Former Formula One World Champion Damon Hill believes Lewis Hamilton could turn the Mercedes team into title challengers with regular race wins.
The Mercedes F1 team endured a torrid time in 2012, with Nico Rosberg's unlikely victory in China the highlight of a season which featured only two more podiums in the other 19 races.
Hamilton joined the Silver Arrows from McLaren as the replacement for the under-performing Michael Schumacher, but many on the paddock believes the Brit made a mistake leaving the perennial title challengers for a team that finished fifth last year.
Hill, the 1996 World Champion, believes Hamilton will spur on the team to challenge the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen for podium positions and even race victories in the upcoming season.
"In the old days there was only ever one team worth driving for, so you had the two best guys in the same team fighting over attention," Hill told Autosport.
"Now you have more than one team (capable of winning races) and four guys with their own teams.
"You could look at 2013 like this: Jenson Button's got McLaren, Lewis has got Mercedes, Fernando's got Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel's got Red Bull, and Kimi Raikkonen's got Lotus.
"The reality of the situation is that any of them could win."
Furthermore, Hill believes Hamilton will quickly show that he is the leader of the team and noted how much of an impact he made at the Arrows team when he arrived there in 1997 as the reigning World Champion.
"When I was at Williams I had not been leading, I had been very much a test driver," Hill added.
"But when I went to another team I was seen as a leader, so maybe it's easier to take on that role once they're looking to you to give them some direction.
"Lewis might learn that, he might find that in himself. We don't know, but put in that situation he might find it."
