Lewis Hamilton is to leave McLaren

[Saint in Paradise]

The move, predicted by BBC Sport earlier this month, will be announced on Friday and will have huge repercussions throughout Formula 1.

It has forced Michael Schumacher out of Mercedes but it it is not clear whether the German legend will go back into retirement or look for another team.

Sauber driver Sergio Perez has signed as Hamilton's replacement at McLaren.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/19755236

Anyone care? or does anyone else think like I do that these drivers are even more overpaid than footballers and are also not worth it?

[Bexy]

The only real surprise for me is that Schumacher hasn't retired (again) sooner. He's not exactly set the world alight in the 3 seasons he has been back and I imagined that a natural winner like him would prefer to not compete at all rather than languish around the midfield. Money talks I guess. It will be interesting to see how Hamilton fares in a less competitive car though. He has shown a tendency to self-destruct in the past and in Rosberg he will have a team-mate who will challenge his No.1 status, so if things don't go his way he might lose his head again.

As for your last line SiP, yes they are probably overpaid, but then the revenue they generate for the teams through sponsorships and promotion reflects that, and I think it's fair to argue that these drivers are deserving of the higher wages because of the extreme risk they take. Although safety in F1 is way ahead of what it used to be and it has now been 18 years since the last fatality, they still put their lives on the line every time they get in the car.

[Frank's cousin]

The only real surprise for me is that Schumacher hasn't retired (again) sooner. He's not exactly set the world alight in the 3 seasons he has been back and I imagined that a natural winner like him would prefer to not compete at all rather than languish around the midfield. Money talks I guess. It will be interesting to see how Hamilton fares in a less competitive car though. He has shown a tendency to self-destruct in the past and in Rosberg he will have a team-mate who will challenge his No.1 status, so if things don't go his way he might lose his head again.

As for your last line SiP, yes they are probably overpaid, but then the revenue they generate for the teams through sponsorships and promotion reflects that, and I think it's fair to argue that these drivers are deserving of the higher wages because of the extreme risk they take. Although safety in F1 is way ahead of what it used to be and it has now been 18 years since the last fatality, they still put their lives on the line every time they get in the car.

MSC did not need the money, just missed teh challenge I guess - was hoping to do for Mercedes what he did at Ferrari, but its not worked out - Think his age is catching up with him but also he has been quite unlucky with many mechanicals etc...

Think the wages are excessive.... but not when put in contect of the what the teams budgets are and what the sport rakes in from commercial and TV sources.

[Ric]

Think the wages are excessive.... but not when put in contect of the what the teams budgets are and what the sport rakes in from commercial and TV sources.

The same goes with any sport. The money is there from TV coverage and sponsorship, so surely those people who actually provide the entertainment deserve to get a fair cut of that money - even if it turns out to be mind-boggling figures for us ordinary people.

When you compare what top F1 drivers get to what top tennis or golf players get, the outrageous sums don't seem quite so outrageous.

On the other hand, compare what F1, tennis, golf and footy guys get to motorcycle racers - whether it's MotoGP, Superbike and particularly road racers... well there's a bunch of guys who really should be getting mind-boggling sums of money, but who don't.

Back to Lewis - bloody stupid move, IMHO. It's all about the money, and nothing to do with going for race wins or world championships. I'm sure Mercedes sweet-talked him with tales of investment, no.1 status and competitive cars... but look at their history. Since they were BAR that team has had huge amounts of money, and consistently underperformed year in, year out.

They had one season where they got lucky by figuring out a loophole that few other teams did - and used it to win the title with Button. But even then, their lack of development meant that they were struggling in the last half of the season.

Whilst Sergio Perez isn't in the same league at Lewis yet, he's shown great talent and I reckon is probably the best driver McLaren could have got (and there are some really good other drivers they could have gone for). The staggering thing is that Sergio was part of the Ferrari young driver programme, and they should have been looking make him team-mate to Alonso. Instead, by seemingly sticking with Massa for yet another year they've let this very talented young driver go to a major rival.