappointed.

At Mercedes GP he'll likely spend his time in the mid field, perhaps with the odd trip towards the front, but he'll also have a huge amount more say in his own life because he'll have more time to be himself away from the McLaren sponsorship machine. And if he feels happy in himself, then as we've seen this year, he just drives so well. Nico will have to be on his game every minute of every session to stay with Hamilton. If Mercedes can give him a car that has possibilities then he'll put it further up the placings than they've become used to recently.

A happy Hamilton is a dangerous competitor - and it won't do his career any harm to perform well in a car that is seen as being middle order. And if Alonso leaves Ferrari, then I can see Hamilton finishing his career there.

[PlatinumZealot]

Hamilton is seen as an 11 year old boy at Mclaren, but he will be seen as a Formula 1 World champion in his prime at Mercedes.

That's all there is to it folks. Nothing more nothing less.

[Pierce89]

Hamilton is seen as an 11 year old boy at Mclaren, but he will be seen as a Formula 1 World champion in his prime at Mercedes.

That's all there is to it folks. Nothing more nothing less.

I don't think it will be at Mercedes, maybe his next team, though.

[Nando]

Mclaren blew it and they know it.

If you had to write a list of things that must go wrong in order for Hamilton not have won the title this year you would come up with a list that actually correlates to reality.

Every single thing that could go wrong, went wrong. Sometimes they looked worse the HRT.
It´s a joke to think Hamilton has any obligations left for Mclaren, he gave them 6 years and he got one title.

CHT is also wrong abit about Mclaren simply "giving" him a nice path to F1. He earned it.

[example]

I'm risking being named fanboy again.
But I said many times that Mercedes signeded him Michael wasn't performing. I don't dislike him and some may argue that the car was poor this season. Mercedes are not hiding their ambitions of being a top team and that's why they can't have someone who is already past it as their leading driver.
Lewis was performing at the top standard, being the best qualifier and simply dominating some weekends. That's what Mercedes wanted and they had to pay top price, had his contract expired at the end of last season they wouldn't have to pay that much.

Comparison with Beckham was simply ridiculous and was just a poor attempt of criticizing him. Some players of DB's generation were better than him, like Paul Scholes, not as famous but definitely a better footballer.

[raymondu999]

had his contract expired at the end of last season they wouldn't have to pay that much.

Eh? Hamilton has had 2 McLaren contracts - 2007, then 2008-2012 (5 year deal signed at the end of 2007). Hamilton's McLaren contract WAS expiring at the end of the 2012 season.

[Richard]

This was interesting while it was factual but now it's becoming Lewis love.