Okay.. let me put it another way. Should we have dismissed Alonso's move to Ferrari as being strictly about the money, and nothing to do with having aspiration about winning a championship?
I know Ferrari may have been in a slightly better position at the time than Mercedes is now, but it seems pretty much the same train of thought if you ask me.
Yet i don't ever recall people saying: "Oh that greedy so-and-so Alonso going to Ferrari, just for the paycheck."
[EDIT]
Ferrari haven't won the WCC since 2008 (over 3yrs), or had a driver win the WDC since 2007 (over 4yrs).
So i ask again (apart from this year looking mighty promising for him). Is Alonso just in it for the paycheck?...
Ferrari dominated the vast majority of last decade. Alonso was struggling for two years with Renault and obviously knows team inside out and potential for future. He knew Ferrari has a bigger budget and were finding there feet like McLaren in 2009 and showing signs going into 2010 they might be quite a bit stronger.
Hamilton is leaving a team that is currently got the fastest car, something he always wanted, is potentially set to do most number of poles he has done in a F1 season and maybe race wins and switching to a team who his replacement Sergio might overcome in WCC with Sauber. Mercedes even though have been progressing, the midfield teams around them have been progressing further it seems as can be seen by constant decline in WCC since 2009. McLaren have been showing the opposite, getting stronger and stronger in terms of relative pace since 2009. There is a reason why Button switched to McLaren after being with that team for so long and that is the hope of competing regularly for the WDC, Lewis Hamilton is doing the opposite of him. It might have been understandable to do this switch after 2009, or 2010 or 2011 but makes little sense now considering the position he finds himself in.
Even in 2009, Hamilton had the same number of poles as Button and Vettel, showing the strength of McLaren to overcome from being like a backmarker to pacesetter. That is a worry in itself as at the moment, a big loophole being only uncovered by them is looking like only chance for Lewis. It remains to be seen what the restructuring and resources will equate to but I think in long term, they will be doing well to match McLaren in the next 3 years who have been fine tuning there set up till now and as Michael Schumacher might say, all the ingredients have started to come together for the first time in a long time for McLaren. Sad to see him go in what looks like McLaren might have upper hand going into the next season with the regulations suiting them and hindering the team he is joining. He will probably leave Mercedes after enduring the building up years and getting fed up and might join Fernando Alonso at Ferrari. I think Fernando might want Lewis to join in the future.
I wonder if Lewis has been 'misled' by his management and Mercedes on prospects or he got to know something big that he is pinning his hopes on. Only last race he outqualified the fastest Mercedes by over 1.5 seconds and race pace wise, that was the kind of pace he was going faster than the Mercedes lap after lap and that kind of deficit Mercedes have to overcome in a space of a few months in order for 2013 to not be a write off. I hope for Lewis there is something that is promising Mercedes have and he can at least be in contention for wins but at the moment I can only see him mixing it up in the midfield while watching his former team potentially dominate and probably going his first season potentially without a race win or pole and thinking he could of had that with a sad face, a bit like 2011 and then realise what he had and how fortunate he was. Works reason seems a bit of nonsense to me, look how much more the works team has had failures than the ones that aren't. Imagine Lewis with the number of failures as Michael this year.
Anyway I hope I am wrong in this, will be strange to support McLaren and also Lewis next year, still rooting for him for this years title. Sergio is a Man Utd fan which is a plus for me and will either want him or Button to win it if Lewis is not in a competitive car. I wonder what the odds are going to for Sergio to be WDC and McLaren WCC for next year, if I was a betting man, I would go for that but I'm not.
Do you think all of Hamilton's car upgrades will "go missing"? 
"Sorry Lewis, it appears we have misplaced your front wing. And tires. And fuel. And pit crew. Good luck in the race."
