“I hope that he has forgiven me by now”- Lewis Hamilton on tense environment while leaving McLaren

“I hope that he has forgiven me by now”- Lewis Hamilton on the tense environment while speaking about his departure from McLaren.

When Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes, many raised doubts over his decision as his past team McLaren was a force to reckon with in 2008.

On the other hand, Mercedes was looked as a rising power but nobody thought that it will dominate the sport in this way, hence critics thought it is a step-back in Hamilton’s career.

But according to Hamilton, it was one of the toughest decisions in his career, and wishes that his then-McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

“Without their support, along with Mercedes, I wouldn’t have made it to Formula 1, being that it is so expensive so there was no way, as family, that we had the sorts of money that some other families are able to throw at this sport,” Hamilton said.

“So my loyalty was to them, but at the time, I had to think about what the future would hold and what I wanted to be a part of.

“I wanted to be a part of a team that perhaps hadn’t had as much success, was in the growing phase, and I wanted to be a part of that, that growing journey, building something relatively new.

“That was an exciting challenge and I didn’t know how long it was going to be until we got to winning ways. But I truly, truly believed that we would get there at some stage.

“I hope that he has forgiven me by now”- Lewis Hamilton on recalling that call

Hamilton said informing then-McLaren team principal Whitmarsh that he would be leaving the team in the autumn of 2012 was a particularly difficult conversation to have.

“Calling my boss, calling Martin in particular, was one of the hardest calls that I’ve ever had to make,” Hamiltons said.

“I hope that he has forgiven me by now! I think so, because he understands, but ultimately I think it was the right decision.

“I knew it was the right decision for me personally and I think that is how life is generally: nobody can tell you what to do, only you will know personally what is right or wrong for yourself.

“You can’t have anyone else influence that decision. As long as you do your homework, you have got to do what is right for you, and at the time, that is what I did.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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