Lewis Hamilton’s switch to Mercedes is good for Formula One

Lewis Hamilton has come under fire from many former drivers and the media for his recent move to Mercedes. However, I think we should commend Lewis for his Mercedes move. His move has created a great show for the upcoming season and he will almost certainly draw more viewers to the sport to see how he performs.

However, I think there are two main reasons why Lewis has made the switch. First of all, many critics of Formula 1 have the common perception that you cannot be seen as a world-class driver if you do not step out of your comfort zone. Some people consider that Sebastien Vettel is not a great driver because he has not left Red Bull to look for a new challenge. While Hamilton has walked away from McLaren and thus ended his 14-year association with the team. The main reason he did it, hinted at by Lewis, is that he wants to build the Mercedes team like Michael Schumacher did to win his world championships.

Furthermore, Lewis knows that Mercedes is unlikely to challenge success in 2013. However, he feels he can do what Schumacher did when he was at Ferrari. This was to try and turn a team that is no longer winning championships into a team that consistently wins championships. In my opinion, this is the main incentive that is driving Hamilton to move to Mercedes. It allows you to be seen as one of the best drivers Formula One has ever seen and to see your name spoken in the same vein as Senna, Schumacher and Prost.

My second reason Hamilton has made the switch is to find out what kind of character he is. Hamilton has been with a racing winning team at McLaren since joining in 2007. They have always been fighting for pole positions, podiums and race wins. Now he has to deal with the possibility of fighting for the 5th to 10th position. This will be new to him. Seeing how he copes will be very interesting to watch throughout the season. There is also a possibility that the 2014 car is not yet a championship winning car. However, we expect Mercedes to be strong in 2014 with the new engine regulations about to come in; But it shouldn’t be an excuse for them not to have a car that couldn’t fight for the championship. However, we do not live in a perfect world. If things go wrong and Lewis doesn’t have a championship-winning car in 2014, I think it will put his character to the test. If I were to go through that experience, I would expect him to grow as a driver and become more mature in driving situations. I think Lewis will become more of a Mark Webber figure. A driver who has been through all the midfield battles and has seen it all before. So we could see a much less aggressive driver at Hamilton for years to come if things don’t go as planned.

So to sum it up, we should be treasuring the fact that Lewis has moved to Mercedes because we can see just how good a racing driver he really is. I am looking forward to seeing what Hamilton has to offer this season. We should praise her bravery rather than tell her it was silly.