This is great news, I'm so happy for Perez and working alongside Button will be a huge benefit. You have to wonder.... what did McLaren see in him that Ferrari didn't? Did Ferrari allow this or did Perez get tired of waiting and turn his back On the FDA? This is all happening so fast. Good luck
I think this fits well with the potential loss of Voda as rumoured earlier in the year. Anyone know what the term is on Perez? I also think this has worked out well for Button!
Agreed, McLaren get a young (late in the race) charger/tyre carer, with Perez comes the possibility of money from his backers, Button can now think of himself as the teams #1, well.. thats until Perez out qualifies and beats him at Melbourne!
All depends on the machinery. Mercedes have to come up with a truly competitive car. In that way it is a bit of a strange move. You have to wonder do Mercedes have something up their sleeve for next year that persuaded Hamiltons move
I think Ferrari see Vettel on the horizon so they probably let Perez go on his way. Perez would only go to Ferrari for the long term. I doubt he would have wanted to sign for a year.
More like 2014. There are advantages to having settled in for a year before major technical changes, too.
It does indeed and last I looked (about an hour ago) I hadn't yet seen an announcement by Mercedes as such. Leads me to believe this is a McLaren push. If Mercedes had been quick to announce then I would be convinced they have a strong development in process for next year, nonetheless, I reckon they will seize this opportunity and make something out of it, might be the signing to push Mercedes to invest more.
Are we going to see tequila sponsorship on the McLaren now? Really happy for Perez, hopefully we get to see what he can do on a multi stopping strategy now
I thought Michael retired voluntarily, wasn't pushed. Getting a bit of a shove now unless Ferrari announce they are signing Rosberg...now that's a rumour worth starting!
I'm not sure about that. Whitmarsh has said Hamilton only confirmed the move to him on Wednesday and shortly before that McLaren upped their salary offer to match Mercedes (after Ron Dennis had said Hamilton would be looking at a pay cut), so I'm sure McLaren really wanted to keep hold of him.
I've heard Schumacher retired upon hearing Ferrari planned to force Massa out of the team to accomodate Raikkonen, so I don't think anyone will know the full truth there.
Either way, Michael remained a consultant to Ferrari and can't have had that much bad feeling to have done that. So, we await to see whether Ferrari have an announcement themselves. If it is Di Resta, that will squash the Seb rumour, if it is Massa, it supports it. If Michael goes there, options are open.
Yeah the way I heard it Ferrari were going to force Massa out to have Raikkonen alongside Schumacher. But Schumacher didn't want a teammate who could beat him so he retired himself. I think if he was offered the ferrari drive now though he would take it for the year.
I think he wants to prove himself, even so he would be keeping the seat warm for a certain Seb I think. A move to Sauber wouldn't be too silly either. They are growing.
