F1: Mercedes Decision Was Stressful, Says Hamilton

Formula 1

F1: Mercedes Decision Was Stressful, Says Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton says the decision to leave McLaren was difficult...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted October 04, 2012 Suzuka (JPN)

Lewis Hamilton wants to be a part of making Mercedes better. (Photo: Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton has spoken in depth about his move to Mercedes after meeting British newspaper journalists in Tokyo.

Hamilton said it wasn’t an easy decision, and insisted he hadn’t made it until a few days before the announcement.

“It has been very, very stressful,” Hamilton told The Daily Telegraph. “I’ve been with this team since I was 13 and met Ron (Dennis) when I was 10. My dream back then was to race for this team. It was a little bit like a pendulum because one moment I would think, ‘Let’s go for it,’ (and) the next I would think, ‘I’m going to stay.’ That’s why I took my time.

“I could have stayed, and it would have been easy. There was no unrest with McLaren. They are an incredible team. They have the best facilities by far. The factory is untouchable, and it will get even better because they are building the new wind tunnel at some stage. They have got incredibly intelligent people. They’ve got everything, really, so in fact they should be winning more.

“I had two offers on the table which were very, very similar. One had slightly fewer [PR] days, but it was not about the offer. Martin [Whitmarsh] asked me what more they could have done. I said, ‘To be honest, Martin, it is about the challenge. It is a step that I want to make.’”

Hamilton said the recent retirement in Singapore had no impact.

“It made no difference,” he said. “I had kind of already had the feeling a few days before, but it stuck with me and this time I didn’t have any swinging back.

“Then I got to Thailand and it was incredibly peaceful and I just sat by the pool and thought for several hours. It was important to do it on my terms. I wasn’t going to be pushed and rushed, although there was a lot of pressure.

“Martin had been asking me when I was going to do a deal, since China last year. I had a couple of deadlines; I didn’t meet any one of them. It was really, really tough but once I made the decision, I was so much more relaxed.”

Hamilton clearly wants to be part of building up the team.

“I know some of the greats have gone from a great car to not such a great car and have helped to develop a winning team,” he said. “Michael (Schumacher), for instance, went from being a World Champion to Ferrari. We haven’t really got any other driver in Formula One who is known for that. I hope that one day someone can say that about me.”

Meanwhile, he doesn’t expect any tension in the McLaren garage: “At the end of the day, my mechanics will be upset because they have worked their asses off for me, but at some stage they might decide to go and work for another team.”

“When I spoke to Martin, I said that the plan was not to burn bridges. I don’t feel as though I am going out of McLaren through the back door. I am going out the front door, happily.

“The way I look at it is that I am walking over that bridge and down a different path. If that path brings me back, who knows? I think I will always have McLaren in my heart.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.