~ correct me if I'm wrong, but other than Big Schu and Hammie (and do single wins really count?), no championship-winning driver has ever found new -- and sustained -- success after leaving his team for another... right?
If we don't go to dig deeper into history, besides Schumacher and Hamilton haven't won title with different teams. In past there was Prost, Pique, Hill or Fangio.
What Max is doing is understandable - Red Bull is going in wrong direction and it's obvious that Max isn't going to fight for title in this team if nothing won't change.
Anyway, no F1 races for few weeks - perfect time for media to spread rumours.
Anything before Schumie is a mystery for me. I probably only started watching F1 (and that's a loose definition) once Malaysia had their own track... early 2000s? And it was really also because we were playing a lot of silly racing games on the PS. Knowing this now, I definitely want Max to go and try be the first driver to do so since those guys you mentioned.
Mercedes had their golden era when they had Hamilton. But for now it is questionable whether they will be able to bring back those times. But they are quite likely to be way better than Red Bull anyway. Red Bull is still losing blood after Horner has left as well.
Don't know about you guys but I'm rather enjoying RB's downfall (relative as it is).