A spokesman for Simon Fuller’s XIX Management played down that story, saying
that Hamilton remained in “advanced negotiations” with McLaren,.
“As mentioned in the past by all parties, we are in advanced discussions with
McLaren about a new deal,” the spokesman said. “More importantly, at the
moment, Lewis is focused on Monza [where this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix
takes place] and competing strongly for the championship.”
It will not be easy for Hamilton to stay focused. Talk in Italy is now certain
to revolve around his future, which is exactly the reason he gave earlier
this year for wanting to get his contract sorted in the first part of the
season.
Within the sport it is still believed most likely that Hamilton will remain at
Woking and that talks with rival teams are designed to strengthen his
bargaining position with McLaren. Team principal Martin Whitmarsh said last
month that a deal with Hamilton was “closer than ever”.
But a move to Brackley is certainly plausible. It is easy to see why Mercedes
would want Hamilton. A huge global star, his arrival would soften the blow
of losing Schumacher from a marketing perspective and increase the team’s
competitiveness on track.
Hamilton gets on well with Mercedes-Benz’s head of motorsport Norbert Haug,
while there may be a bit of professional pride at play here as well. After a
long partnership, the split between McLaren and Mercedes three years ago was
not entirely cordial and hardly helped by Jenson Button’s defection to
McLaren at the end of 2009, just as Mercedes took over Brawn, his former
team.
It is less easy to divine Hamilton’s motivation for moving to Mercedes,
although his strained relationship with McLaren would surely be one factor.
Hamilton attracts interest and trouble like no other driver and the list of
controversies in which he has been involved — from his outburst at the
stewards in Monaco last year to his tweeting of confidential team data in
Belgium last weekend — goes on and on.
If he does decide to make a move, it would be a gamble. Despite signing up an
array of engineering talent, Ross Brawn’s team are yet to make a real impact
on the championship.
On top of which, Mercedes’ parent company Daimler is itself divided over the
company’s future in Formula One. Negotiations with the sport’s chief
executive Bernie Ecclestone regarding a new Concorde Agreement have been
tortuous and there are suggestions the board may withdraw its backing as a
full works team.
Jordan believes that is part of the allure of Hamilton. “The [Mercedes] board
is unhappy at the current performance of the team, but getting Hamilton
would undoubtedly be a massive coup and it could give the F1 team some
breathing space.
“Hamilton moving to Mercedes would also make a lot of sense in the context of
his manager Simon Fuller, the man behind the Spice Girls and now David
Beckham. Fuller is trying to position Hamilton as a major global star, like
Beckham, and Mercedes is a much bigger global brand than McLaren.” A McLaren
spokesperson said last night: “We’ve been told by Lewis Hamilton’s
management team that the story is untrue”.
Mercedes said they would not comment on speculation.