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Formula 1: Hamilton speaks of his sadness at leaving McLaren

The 27-year-old joins Mercedes for the 2013 season, having driven for Ron Dennis’ team for the last 15 years.

DEPARTING McLAREN DRIVER Lewis Hamilton has spoken of his sadness at leaving the team he has driven for since he was a boy.

The Briton signed a multi-year deal with Mercedes, ending his 15-year association with McLaren, but wants to leave at the end of the season on a high note starting with this weekend’s Indian Grand Prix.

Currently fourth in the Formula One drivers’ standings, Hamilton insisted there were no ill feelings between himself and team principal Ron Dennis, with the pair having only spoken for the first time in recent days since the 27-year-old announced he would move on.

“I’m still 100 percent focused on trying to help this team be successful trying to win the constructors’ championship,” he said.

“When I was back at the factory it really hit home that this is coming towards the end of my period of time here, when I do these kind of appearances, in the simulator or working with the guys in the factory.

“It’s very difficult for me as I’ve been working here for 15 years, but everyone has to have something new, everyone has to try new things at some stage, I’m looking forward to it, but it’s going to be very tough to leave.

“I spoke to Ron (Dennis), me and Ron are planning to meet up in Abu Dhabi, we plan to go out to dinner and have a good chat. Things are positive and feel very normal amongst the team.”

Hamilton’s association with Mercedes will see him team up with Nico Rosberg again for the first time since their childhoods.

“I was team-mates with Nico, I met him when I was 13 and was team-mates with him when I was 15 and we always said how cool it would be to one day be Formula One team-mates, so we will be next year. It’s quite a unique story, and a cool one,” he said.

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    Mute Decl@n Hanley
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    May 20th 2014, 7:33 AM

    Let the black card witch-hunt begin. Lead by the masters of cynical play Tyrone, big surprise!

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    Mute Paul Dunne
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    May 20th 2014, 9:40 AM

    Donegal not happy with it neither that’s their game plan out the window

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    Mute Jack Strong
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    May 20th 2014, 9:54 PM

    Dublin won an All Ireland with it, Mayo did it to them the year before. Nobody is innocent here, Harte’s Tyrone got 3 All Irelands by playing in the rules of the game it’s up to the rest to put it up to them as all teams play with the same rules.

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    Mute Paul Dunne
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    May 20th 2014, 9:59 PM

    are you saying dublin won a championship with cynical play?

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    Mute Jack Strong
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    May 20th 2014, 10:53 PM

    No, I’m saying Dublin played by the rules of the sport to win, Mayo did the same to get to two All Irelands and Tyrone did it to tie for Team of the Decade. You play to win or you don’t want it badly enough Paul.

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    Mute Paul Dunne
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    May 21st 2014, 12:03 AM

    I think the black card will effect Donegal and Tyrone more beacuse they play on the edge I dont agree with the blackcard anyway as if a incident is bad enough to send a player off its a redcard

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    Mute Robert Callaghan
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    May 20th 2014, 7:19 AM

    Still think, given time, it will be positive. There’ll always be mistakes made, but you can see that body checking the third man runner has already been stamped out.

    It was a poor decision from Goldrick, no getting away from it.

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    Mute Keano
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    May 20th 2014, 9:56 AM

    Coldrick made a mistake – get over it! The black card is a great idea for the first 65 minutes of a match – teams will still do what it takes to get a win so I can still see lads getting dragged down, etc. Being able to replace only the first 3 black cards helps in this regard.

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    Mute 3-Hours-Till-Sundown
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    May 20th 2014, 11:50 AM

    You shouldn’t be able to replace a black carded player in the last 5 mins.

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    Mute Michael Bullock
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    May 20th 2014, 12:59 PM

    Yeah 2 people who argued against it before it was introduced saying the same thing after it has led to confusion.. can’t wait until further controversies effect your own teams and we then have you all backing the black card and not being critical of officials or rules at all as its only a tyrone and donegal thing obviously. ..

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    Mute Darragh Brennan
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    May 20th 2014, 11:09 AM

    First Mickey heart, now Peter Canavan.

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    Mute Paul Dunne
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    May 20th 2014, 11:30 AM

    they see the writing on the wall daragh the two blackcards should have been redcards

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