Hamilton to Mercedes - Confirmed

[ShiftingGears]

If Merc do produce a good car next season, Button may wonder if he took the correct path too.

I don't think so. I think Hamilton has displayed the general opinion that McLaren has been holding him back when things don't go his way, whereas with Button he seems to be a lot more able to take team mistakes in his stride, and as far as I can tell, is content with driving for them.

That aside, there is really nothing on paper to suggest that Mercedes will be better than McLaren next year, so I don't think Button will have any regrets about staying.

[driveace]

He probably feels like you or I would if we were taking our road car to a garage for work and then we were not happy with the work carried out.What would we do,but take it to a different garage,so he is having a different car and going to a different garage for work on it,and getting a lot more money too !

[Bartek]

Already announced Hamilton signs for Mercedes,so Michael must be going,but who will partner Button ?

Perez - confirmed

[Mark]

Good move.

[pino]

Perez - confirmed

Sound like Massa will retain his seat at Ferrari then

[christophulus]

For F1 it's probably a good move, as you would now hope there will be four top teams competing for wins and championships. Although I can't believe Hamilton has moved for anything other than money, which is a shame.

[Mark]

Money, yes. But he's been with McLaren since he was a wee lad, and I'll bet he's thinking that at his point in his career he need to make a change or be stuck there forever.

[fandango]

...Paul O'Neill just tweeted that Lewis may*have just ruined his career (I'm paraphrasing!) and I'm inclined to agree : his management seem to value fame more than success.

Hamilton has shown this year that he's capable of raising his game and making sure that any f***-ups are not because of his driving, and I say that as most definitely NOT his No.1 fan. So if he maintains his driving standard and it doesn't work out at Mercedes at the very least McLaren would take him back (and probably dump a by-then long in the tooth Button).

Excellent move by McLaren to take on Perez. He'll definitely put Button to the test, and having two drivers who are masters at tyre management is a very interesting strategy to take post-Hamilton.

This is great for F1. Good for Hamilton. He's not doing it for the money. He's doing it because he believes he can win that way (the last bit is just my opinion).

And we should have at least a grudging nod towards my countryman in the ridiculous shirt...

[Donney]

I don't see why it may be a bad move on Hamilton's part. He may be tired of the same environment, he may like a new challenge and Mercedes is a works team who will build a everything around him most definitely. Whether they build a good or car or not it remains to be seem but that happens everywhere Ferrari, Red Bull, Renault....

As a fan I love the idea, we will get to see how good he is at dealing with a new team and developing a car/team which is close but not in the top.

I also think Button is the winner here, at least for the next season.

[Knock-on]

For F1 it's probably a good move, as you would now hope there will be four top teams competing for wins and championships. Although I can't believe Hamilton has moved for anything other than money, which is a shame.

Seeing as both team were reported s offering the same money, I can't see where you're coming from.

I think that Lewis is frustrated and a change could do him good. Perez and Jense at McLaren is a potentially championship winning combination which is good. Feel a bit sorry for Nico as I think he will be as dominated as Michael was by him.