After finishing the ultimate tripleheader of the 2024 Method 1 marketing campaign, Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton will formally conclude their partnership in Method One. In a shocking improvement, the seven-time world champion will embark on a brand new chapter with Scuderia Ferrari, whereas Mercedes appears to the long run by selling rising star Andrea Kimi Antonelli from Method 2. The monumental shift has drawn comparisons from David Coulthard, British former racing driver and broadcaster from Scotland, who likened the British driver to fellow seven-time Method 1 champion Michael Schumacher.
This marks solely the second workforce change in Lewis Hamilton’s illustrious profession. The Briton started his F1 journey with McLaren earlier than becoming a member of Mercedes in 2013, the place he loved over a decade of dominance. Now, as he prepares to don Ferrari purple in 2025, Lewis Hamilton will be part of forces with Charles Leclerc and work underneath workforce principal Frédéric Vasseur, with whom he collaborated earlier in his pre-Method One profession.
Lewis Hamilton’s transfer comes as he approaches a major milestone—his fortieth birthday. By the point he takes the wheel for Ferrari, questions surrounding his age and endurance will inevitably come up. Former F1 driver David Coulthard has identified that Hamilton’s skill to carry out at this stage of his profession will likely be underneath scrutiny. It should in the end be as much as the veteran driver to show he stays a power to be reckoned with as he enters this new chapter with considered one of motorsport’s most iconic groups: “The important thing ingredient of all the greats over the historical past of time has been to have the ability to qualify and race. And if Lewis, at 40 years previous, has misplaced a yard in footballing phrases, then he could properly battle to beat Charles over the course of a 12 months,” he revealed in a latest interview for the British media – “That could be a reputable query that anybody needs to be asking, however it’s for him to indicate us. It’s not about us placing him down and saying he can not do it, as a result of it’s in his fingers,” the motive force who competed in Method One from 1994 to 2008 continued.
Lewis Hamilton Drawn into Michael Schumacher Comparability
In a coincidence, Michael Schumacher made his return to Method One in 2010, signing with Mercedes after a three-year hiatus. This transfer in the end set the stage for Lewis Hamilton to hitch the workforce in 2013, following Michael Schumacher’s second retirement. Regardless of his legendary standing, the German’s comeback with Mercedes was met with blended outcomes, with the German driver managing to safe only a single podium end at the 2012 European Grand Prix in Valencia. This restricted success has sparked comparisons between the 2 seven-time Method 1 world champions, notably as Lewis Hamilton prepares to tackle a brand new problem with the Italian facet.
“Mercedes doesn’t exist for Lewis Hamilton, and Lewis Hamilton has made it clear that he doesn’t exist for Mercedes. In the identical means, when Michael got here again from retirement to signal for Mercedes, it was actually surprising to think about him being something aside from a Ferrari legend. However the draw of coming residence to Mercedes, the will and perception that he might do it nonetheless, introduced him in. He did a few years, he did okay, but it surely was not the identical as how he was in his first stint in Method 1,” – the previous Method 1 driver identified.