One of the biggest talking points of the 2024 season has been about Lewis Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari next year. At the time when both parties announced the move, many fans and experts deemed it to be arguably the biggest driver market transfer in history.
However, since Hamilton has not been in the best of form this year, concerns have emerged about whether he is suffering a downfall in his performance because of his age. Even Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff recently claimed on the High-Performance Podcast that the key reason his side only offered Hamilton a 1+1 year is that every driver has something called a “shelf life”.
“Everybody has a shelf life…”
Toto Wolff has spoken about losing Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari ️ pic.twitter.com/dAE50KaXZo
— Autosport (@autosport) November 8, 2024
Now, former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has also passed a similar assessment of Ferrari’s decision to sign Hamilton. The 94-year-old believes that Ferrari will support Charles Leclerc more despite their decision to sign a seven-time champion in Hamilton because the Monegasque is “fast and he grew up there”.
As a result, Ecclestone does not see Ferrari dropping Leclerc for anyone, even if the other driver is arguably one of the all-time greats. With Hamilton not in the best of form at the moment, Ecclestone also stated that Ferrari may even have made a mistake in signing the 39-year-old.
“When he (John Elkann) signed Lewis, there was nothing to indicate that he had misjudged it. Whether he is still happy with it is another story. Only time will tell. If Lewis fades away, which I don’t want to see, he should go and do something else,” added Ecclestone.
While there is a chance that Hamilton’s performance may have suffered a dip, his knowledge and his years of experience will most likely be an asset to any team. Ferrari can use the same to their advantage to improve the car further and better their chances of winning championships in the years to come.
