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Anyone know when it will occur? I thought they would have pictures in new gear on Jan 1st and then thought maybe today as its the first monday of the new year. But still nothing.

It'll be when the car launches

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Multi 21 or Catch 22?!

It ain't hating just 'cause it's not love

The drivers will be off on holiday until late Jan now. Given how early Merc passed the crash tests and the fact Hamilton was allowed to go to Brackley before Xmas he'll have done his seat fitting. He might go to the simulator next week if he's back in the UK but there'll be nothing in Merc gear until the launch. It'll make it a bigger occasion for Merc, new and and new driver to unveil. Takes the thunder away from other teams.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Funnily enough I did see this photoshop on facebook earlier:

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It's more his new helmet design I'm more intrigued to see. Will he change it drastically to distance himself from his McLaren identity? Or just blend it in with the Merc sponsor logos?

I kinda hope he changes it completely. Either him or Rosberg will have to do something, they can't both have yellow bases.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

I kinda liked the red helmet and yellow helmet at Merc. Easiest one to see who is who I have ever seen. Doubt either of Ham or Nico will be changing theirs tho!

I've always liked yellow helmets.

Rosberg/Mercedes did this happy holidays clip a couple of weeks ago. Shame Hamilton wasn't involved as it would've been interesting to see who would have lasted the longest.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formul ... video.html

Practically the same as McLaren.

Why not? There is no rule, wich does not allow it.

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

5. Feb at Jerez car presentation
4. Feb Filmimg day at Jerez. Mercedes booked the whole circuit on that day. Maybe some pics emerge

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

But.. what colour will his gloves and boots be? Yellow? i think black would be good.
I need to see the new gear!

I know there isn't a rule but you won't be able to tell them apart at distance or on the on board at all if they both stick with yellow bases. Well anyone who isn't super into detail won't be able to tell. I remember the problems Schumacher and Barrichello had when RB first joined Ferrari in 2000. Schumacher changed his base colour as a result. All one of the would have to do is stick a different coloured circle on top of the helmet.

As for Hamilton's boots and gloves they'll probably stay black like his McLaren ones. Presuming he's sticking with Reebok for them too.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

I'd rather he kept his helmet as it is - far too many drivers try to tailor theirs to the team or car colours, and I prefer it when it's offset. Rosberg's is actually a very different shade of yellow, so I don't expect any more difficulty than normal in determining which is which from a distance.

Reebock is his personal sponsor, they are allowed at Mercedes, even if Puma is their sponsor, it should not be a problem
IMO the T-cams are more important by identifying a driver than the helmet.
let's see who changes, or if someones changes something

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

If anyone's helmet does change colour it's more likely to be Nico IMO. I wish he'd never switched from his blue and yellow scheme.

I know Reebok will be allowed but I don't know when Hamilton's deal with them runs out?

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Don't know when his deal ends. IMo it is independent from F1

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

Well according to this it remains to be seen if the Reebok deal will continue with Mercedes...

http://www.sportspromedia.com/sportspro ... siness_of/

Marc's deal with Puma is substantial apparently and they'll likely want the star driver in their gear. Hamilton could be forced to quit his Reebok deal. He signed a three year contract with them in late 08/ early 09 so it is either just about to run out or ran out on 31st Dec 2012. We'll see in a few weeks time.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Maybe Rosberg will gowith a more grey ne like his first Merc helmet.. or will put more blue like his first one

would love to see him use his dads old design, as yellow but nothing too much

Well, indeed it could get funny with Reebok, as Reebok is owned from Adidas,the major competitor of Puma. Both companies German, and both founded from the Dassler brothers, who split & became rivals. Even if now both companies are no longer family buisness, they are fierce rivals & competitors ( funnily their headquarters are still in the same town)
The of 2 biggest sports brands worldwide. Puma maybe would not like to have some Adidas owned brand in their "team"

Let's wait & see

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

the yellows are different...it would be quite easy to spot imo.

didn't know he had a deal with Bombardier as well.

Since the car is silver too things won't seem all that different when seeing Hamilton in Australia unless Mercedes make some huge brand changes.

Just looking at the photoshop of Hamilton made me want to ask, does Mercedes have any of the stringent image rules like the ones that McLaren have regarding haircuts etc? I was wondering if Hamilton would be prevented from appearing with his ear-studs.

They don't neccessairly have to change their helmet. The roll bar colour (the red/yellow thing above the car) will be a much better indicator of who's who. Despite that, I still think one of them will change their design, to make it a bit easier for the casual fan (and legard) to tell the difference.

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Forza Fernando !

I wonder if Hamilton will wear the Red gloves or Yellow gloves (it corresponds with the T-Cam colour) problem is both Rosberg and Hamilton have yellow helmets, going to be difficult to tell them appart unless the do something special to one or both of their helmets.

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No, Brawn already said they don't want to surpress Hamilton at Mercedes.
Lewis got his tatttoos, as soon as his decission was made to leave McLaren, don't think he was allowed to have some at "visible bodyparts" , at McL.
Greater personal freedom is supposed to be one major reason for his change of teams.

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

Hope he doesn't follow Mike Tyson's example!

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Räikkönen - Vettel - Rosberg - Bottas

Working for Mclaren sounds a lot like working for McDonalds...maybe they caught Lewis sneaking burgers and he left by mutual consent...

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I've always assumed McLaren were strict in this department, but didn't know they had a specific one regarding haircuts. What is the rule?

I always assumed McLaren had Alonso cut his hair short since he's had long hair in all the other teams, but could be it was his own choice of course!

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Räikkönen - Vettel - Rosberg - Bottas

Even though he had announced he was going, if there was a tattoo clause he was still bound by it . Coincidence I think.

McLaren have seemingly relaxed their dress code in the MW days. Same with things like ROC I don't think they were allowed to previously but JB done it last year.


Ferrari are supposed to have some tight rules too, like not being allowed to be seen in anything other than a Fiat owned brand. ( the supposed Reason Schui didn't do Star in a reasonably priced car) Now that would be a cool clause to have at Macca . Not allowed to be seen in anything other than a McLaren. MP4-12c please Ron, I need one for the house in England, the one in America, the swiss one and the one in Monaco.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

Would you think he gave a damn about a clause like this?
What should McLaren have done, replace him with Pafett? They needed Lewis for the WCC, they already threw away too much points with team mistakes, this would have been the worst mistake to mak
Hamilton could have stopped pushing after his WDC chances had been ruined, but he wanted the points for the team, do you think Mclaren would be so silly to ban him because of a few tattoos?

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

It's not about giving a damn. Breach of contract is breach of contract.

Do you think he would have risked breaking contract and all the after affects that could have happened if Ron got a bit pissed about it?

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

What could have happened?

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

Financial penalties I expect. If something is written into a contract then it's likely that contract also details the repercussions for breaching that agreement so it may be stated in the contract that he'll be fined x amount of pounds if he goes against the agreement.

Breach of contract depending on said contract could see it terminated with immediate affect. Or court. If there were clauses in the contract but no penalties for breaking them, well what would be the point of a contract.

If there was such a clause and he was allowed to break it, plus start with Merc before he was officially out of contract. That doesn't really point to Ron being bitter does it? As he could have had something to say on both accounts and stopped Lewis doing anything with Merc until the 1st Jan.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

Mclaren would have shot themself in the foot if they fired Lewis, who should have raced the last 6 races? Paffet?
It was in McLaren interest to keep Hamilton motivated even if his WDC chances were ruined from them. They stll had chances for the WCC. McLaren is stupid sometimes, but not that stupid to fire the best driver they have for a silly tattoo
It was Whitmarsh who allowed Lewis to go earlier. Whitmarsh who kept saying, how good their relationship still is.
Don't forget McLaren needs Mercedes engines and KERS for quite some time, it can only be to McLarens advanage if they keep their relationship to Mercedes as positive as possible.

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

So then why have the clause in the first place If the team aren't going to do anything about a driver who breaks it then they can't be worried enough to have a "Silly tattoo" clause.

Or maybe the clause doesn't exist and he just happened to be in the area of his tattooist at the time. I believe he has had all his done by the same guy in Hong Kong. He got them around the time of Singapore, Korean and Japanese Grand Prixs. Three races close to Hong Kong.

Which is more likely? Getting a tattoo out of spite and to give Ron two fingers OR stopping off in Hong Kong between two Asian races to see his preferred Tattoo artist?

Do you think Whitmarsh has the say in Macca to make that sort of decision? And keeping Merc happy, if Merc did anything untoward that would be breach of contract again. They can't just throw a thick one because Macca made a driver see out his contract.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

My guess is that Hamilton will keep his helmet yellow as it has been since he first started racing as a kid. And even if he does change it around a bit, he's got an eye for design so I'm sure it will look good. Personally I would love to see the drivers rockin' black suits all the time and I could see Lewis in a Black helmet with red accents (Shoes, Gloves, Helmet, T-Bar and Mirrors). I think the best looking suits since the Renault suits from 2004-2006 (stellar cross branding that was beautifully applied) were the McLaren ones they wear on practice days:

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All 3 races were after he signed at Mercedes. IMo McLaren has some dress code, wich includes certain things of the appearance of the drivers. Ron even fired employees who were not dressed correct, or had a tea mug on their desks.
After Hamilton announced his departure from Merc his appearance has changed & IMo he gave a Sh+t about Rons opinion, or some silly clauses about apperance. If they would fired him because of that it would have made their fight for WCC impossible.
IMo Whitmarsh has the say at those things as he is responsible for the racing team.

There are things outside contracts were a good relationship helps.

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso