- 30 Sep 12, 02:07#323804
Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point. 
Hill paints an unflattering picture of McLaren
At Mercedes, Hamilton will receive the freedom to capitalise on his own commercial value as well as banking as much as £60million from the three-year contract that has persuaded him to abandon the team that nurtured him from childhood.
'Lewis needed to leave McLaren to stretch his wings,' argued Hill.
Hamilton had become disillusioned with the culture at McLaren defined by company chairman Ron Dennis, who had steered Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, the late Ayrton Senna, and Mika Hakkinen to world championships before grooming Hamilton to stardom.
Despite their success, Lauda, Prost and Senna all felt compelled to break with McLaren, as Hamilton has done.
McLaren drivers are required to make more personal appearances for a host of sponsors than their rivals.
The space on their racing suit is owned by the team, as are the trophies they win.
Hamilton was not the first to try, and fail, to change that policy; but, ultimately, he felt the restrictions on him had become claustrophobic, a sentiment echoed by his manager, Simon Fuller, whose XIX Entertainment company held up star client David Beckham as an example of what opportunities could be open to a man with global appeal.
Mercedes principal Ross Brawn acknowledged the part Fuller played in moving Hamilton from McLaren.
'Lewis's management expressed interest, wanted to know what our plans were and it grew from there,' said Brawn.
Hill believes McLaren's inflexible approach to drivers through the ages contributed to Hamilton's decision to leave the team.
'I could never get my head around the logic that the team takes the driver's trophy,' said Hill, who won 22 Formula One races.
'It's the principle, not the trophy, that is at stake. After you have won a championship, and jumped through a lot of hoops, there is a point when you think: "This is my life". You can have a bellyful of becoming a performing seal. You don't want to be on probation for your whole career.
'Of course, you still have to fight inside the car; but there is a time when, surely, you have proved you can motivate yourself. These are things Lewis has tried to balance.
'This is quite a shift in the power balance in Formula One. It shows a driver is a more important ingredient in the sport than the teams like to think.
'Formula One would do well to remember the public relates to a driver's career path more than any team with the exception of Ferrari. The rest are just operations. To the public, the sport is about the drivers.
'There is a huge disconnect between the philosophy of a team and a driver. Drivers just want to race, they don't see Formula One as a marketing exercise or product development. To a team, a driver is a hired hand. But drivers have a right to a career path. They don't belong to a team.'
Hill engaged in talks with McLaren at one period in his career, after winning the world championship for Williams in 1996.
He departed for Arrows, a team at the wrong end of the grid, on a reported £3 million salary in the year he declined the new contract he was offered by Frank Williams.
'I feel very close to Williams but they didn't always feel close to me,' said Hill, who provided Eddie Jordan's team with their first grand prix win before he retired.
Brawn, who masterminded seven world titles for Michael Schumacher, at Benetton, then Ferrari, has persuaded Hamilton that the introduction of new engine regulations, introducing 1.6 turbo power plants in Formula One from 2014, will shift the axis of power towards the German car giants.
The jury is still out, however.
In the past three years, Mercedes have won just one grand prix while McLaren have won 16.
Yet the intervention of Lauda, invited by Mercedes' main board to broker a deal with Hamilton, finally persuaded the 27-year-old to accept the challenge of making the team champions.
Mexican Sergio Perez, 22, will replace Hamilton at McLaren on a three-year £20 million contract.
'Of course, Lewis has taken a risk,' said Hill.
'Mercedes don't have a track record like McLaren but, as a driver in Formula One, you have to look at what's coming down the track a couple of years ahead. It will be interesting to see how Mercedes up.'
At Mercedes, Hamilton will receive the freedom to capitalise on his own commercial value as well as banking as much as £60million from the three-year contract that has persuaded him to abandon the team that nurtured him from childhood.
'Lewis needed to leave McLaren to stretch his wings,' argued Hill.
Hamilton had become disillusioned with the culture at McLaren defined by company chairman Ron Dennis, who had steered Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, the late Ayrton Senna, and Mika Hakkinen to world championships before grooming Hamilton to stardom.
Despite their success, Lauda, Prost and Senna all felt compelled to break with McLaren, as Hamilton has done.
McLaren drivers are required to make more personal appearances for a host of sponsors than their rivals.
The space on their racing suit is owned by the team, as are the trophies they win.
Hamilton was not the first to try, and fail, to change that policy; but, ultimately, he felt the restrictions on him had become claustrophobic, a sentiment echoed by his manager, Simon Fuller, whose XIX Entertainment company held up star client David Beckham as an example of what opportunities could be open to a man with global appeal.
Mercedes principal Ross Brawn acknowledged the part Fuller played in moving Hamilton from McLaren.
'Lewis's management expressed interest, wanted to know what our plans were and it grew from there,' said Brawn.
Hill believes McLaren's inflexible approach to drivers through the ages contributed to Hamilton's decision to leave the team.
'I could never get my head around the logic that the team takes the driver's trophy,' said Hill, who won 22 Formula One races.
'It's the principle, not the trophy, that is at stake. After you have won a championship, and jumped through a lot of hoops, there is a point when you think: "This is my life". You can have a bellyful of becoming a performing seal. You don't want to be on probation for your whole career.
'Of course, you still have to fight inside the car; but there is a time when, surely, you have proved you can motivate yourself. These are things Lewis has tried to balance.
'This is quite a shift in the power balance in Formula One. It shows a driver is a more important ingredient in the sport than the teams like to think.
'Formula One would do well to remember the public relates to a driver's career path more than any team with the exception of Ferrari. The rest are just operations. To the public, the sport is about the drivers.
'There is a huge disconnect between the philosophy of a team and a driver. Drivers just want to race, they don't see Formula One as a marketing exercise or product development. To a team, a driver is a hired hand. But drivers have a right to a career path. They don't belong to a team.'
Hill engaged in talks with McLaren at one period in his career, after winning the world championship for Williams in 1996.
He departed for Arrows, a team at the wrong end of the grid, on a reported £3 million salary in the year he declined the new contract he was offered by Frank Williams.
'I feel very close to Williams but they didn't always feel close to me,' said Hill, who provided Eddie Jordan's team with their first grand prix win before he retired.
Brawn, who masterminded seven world titles for Michael Schumacher, at Benetton, then Ferrari, has persuaded Hamilton that the introduction of new engine regulations, introducing 1.6 turbo power plants in Formula One from 2014, will shift the axis of power towards the German car giants.
The jury is still out, however.
In the past three years, Mercedes have won just one grand prix while McLaren have won 16.
Yet the intervention of Lauda, invited by Mercedes' main board to broker a deal with Hamilton, finally persuaded the 27-year-old to accept the challenge of making the team champions.
Mexican Sergio Perez, 22, will replace Hamilton at McLaren on a three-year £20 million contract.
'Of course, Lewis has taken a risk,' said Hill.
'Mercedes don't have a track record like McLaren but, as a driver in Formula One, you have to look at what's coming down the track a couple of years ahead. It will be interesting to see how Mercedes up.'
Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point. 
