British F1 driver Lewis Hamilton waves at the audience after being awarded the Honorary Brazilian Citizenship, during a ceremony at the National Congress, in Brasilia on 7 November 2022. (Photo by EVARISTO SA / AFP)
Are Mercedes recent upgrades enough to stop Lewis Hamilton leaving?
Lewis Hamilton’s frustration with the cars provided by Mercedes over the last two seasons may lead to him leaving the team,.
British F1 driver Lewis Hamilton waves at the audience after being awarded the Honorary Brazilian Citizenship, during a ceremony at the National Congress, in Brasilia on 7 November 2022. (Photo by EVARISTO SA / AFP)
Lewis Hamilton’s frustration with the cars provided by Mercedes over the last two seasons may lead to him leaving the team, despite the recent improvements from the team.
Hamilton secured a second-place finish in the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday 4 June but isn’t in the frame for a record-breaking eighth F1 world championship.
Martin Brundle believes that Hamilton will prioritise winning an eighth world championship and will sign for any team that can deliver a car that could compete with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
Will Lewis Hamilton leave Mercedes?
Brundle says that Hamilton will have to weigh the benefits of leaving against those of staying in the familiar environment of Mercedes.
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“We have to remember Lewis is in the middle of a negotiation,” Brundle told the Sky Sports F1 podcast.
“Now, I’m 100 percent certain Lewis would always follow the performance and not the money, but who’s going to turn down a big paycheque if you can get it as well.
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“And there might be some pressure at Mercedes-Benz to reduce his current pay as it were.
“So there’s a bit of negotiation and a bit of gameplay in this as well.
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“But I would have thought a lot of Lewis’s initiatives that are very important to him are transportable.
“You could recreate them somewhere else. I don’t think that would stop him moving.
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“But I do think overall, when you look at the picture, and we talk about the devil you know or embedded or whatever, then there’s a lot of good reasons to stay at Mercedes.
“He just needs them to tell him how they’re going to sort this out.”
Doing a Schumacher?
“But,” Brundle added, “[Ayrton] Senna left McLaren to go to Williams, Schumacher went off to Ferrari and it took a long, long time but he made that work.
“So these great drivers are not scared of going somewhere and then galvanising and getting a lot of new people around them and making something happen.
“I think there must be part of Lewis that thinks ‘do you know I’d love to go to Ferrari and do a Michael Schumacher. If I can’t win my eighth or ninth right now why don’t I go and have some fun there?’
“He’ll be talking to his dad about this as well as his management team about where do we go from here and that will be exacerbated by the dismal performance in Bahrain.”
