Mercedes boss Ross Brawn has confirmed that XIX Entertainment, Lewis Hamilton's Management team made initial contact with the team about the possibility of a drive with the Brackley based team. Speaking to BBC Sport, Brawn said that they knew Hamilton's contract was up at the end of this year and discussion really took off and led to Friday's announcement that the Brit would be replacing 7 time's world champion Michael Schumacher.
Brawn also confirmed that Hamilton joins Mercedes with equal status to Nico Rosberg. He revealed that Lewis never asked for number one status and that the offer of number one was never on the cards.
I find it extremely interesting that Hamilton is joining Mercedes because by the results so far this season McLaren would have been his best bet for the championship, however I understand where he is coming from, he was looking for a new challenge and was extremely impressed with the project that Mercedes are embarking on over the next three years.
If for what ever reason the move doesn't work out the way either party wanted Hamilton can use it as a learning curve. In my opinion, he is taking a massive risk by joining Mercedes. However when you look at it, Mercedes or Brawn as they were known as then have won the both the Driver's and Constructor's championship's more recently then McLaren. The team won both championships with Jenson Button in 2009 whereas McLaren's last Driver's title came back in 2008 with Hamilton and their last Costructor's championship win came in 1998.
It is also very ironic, because as it turns out the likelihood is that Lewis' race engineer at Mercedes will be Andrew Shovlan, who was Jenson's engineer when he won the championship.
It remains to be seen if Hamilton has made the right choice and only time will tell as to whether or not it is the right move. However with XIX Entertainment approaching Merc, it is my opinion that they felt that Lewis would have greater freedom when it came to image and commercial rights. McLaren are traditionally very strict when it comes personal driver endorsements.
It is believed that Hamilton's new Mercedes contract is worth in the region of £15 million a year over three years so on top of commercial sponsorship in my opinion Hamilton could be earning as much as £20 million a year with Mercedes.
Interestingly enough on the day that Hamilton's move to Mercedes and Sergio Perez's move to McLaren were announced the McLaren chairman Ron Dennis was at the Paris Motor Show at the launch of McLaren Automotive's replacement for the McLaren F1 the McLaren P1, therefore removing himself from the hype surrounding Hamilton's move to Mercedes. But as Ron has said himself his main involvement as Chairman of the McLaren Group is now with McLaren Automotive, the company's road car division.
He would have been involved in the discussions with Hamilton however as Martin Whitmarsh is the F1 team principal I suspect that he had the final say in the signing of Sergio Perez as Hamilton's replacement.
As I understand it, Jenson Button was also involved in the decision to sign Sergio Perez from Sauber, as he along with his manageer Richard Goddard is involved in the management of a number of young drivers coming through the lower motorsport categories.
I have no doubt that will hear Ron Dennis' view on Hamilton's move and the signing of Perez as BBC F1's Lee McKenzie interviewed him on stage at the Paris Motor Show.
The 2013 Autosport International Show at the NEC in Birmingham in January which I am hoping to attend is set to be very interesting as I am sure that Mercedes will take it as an opportunity for Lewis to make an appearance at the event.
In any case Thursday at Suzaka will be a very interesting day in particular the driver's press conference and equally the team principal's press conference on Friday. We will have Hamilton, Perez and Schumacher at the press conference so it is going to be very interesting to wtach.
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