Mercedes Bound Hamilton Leaves Schumi Without A F1 Drive.

   Well, well, well! McLaren Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton has surprised many by saying "Auf Wiedersehen" to McLaren by inking his signature to a three year contract with German F1 team, Mercedes. This effectively leaves seven time champion Michael Schumacher without a confirmed F1 drive for 2013. At this point Schumi has not announced his plans for the future. Should he continue in Formula One? Michael will be 44 before the start of next season, and despite a few great drives this season, there's been more evidence to suggest that he's definitely past his prime. That horrific shunt in Singapore springs to mind. Time will tell.
    Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn recently announced that Lewis Hamilton's people instigated negotiations with Mercedes about Hamilton joining the team. Did this suggest some unrest in the Hamilton- McLaren relationship? Lewis' recent tweet of his and team mate Jenson Button's qualifying telemetry, whilst not overly damaging, would hint towards this. McLaren have often stated that they know how to handle, shall we say, high maintenance drivers and ultra competitive team mates. Perhaps we should ask Alain Prost, Juan Pablo Montoya, Fernando Alonso, or even Kimi Raikkonen for that matter, whether they agree?
    However, McLaren always build race winning cars, whereas Mercedes at this stage, do not. Yes they are towards the front end of the grid, but they don't punch on with McLaren race by race do they? Will Lewis Hamilton's frustrations compound with a Mercedes that may not be able to challenge for race wins event after event? Or is the challenge of helping push Mercedes to the very front of the F1 grid a task he'll relish? Will a fresh start at Mercedes rejuvenate Lewis? It'll be interesting to see how talented team mate Nico Rosberg stacks up against Hamilton. 
    McLaren have quickly signed impressive Sauber driver, Sergio Perez, to a multi- year contract. What a fantastic opportunity for the young Mexican partnering Jenson Button next year. McLaren undoubtedly will be fighting for race wins and the championship. Will Perez rise to the challenge of driving for one of F1's top teams? Leave formulafrontrow.com a comment or send us an email at: greenflag@formulafrontrow.com. 
    Final thought though. Perez is a member of the Ferrari Young Driver Academy. Have Ferrari made a master stroke allowing Perez to race for a frontrunning team with the option of recalling a more accomplished, mature Perez to lead Ferrari post- Alonso? Interesting....