Immediately following the conclusion of the 2015 Formula One season, Mercedes publicly warned that they may let one of their drivers go, if they do not act as better teammates. Since then, the media has had a feeding frenzy, using cleverly worded headlines to draw in the readers. But could Mercedes ever really fire one of their drivers or did Mercedes have some other reason for these warnings?
For some reason, the general opinion is that Mercedes would fire Lewis Hamilton instead of Nico Rosberg. This is probably because Hamilton’s off track activities make him appear more arrogant than Rosberg, meaning that he may be the source of the trouble in the teammate relationship. That may be true or it may not be, but nevertheless, it would be irrational for the team to fire their better driver and a driver that has just won two championships for the team in the past two years.
In fact, it’s unlikely that either driver will get fired, as they both have many years left on their current contract. This would mean that Mercedes would have to pay a fortune to pay out either driver’s contract. Hamilton is contracted until the end of 2018 and Rosberg until the end of 2017. If either driver goes, the team would have to pay a pretty penny for the remaining seasons.
So if no driver is going to be kicking off of the team, why did Mercedes make these claims? Formula One teams are more than just sports teams: they are businesses. As with any business, they will do whatever it takes to get publicity for their brand and for their sponsors. This claim that they will fire one of their drivers is more of a publicity stunt than a legitimate warning. If Mercedes was actually willing to follow through with these threats, then they wouldn’t have been this public about it. These types of issues are dealt with behind closed doors without the media grabbing ahold of the story.
Don’t get me wrong, the current teammate relationship between Rosberg and Hamilton is certainly not healthy. There are constant mind games between the Mercedes duo, but it doesn’t really seem to be changing the outcome of the results. Mercedes has won the World Constructors’ Championship and earned an astonishing amount of championship points, so they should be happy with their current situation. This lineup is not an issue and nothing will be done to change it, unless the two drivers begin taking each other out in the races. When that happens, then there is a valid issue.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Assumptions made in any analysis contained within this article are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
