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Mercedes was originally not in favour of bringing onboard Lewis Hamilton for the 2013 season, former Mercedes CEO Nick Fry has revealed.
In his upcoming book, 'Survive. Drive. Win.', Fry explained that Hamilton was not the team's first choice, after negotiations began with the Brackley outfit in mid-2011.
The Silver Arrows were searching for a replacement for Michael Schumacher, who decided to retire from the sport for a second time at the end of the 2012 season.
The team had a number of drivers in mind, including veteran Nick Heidfeld, new boy Paul di Resta and 1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve, who had offered his services.
In an excerpt of his book published by RaceFans.net, Fry wrote: "Initially I couldn’t get Mercedes on board with hiring Lewis.
“More than once we were sent back to come up with other ideas. For whatever reason, we were told to look at people like Nick Heidfeld again, who was super-keen to get the seat, and repeatedly text me with photos of himself, his family and his dog in a futile bid to pique my interest.”
However, the arrival of Niki Lauda at the team as a non-executive chairman changed the perspective, with the late Austrian tealling the team to "go and do it and I will ask Mercedes for forgiveness later”
Hamilton was announced as a Mercedes driver in late September of 2012.
Since joining the Mercedes team, he has picked up 60 Grand Prix victories, 61 pole positions, 97 podium finishes, and four world championship titles as of the 2019 Italian Grand Prix.
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Replies (4)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
oh how different the sport would have looked
TheDentist
Posts: 24
I don’t think they would have had the same success with the other drivers, they would have been successful, but not that many wins
Dert38
Posts: 376
Who knows, team was always preferring Nico , he developed car very well .
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
I think the difference would have been that Nico Rosberg would be a multiple WDC. That being said, I think Mercedes would have replaced Heidfeld pretty quickly with a top tier driver. Maybe Lewis himself, Alonso, Button. I think any of the above would have been incredible in a Merc