After finishing the ultimate tripleheader of the 2024 Components 1 marketing campaign, Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton will formally conclude their partnership in Components One. In a surprising improvement, the seven-time world champion will embark on a brand new chapter with Scuderia Ferrari, whereas Mercedes seems to the longer term by selling rising star Andrea Kimi Antonelli from Components 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 Components 1 champion Michael Schumacher.
This marks solely the second group 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 below group principal Frédéric Vasseur, with whom he collaborated earlier in his pre-Components 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 potential to carry out at this stage of his profession will probably be below scrutiny. It is going to finally be as much as the veteran driver to show he stays a drive to be reckoned with as he enters this new chapter with one in every 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 might nicely wrestle to beat Charles over the course of a yr,” he revealed in a current interview for the British media – “That could be a respectable query that anybody needs to be asking, however it’s for him to indicate us. It isn’t about us placing him down and saying he can’t do it, as a result of it’s in his arms,” the motive force who competed in Components One from 1994 to 2008 continued.
Lewis Hamilton Drawn into Michael Schumacher Comparability
In a accident, Michael Schumacher made his return to Components One in 2010, signing with Mercedes after a three-year hiatus. This transfer finally set the stage for Lewis Hamilton to hitch the group in 2013, following Michael Schumacher’s second retirement. Regardless of his legendary standing, the German’s comeback with Mercedes was met with combined 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 Components 1 world champions, significantly as Lewis Hamilton prepares to tackle a brand new problem with the Italian aspect.
“Mercedes doesn’t exist for Lewis Hamilton, and Lewis Hamilton has made it clear that he doesn’t exist for Mercedes. In the identical method, when Michael got here again from retirement to signal for Mercedes, it was actually surprising to think about him being something apart from a Ferrari legend. However the draw of coming dwelling to Mercedes, the will and perception that he may do it nonetheless, introduced him in. He did a few years, he did okay, however it was not the identical as how he was in his first stint in Components 1,” – the previous Components 1 driver identified.