Lewis Hamilton has been attacked by many former drivers and the media for his recent move to Mercedes. However, I think we should commend Lewis for the Mercedes move from him. His move has created quite the spectacle for next season and will almost certainly draw more viewers into the sport to see how he performs.

However, I think there are two main reasons why Lewis has moved on. Firstly, there is a common perception among many critics of Formula One that you cannot be seen as a world class driver if you do not step out of your comfort zone. Some people consider Sebastien Vettel not a great driver because he hasn’t left Red Bull to look for a new challenge. While Hamilton has walked away from McLaren and thus ending his 14-year association with the team. The main reason he did it, which was hinted at by Lewis, is that he wants to build the Mercedes team just like Michael Schumacher did to win his world championships.

Furthermore, Lewis knows that Mercedes is unlikely to challenge for success in 2013. However, he feels he can do what Schumacher did when he was at Ferrari. This was to try to turn a team that no longer wins championships into a team that consistently wins championships. In my opinion, this is the main incentive that is driving Hamilton to take the step to Mercedes. He allows him to be seen as one of the best drivers Formula One has ever seen and to see his name spoken in the same tone as Senna, Schumacher and Prost.

My second reason why Hamilton has taken the plunge is to find out what kind of character he is. Hamilton has been with a race-winning team at McLaren since he joined in 2007. He has always been fighting for pole positions, podium finishes and race wins. He now has to deal with the possibility of fighting for 5th to 10th position. This will be new to him. Seeing how he manages will be very interesting to watch throughout the season. There’s also the possibility that the 2014 car isn’t a championship-winning car yet. However, we expect Mercedes to be strong in 2014 with the new engine regulations coming into force; But it shouldn’t be an excuse for them not to have a car that couldn’t fight for the championship. However, we do not live in a perfect world. If things go wrong and Lewis doesn’t have a championship-winning car in 2014, I think he’ll test his character. If he were to go through that experience, I would expect him to grow as a driver and become more mature in handling situations. I think Lewis will become more of a Mark Webber figure. A driver who has been through all the midfield battles and has seen it all before. So we could see a much less aggressive driver in Hamilton in the next few years if things don’t go as planned.

So, long story short, we should treasure the fact that Lewis has moved to Mercedes because we can see how good a racing driver he really is. I am really looking forward to seeing what Hamilton has to offer this season. We should praise his bravery instead of telling him it was foolish.