Lewis Hamilton’s fame will not be as untouchable because it was in 2020, when he claimed his record-equalling seventh world championship, but Scuderia Ferrari’s resolution to drop Carlos Sainz on the finish of the 2024 Formulation 1 marketing campaign in favor of him speaks volumes.
Carlos Sainz, coming into the ultimate yr of his contract, would sometimes have been a secure guess to retain his seat. He had confirmed himself a a number of race-winner able to beating Charles Leclerc on his finest days and persistently staying aggressive.
Nevertheless, this wasn’t a typical state of affairs. The game’s most adorned driver, Lewis Hamilton, had change into obtainable. His resolution to depart Mercedes appeared to stem from a want for a recent problem and a career-long dream of racing for Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton had been promised by Mercedes that the ground-effect period would carry championship-contending automobiles, however these assurances did not materialize, seemingly eroding his belief within the workforce’s future path.
Different choices for Lewis Hamilton have been restricted. Whereas Pink Bull had a emptiness alongside Sergio Perez, pairing him with Max Verstappen was virtually unthinkable after their fierce 2021 rivalry. Equally, McLaren, recent off their Constructors’ Championship triumph, was firmly dedicated to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
This left Ferrari as the one viable different. Hamilton had harbored aspirations of driving for the enduring Scuderia since 2004, and at 39 years previous, each he and the workforce have been lastly able to make it a actuality.
Hamilton’s Ferrari Transfer Not Surprising, Says Former Mercedes Colleague
Mercedes race workforce coordinator Stephen Lord, talking on the *Past the Grid* podcast, revealed he wasn’t stunned by Lewis Hamilton’s transfer to Ferrari. Lord recalled a dialog from years earlier during which Hamilton admitted that each driver understands the attract of driving for the legendary crimson workforce.
Lewis Hamilton’s transfer mirrors the journeys of rivals like Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, who additionally left championship-winning groups to chase glory with Ferrari. For Hamilton, this transition represents an opportunity to satisfy an unfulfilled ambition.
But Stephen Lord had as soon as envisioned a special path for Hamilton, believing the British driver may at some point return to McLaren. With McLaren ending a 26-year look forward to a Constructors’ Championship, the prospect appeared believable. Nevertheless, workforce boss Zak Brown stays steadfast in his dedication to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, making the Ferrari swap of the seven-time Formulation 1 world champion essentially the most practical alternative.
“I believe that’s been his plan all alongside [joining Ferrari],” Lord stated. “Just a few years in the past, it got here up in dialog. I really at all times thought he is perhaps tempted again to McLaren, however I used to be utterly fallacious. He at all times stated that he felt most drivers had a want to, sooner or later of their profession, drive for Ferrari. I wasn’t stunned in any respect. We are able to see via the historical past of the game there’s a want amongst nice drivers to go to Ferrari and win world championships there.” – Stephen Lord identified – “Fernando did it, Seb did it. I believe that may at all times stay. They’re the oldest, most recognisable workforce within the pit lane. The historical past and the esteem that that market’s held in, I believe it’s inevitable that folks would need to go there.” – he continued.
Lewis Hamilton Displays on Leaving McLaren and the Risk of Returning
Lewis Hamilton’s Formulation 1 journey started with McLaren, the place he rose via the ranks of their driver academy to clinch his first World Championship in 2008. He spent six years with the Woking-based workforce, 4 of them as a Formulation 1 driver, earlier than making a shock swap to Mercedes in 2013—a call that will in the end redefine his profession.
Wanting again, the British driver expressed remorse over the best way he dealt with his departure from McLaren, admitting he averted delivering the information in individual. He later vowed to appropriate this strategy when leaving any future groups, guaranteeing open and direct communication.
Regardless of the awkward exit, Hamilton has maintained a optimistic relationship together with his former workforce. He publicly congratulated McLaren on their latest Constructors’ Championship win in Abu Dhabi, demonstrating a continued respect for the workforce that launched his profession.
In an interview shortly after leaving McLaren in 2012, Lewis Hamilton was requested in regards to the prospect of returning at some point. His response was characteristically open-ended: “By no means say by no means.” Whereas he acknowledged McLaren as his “dwelling” in Formulation 1 and admitted {that a} reunion can be “good,” such a state of affairs now seems more and more inconceivable given the evolution of each his profession and the workforce’s path.
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