Trying desperately to put a positive spin on the departure of arguably the
fastest driver currently in Formula One, McLaren claimed that in the
22-year-old Mexican and Jenson Button they now had the “perfect blend of
youth and experience”.
It may be an exciting line-up, and Perez may be rich in potential, but even
Whitmarsh did not deny later that Hamilton had been their No 1 choice.
“I know we made [Hamilton] a very, very big financial offer, bigger than I
believe any Formula One driver is enjoying today,” he said. “We went a long
way to make a good offer to Lewis but ultimately it takes two to get to a
signature. We clearly didn’t agree terms and we’ve moved in a different
direction.”
The question now is whether heads will roll at McLaren for failing to get
Hamilton to sign. It would seem doubtful although executive chairman Ron
Dennis was clear at Monza three weeks ago that it was Whitmarsh’s
responsibility to get Hamilton over the line. He failed to achieve that.
Asked about Dennis’s reaction to that failure and whether he might contemplate
retiring as a result of having let one of the fastest drivers of his
generation slip through his fingers, Whitmarsh chose to avoid the question.
“Ron is a racer,” he said. “He understood. What is important is actually what
we are doing with the team and he knows, as we have monitored Sergio over a
number of years, that he is a massively exciting talent and we have the
opportunity now to mould him and we like doing that. We are looking forward
to completing this season successfully and also to next year.”
Whitmarsh, who said that Hamilton had broken the news to him on Wednesday in
an “emotional” phone call from Asia, where he stayed after last weekend’s
Singapore Grand Prix, instead tried to focus on Perez and what he could
bring to the team.
There has been plenty of speculation that McLaren’s title sponsors Vodafone
may be about to pull out and that what Perez might bring to the team is lots
of much-needed cash via his backers Telmex, but Whitmarsh denied that had
been a motivating factor.
McLaren are understood to be paying Perez around £7 million per season, and
Whitmarsh said there were no “side deals”.
“I did have a conversation with [Telmex board member] Carlos Slim yesterday
but we have made an offer to Sergio, we are paying him well and there are no
side deals,” he said.
“I’m not saying that ultimately there won’t be other fresh partners coming
forward because of it but that wasn’t the motivating force. We’ve got a
tremendously strong partner line-up of investors, that’s solid and we are
confident and comfortable with that.”
Whitmarsh added that other drivers such as Force India’s Paul di Resta had
also been in the frame but ultimately fell down because McLaren have already
been down the all-British route and it would be hard to top the
Hamilton-Button partnership.
“I know Paul very well and the true answer is that I rate him but it would
probably have been continuing a little bit too much with the British theme
to have gone that route,” he said.
Hamilton said his decision to quit his boyhood team had been motivated by the
desire for a “fresh challenge”.
McLaren have won 16 times and finished on the podium four times in the period
since Mercedes returned as a full works team in 2010.
But despite his new team having won just once, with six podiums, in the same
period Hamilton said he was confident he could help begin a “new chapter”
for the famous Silver Arrows. “Together, we can grow and rise to this new
challenge,” he said.
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn, meanwhile, claimed that despite
speculation to the contrary his team had not offered more money than
McLaren.
“Lewis didn’t come here because we offered more money, because we didn’t,” he
said. “I think for Lewis, the attraction was being part of that building
structure – the creation of the team. Not walking into a ready-formed,
successful package; it was being part of the process of building that
package.”