Hamilton leaves McLaren...

[Brett]

...going to Mercedes.  Perez joining McLaren and Sauber have offered Schumacher a drive for next year.

So... Hamilton - stupid money move, or smart move going with a big manufacturer with the engine changes coming up?

[Will66]

I\'m not sure, he could have been shrewd here.  Ross Brawn has championship pedigree and is historically better at making race strategy decisions that almost anyone, particularly given Mclaren\'s high profile errors that have cost both their drivers points in recent seasons.  I\'m guessing the money might have something to do with it too though.  Be interesting to see how JB does at Mclaren without Hamilton though.

[AMH]

I\'m a big Lewis and McLaren fan and I am a bit disapointed but not really that surprised. I think it\'s a smart move as he couldn\'t stay with McLaren for ever and better to move now with plenty of offers and hopefully no bad blood with McLaren.

But who do I support next season? Do I stick with McLaren (and the large amount of kit I have), do I follow Lewis to Mercedes or do I switch to Red Bull now I reside in Milton Keynes and support the local team?

Think I\'ll probably stick with McLaren and hope Mr B finds his form again.

[jetpilot]

I dont know a great deal about the history of F1 and teams, but did have a chat with a buddy this morning who is very well versed on F1.

By all accounts Maclaren offered the same money, so its not a money thing, at $33 million a year it hardly bears any consequence does it?

So he must feel he has a better chance with Mercedes, my buddy seems to think it wont be instant however, so you may have to change your kit Ann, plus please dont support ze German!

[Grant Monkhouse]

Are they going turbos next year?  I think him going to another team will clear his head a bit, he hasn\'t had much luck since winning the title and it has shown with him being up in the stewards office all the time.

I have only seen a couple of races this year as I\'m not that bothered about watching it and I won\'t pay £40 a month to be bored tO death.

The Mercedes team have got a great car and I expect Lewis will be good in it.

[Will66]

He might have been a bit shrewd here.  Mclaren use Merc engines, engines are about to change, also Ross Brawn masterminded all of Michael Schumacher\'s titles and he\'s running Mercedes F1 team.  I reckon Hamilton has gambled a bit here but it could pay off when the new engine rules come in.

[AMH]

so you may have to change your kit Ann, plus please dont support ze German!

Never - I\'d be routing for Mr Webber if I did support Red Bull but I doubt I will (even if they are my local team now).

I think you\'re right Will - it will be interesting.

Half the races are on the BBC Grant and Sky F1 is very good and free if you have an HD box. I wouldn\'t have paid extra.

[Macer]

Are they going turbos next year?

The change to turbo engines comes in 2014 - not sure what changes are coming in for next year.

The racing has been a lot closer this year - only a couple of fairly tame/boring races that I can think of. Regardless of peoples opinions on DRS, KERS, and tyre unpredictability, they\'ve all contributed to a good championship.

Will be interesting to watch both Perez and Hamilton in their new teams/cars, but I hope Button is up at the front again next year.

[clive]

Personally I was hoping that if Lewis left Paul De Resta would be given the job,

As already said it could be a shrewd move as after all McLaren are only a Merc customer despite a percentage being owned by Merc so a move to a proper "works" team with first priority development engines could be the most competitive route long term.  

On a personal note Ron must be miffed loosing Lewis after all the support since a small child

[Brett]

I thought the money clincher was thus:

McLaren - same basic + win bonuses. (But very limited on driver personal sponsors)
Mercedes - same basic + personal sponsors (Very popular with his management company I\'d imagine)

TBH - I rate Perez above Di Resta - he\'s really shown his mettle/racecraft this year, been consistent etc...and it\'ll :censored::censored::censored::censored: off Ferrari after they snubbed him...

[cyman]

i think there are several things that made this move happen
 
the xix managment want to create lewis hamilton as a brand (in a similar vein to beckham or ronaldo) yes mclaren up\'d their bid but they have so many tight structures in place regarding sponsorship and brands that it stopped lewis getting some of the large personal deals that are available to him now he is at mercedes. so now more money for him and the managment team
 
mclaren will not give lewis number one in the team and kept him on an equal basis with button hamilton will be hoping to get into a position where that happens at mclaren even if they are saying publicly its an equal basis deal.
 
i dont think he could of made the decision based on performance, mercedes have underperformed big time this year with next year being the same as far as rules are concerned i would be surprised if that changes the big question is what will 2014 hold with the new engines. these days the customer and works engine deals are all about equal specs so there is no difference there but lewis will be able to have a direct link on development with regards to characteristics of the engines through the development phase next year.
 
if mercedes luck into a good design with the 2014 challenger they have as much chance as anyone to win the one thing they cant compare to though is the depth of mclaren over the last few years they have proved time and time again that as far as in season development they are probably the best team in the paddock.
 
 
for me personally i think it is a good thing that he is changing teams. with lewis regarded as one of the fastest drivers in f1 even if he isnt the best driver at complete race craft over a season, it will be good to see him taken out of the nice warm comfort zone that mclaren has been for so long for him. maybe the challenge of joining a midfield team and helping develop the car from scratch will be the making of him and turn him into someone that is talked about in the same sentence as senna prost etc and actually earned the right to be there.

[jetpilot]

Surely when earning these sums of money, a few million here or there is irrelevant?

I would have thought all F1 drivers want to be champion, so naturally they will want the best car!

[zeppelin101]

i dont think he could of made the decision based on performance, mercedes have underperformed big time this year with next year being the same as far as rules are concerned i would be surprised if that changes the big question is what will 2014 hold with the new engines. these days the customer and works engine deals are all about equal specs so there is no difference there but lewis will be able to have a direct link on development with regards to characteristics of the engines through the development phase next year.

It\'s a money thing with the engine deal. Mercedes will be in a far better position than Mclaren will under the new rules.

Hamilton is not development focussed. That seems pretty clear by how he drives. He\'s certainly not a Schumacher or to some extent, a Button. He just drives the wheels off whatever he\'s given.

I don\'t think Mercedes current lineup flatters their car one bit. They\'ve nabbed a win this season don\'t forget and Rosberg strikes me as a bit of a Button in the respect of "car has to be perfect to perform" while Schumacher tbh is just getting more embarrassing with each passing race. I hope for his sake he retires sooner rather than later as it doesn\'t look to me like he has the same mental fortitude he used to. His retirement at Singapore (by far the hardest track on the calendar as far as the driver mentality/physicality is concerned) both this year and last year show that up.

One man does not make a good team in Ross Brawn, but if they pull out all the stops out and he makes the right calls with Hamilton in the team, they have as much chance as anyone else of grabbing titles.