Lewis Hamilton’s twelve year tenure with the Mercedes team is now complete. He heads for Ferrari next year in an effort to reset his stumbling F1 career. Lewis and George Russell. Entered their final race together level on points across the three years as team mates.

Yet his last lap brilliance in overtaking George Russell around the outside of turn 9 meant that Hamilton finished their time together with the most points. Only Jenson Button during the three years they were partnered at McLaren managed to outscore Hamilton along with Nico Rosberg who claimed the 2016 drivers championship.

However, this was a small victory for Lewis over George given Russell stepped up from Williams and claimed the Mercedes honours for the campaign in 2022. Again this year the younger man had the upper hand despite a 32 point swing in favour of the seven times world champion when Russell won the race in Spa-Francorchamps only to be disqualified for his car being under weight. Hamilton was promoted to the top step of the podium, making it the second race of the year where he was victorious.

 

 

 

Hamilton bombshell announcement

Lewis kicked the year off in style when before a wheel had raced in anger by announcing his shock exit from the Mercedes team who had presented his new contract signed just months earlier as a two year deal. Clearly it was a one year contract with both parties having an option for a second season should they both agree and with ‘the next Max Verstappen’ waiting in the wings at Mercedes, Hamilton clearly felt his place on the grid for 2025 was in jeopardy.

As the long farewell across twenty four race weekends rolled on, it became clear that Hamilton was unable to revive his form of yesteryear. Team mate George Russell smashed him 19-5 in Grand Prix qualifying which was a surprise given Lewis has proven to the quickest of all time with his 104 pole positions. The move to Ferrari alongside Charles Leclerc will not be easy, given of the Ferrari pair this year the Monegasque has beaten Carlos Sainz 14-9 in the Grand Prix one lap shootouts.

Veteran F1 journalist James Allen now ponders the future for Hamilton at Ferrari who over the second half of this year were the most consistent team, falling just short of the constructor’s championship in a thrilling season finale.

“What will worry Lewis a little bit is his performance in qualifying because compared to his teammate George Russell he really dropped off and particularly in the second half of the season but his race performances are still out there with the very best of them,” Allen told TALKSPORT.

D-DAy at Red Bull. Perez leaving becomes official

 

 

 

Lewis must find one lap pace

“I don’t think there’s anybody who is faster over a 300km race distance than Lewis Hamilton, but if he’s going to be matching up with Charles Leclerc next year and not be starting behind him on the grid more often than not, he’s got to find a way to unlock that single lap speed again.”

Indeed Hamilton proved his race craft in this year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix when having qualified in a lowly tenth place carved through the field to finish just seven seconds behind team mate George Russell who led the race from pole position.

Charles is also quick over one lap as evidenced this year in Monaco, the toughest circuit of all to finish ahead of the field on Saturday. And with the front running F1 teams converging further still in the final year of these car design regulations qualifying in 2025 will be vital. The move to Ferrari will be daunting for Hamilton as they occupy a unique place in Formula One history.

The Scuderia are worshipped by the Italian fans even more so than their national football team. The Italian media are also hard on Ferrari when they make mistakes and their drivers can go from hero to zero across a single race weekend. Hamilton has enjoyed the entirety of his F1 career driving for English based teams and as someone with no language skills the days with the engineers at the factory will be long and arduous.

Williams lands big Ferrari sponsor

 

 

 

Culture shock at Ferrari

Moving to Italy will be cultural shock for the seven times world champion and its unclear at present how he will cope. Should Ferrari continue on their current development curve, they will build a car for next year which is capable of winning races and even both driver and team championships.

Yet if Hamilton is starting more times than not behind his team mate, the seven times world champion will discover finding a way through may be more difficult than he imagines.

Certain drivers hit the ground running with Ferrari, like Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso by winning there first race with the team in red. The opening round in Australia next March may well define the kind of season Lewis is likely to have.

Should Lewis be able to match or even beat his team mate over the flyaway races in 2025, the team may consider him claiming a historic eight world title should become a priority. Of course their protege Leclerc would not find this amusing and the possibility for conflict within the team remains high.

Bottas last race may harm Mercedes in new role

 

 

 

Leclerc will not defer

Leclerc will not defer to Hamilton and has shown this season when he feels the team have favoured his team mate – he ensures the world knows all about it. In Las Vegas when he was pitting for fresh tyres, Charles was told over team radio he would emerge on track very near Carlos Sainz.

His engineer confirmed Sainz had been told not to challenge him if behind and that he could bring in his tyres slowly without fear of being mugged. As it happened Carlos on warmer rubber decided enough was enough and at turn four he passed the Monegasque who ranted across them radio following the chequered flag.

The outgoing Carlos Sainz reflected on his four years at the Maranello based team insisting he is now stronger than Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Hamilton. “On the other hand, I know how good Lando, Charles and Lewis are. I’ve been fighting with them on equal terms, and I’ve become stronger than them”, he said in Abu Dhabi.

Marko warns Verstappen: “Be careful”

 

 

 

Sainz proves his worth day 1 to Williams

They say that in Formula One its 80% the car and 20% the driver, which others say is ridiculous, yet this season Red Bull have proven the driver remains an integral part of there success the team achieves. With Max Verstappen winning the drivers championship and amassing a whopping 437 points to his team mates paltry 152, he certainly made the difference in the RB20 as Sergio Perez now faces the end of his F1 career.

Today, Carlos Sainz stepped into his Williams dressed in white overalls and completed the most laps and delivered the quickest time of all in the morning session of the Pirelli tyre test in Abu Dhabi.

Carlos was already familiar with the FW46 following a private filming day yesterday where he completed the required install laps and found the feel of his new car. He along with others were out bang on 9am to make the most of testing laps which in modern F1 couldn’t be more highly prized… READ MORE