Should Lewis Hamilton Depart McLaren Mercedes?

When Lewis Hamilton crossed the start-finish line at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday evening he became the seventh different winner from seven different races in the 2012 campaign, but rather than revel in this momentous and record breaking result, Lewis was more relieved to ease some pressure on himself and his McLaren team.

You see all has not been too well at the English racing team over the last few weeks.

Since claiming pole at the opening race of the season, which was won by his teammate Jenson Button, both McLaren and Hamilton have been falling further and further behind Sebastain Vettel, Fernando Alonso et al. But Lewis has remained in championship contention by continuously picking up points with solid 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishes that now seem very important with Hamilton now possessing a two point lead over Alonso's Ferrari.

But with McLaren's victory in Montreal still coming as a slight surprise and the team still being plagued by pitstop problems, maybe it is time for Hamilton to leave and embark on a new chapter in his career.

He's only won a single world championship,in 2008, but his talent deserve more and if he wants to be regarded in the same breath as Fangio, Senna, Prost, Schumacher and even, ahem, Vettel maybe he needs to move on.

But where should he go? Here are his best options.

Ferrari - It seems unfathomable doesn't it. But Ferrari would absolutely love to have somebody as vastly talented as Hamilton on their roster and with Felipe Massa proving more and more useless with each race, he would be seen as a great long term replacement. Fernando Alonso probably wouldn't welcome him with open arms though and it would be a brave decision from Hamilton to join him again.

Red Bull - Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton are regarded as two of the brightest young talents ever to sit inside a Formula One car, so the thought of them both being on the same team would bring back memories of Prost/Senna in the late 80s and early 90s. It would be very hard to keep both of them pleased though but rumours do continue to circulate that Vettel could be on his way to Ferrari in 2014 so maybe Hamilton will be the man to lead them forward over the coming decade.

Mercedes -Michael Schumacher has failed to deliver on the promise that was so eagerly anticipated of him back when he returned in 2010 and even though team leader Ross Brawn has insisted he has happy with his performances, they would clearly be interested in attaining Hamilton's talents. But will Mercedes continue to compete with Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren like they have done at the start 0f 2012 or is it just a flash in the pan?

McLaren - Or he could just stay. Hamilton has been at McLaren since he was still in diapers and remains fiercely loyal to both the team and its leaders Marin Whitmarsh and Ron Dennis and he will always be their lead driver.

It's going to be an interesting couple of months and years for the greatest formula one driver since Ayrton Senna.