1. Lewis Hamilton joins Mercedes F1
Since joining the sport in 2007 and heralded as the 'first black Formula One Driver' Hamilton has become a love or hate figure for F1 fans due his speed but often controversial actions on and off the track. His debut season was more than impressive and he lost the championship by a single point due to ill-judgement at the last couple of races. In 2008 he won the World Championship by the skin-of-his-teeth after passing a slowing Timo Glock at the last corner of the last lap. Since the height of his early career though he has had neither the correct car nor the self-discipline to get near a second championship. A move to a different team could soon be an option if he doesn't have any success. Lewis Hamilton joining Mercedes has been a rumour floating around the Formula One circus for roughly the last two months. It was originally suggested by BBC pundit and ex-team owner
Eddie Jordan, but the remark was taken with a pinch of salt like much of what Mr. Jordan says. However, the rumour has grown into a fair amount of validity over the last two months: first there was a suggestion of Schumacher retiring into management then it was suggested that Mercedes had offered a contract to Hamilton which would see his salary greatly increase. On 28th September 2012, Eddie Jordon was proved to be correct with his original piece of speculation as Hamilton confirmed a three-year deal with Mercedes starting in 2013. Why would Hamilton want to join a team that has only won one race in the previous three seasons? The reasons for the switch are anyone's guess; the lure of money may have tempted Hamilton; he may have also had enough of the current set-up at Mclaren since he hasn't exactly comprehensively beaten
Jenson Button during their three seasons together. Hamilton may well be looking towards the long-term future; Mclaren are at risk of losing their Mercedes engines and new rules that are due to be implemented in 2014 could giving Mercedes F1 an advantage. So far Hamilton's 2012 season has been a mixed one. He is probably driving more consistently than previous seasons but he is currently fourth in the Championship and is 40 points behind leader Alonso. His season has been blighted by a couple of on-track incidents but mostly by team errors and unreliability so it may seem logical to move to a different team. But is moving to Mercedes a good idea? They have neither success nor true reliability (with Schumacher's car anyway) so it will be interesting to see the results for Hamilton now it is confirmed he will be switching teams. As mentioned previously now Hamilton has been confirmed as a Mercedes driver he will be replaced at Mclaren by Sauber's
Sergio Perez. So what do you think will happen? How do you think these changes are going to affect to running order of Formula One? Do you think the Hamilton move to Mercedes is a good one?