Lewis Hamilton will conclude his 12-year-long journey at Mercedes at the end of this year as he moves to Ferrari in 2025.
Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff. (Via IMAGO)
Lewis Hamilton has confirmed his move to Ferrari in 2025 and will leave his long-time team Mercedes behind. The Briton raced for Brackley for 12 years and leaving the team would definitely have been a difficult task. Hence, as the grid prepares for the 2024 season, the F1 pundit pointed towards the benefits of Hamilton’s involvement for Mercedes.
Hamilton joined Brackley back in 2013 and never looked back in terms of scoring great results. The Briton scored six world championships with the constructor, alongside a whopping 82 race wins with the team. The 2024 season is yet to be played out and the 39-year-old would probably produce great results down the season. Hence, Simon Lazenby labeled Hamilton’s case as ‘exceptional’ and claimed that the driver brought everything to the team in Formula 1.
I think the thing is with Lewis, it's an exceptional case, isn't it? At the end of the day, it's Lewis. And Lewis has brought everything to Mercedes. Additionally, Lazenby asserted that Brackley owed him everything because of the stuff that the seven-time world champion put on the table for the team. Apart from this, the presenter mentioned that the team needed to treat him like the great champion that he was during his time remaining on the team.
Therefore, they kind of do owe him a little bit. I think they owe him everything really. And they probably owe him the respect that he deserves to treat him like the great champion that he is for the time that he has remaining at Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton hoping to end his Mercedes journey on a high
The team had put forth a lot of optimism over the development of the W15 challenger for 2024. However, some rumors claimed that Hamilton’s reason for exiting the team was the degrading pace from this year’s challenger. However, Lazenby claimed that Hamilton would catch early on if the challenger was competitive and capable of contending for the championship or not.
This factor was key for how the 2024 season panned out for the seven-time world champion according to the presenter. Additionally, Lazenby highlighted that the season wouldn’t have anything to do with emotions, but more about how Hamilton powered through the season and also the capabilities of the challenger produced by the team.
I don't think it's going to be emotion, I don't think it's going to be anything to do with that.
Regardless, Hamilton will conclude the 2024 season as a ‘Mercedes driver’ and hopes to end the season on a ‘high’. The 39-year-old will push himself to the limit and maximize results down the season. Additionally, the team is hopeful of competing for the world championship for the last time with the seven-time world champion in Formula 1.