Sergio Pérez at McLaren if Hamilton leaves?
As Lewis Hamilton is expected to provide more information about his future this week, McLaren is reportedly preparing for a potential departure of the Brit. According to the Daily Mail, the team from Woking has reached out to Sergio Pérez to avoid being left without options by winter.
If we knew that the 2013 transfer season would be action-packed, given that many contracts were ending at the end of 2012, especially within top teams, we still long believed, over the past few weeks, that it would ultimately result in much ado about nothing, with everyone more or less staying put.
However, while Felipe Massa has long held the keys to the transfer market, it is ultimately at Mercedes that the situation could unlock as rumors of Lewis Hamilton’s arrival become increasingly insistent. Despite being well-intentioned before the summer break, the Englishman and the McLaren team returned from the Belgian Grand Prix without any agreement for 2013, whereas both parties had initially stated at the beginning of the season that they wanted to quickly reach an understanding on their future together.
If some mention an offer of nearly 75 million euros over three years from Mercedes to secure the services of the Stevenage native, at McLaren, Martin Whitmarsh, director of the Woking team, assured this week not to have a plan B to replace the 2008 World Champion in case of departure: “We want Lewis to stay, and we want him to stay if he wants to stay.”
However, according to the *Daily Mail*, the English team has reportedly made contact with Sergio Pérez, while at the same time, the Mexican driver was shut out by Maranello. Just a week after McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh admitted that the team didn’t have a “Plan B,” it seems that contacts have been made with Pérez while Hamilton contemplates a €75 million offer from Mercedes. The fact that McLaren is approaching the 22-year-old Sauber driver is a clear indication that the team is becoming impatient in their negotiations with Lewis Hamilton’s management, XIX Entertainment.
Thus, according to the British newspaper, the English team could simply and purely pull the rug from under the 2008 World Champion’s feet: Hamilton could find the decision slipping from his hands with the specter of Pérez, courted by the McLaren team, which does not wish to be caught off guard by the 27-year-old British driver. And the publication quotes a well-placed – anonymous – figure in Formula One: Lewis Hamilton is playing with fire, and when you play with fire, sometimes you get burned. It would be crazy to leave McLaren. If he wants to know what happens when one leaves a top team for money, he just has to search “Jacques Villeneuve” on Google.
Thus, by reaching out to Sergio Pérez, McLaren intends to put Lewis Hamilton in a fait accompli situation. It’s a win-win for the Mexican driver since the interest shown by the British team could also put Ferrari in a similar position. Indeed, if Luca di Montezemolo believes that the young Mexican is not sufficiently ready to handle the pressure of racing for the Prancing Horse, he might have to reconsider his judgment at the risk of seeing the Guadalajara native slip away to the Italian team’s main rival, which may not sit well with the tifosi and the Italian press.
