Peter Windsor has no sympathy for Mercedes after they lost out on Lewis Hamilton, arguably the best driver to have driven for them in their F1 history. The renowned F1 journalist revealed this recently when he went live on his official YouTube channel. He said during the livestream that he found two faults on the part of the Silver Arrows that could have compelled Hamilton to move out of the team.
Speaking about this, Windsor said, “In a way, I don’t have much sympathy for Mercedes because I don’t think they handled Abu Dhabi very well and obviously, you can give them one year off in terms of not getting the car right in 22′, but two years of a car that isn’t a race-winning car is really inexcusable for a team with that amount of money.”
Mercedes perhaps did not put much effort into retrieving Hamilton‘s championship following the 2021 Abu Dhabi fiasco after all. Even though the Silver Arrows decided to go to court to protest against the decision, they ultimately decided to respect the FIA’s decision.
Had the decision been overturned, Hamilton would have been an eight-time world champion. Secondly, Mercedes failed to provide Hamilton with a race-winning car in two back-to-back seasons. The British driver won his last race in Saudi Arabia in 2021.
What else mattered in Lewis Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari?
Apart from the aforementioned reasons, there is also another reason that is believed to have played an instrumental role in the transfer: Lewis Hamilton’s wish to become a brand ambassador. Mercedes denied the same, while Ferrari accepted.
The seven-time world champion wanted his latest contract to also help with his post-retirement plans. Hence, he wanted the role of a brand ambassador following his retirement from the sport with handsome pay. However, this isn’t something the Silver Arrows agreed to.
This led to Lewis Hamilton being unhappy even though he initially agreed to stay with the Brackley team for 2024 and 2025. The tables turned after Ferrari chairman John Elkann came out with an offer that the Briton could not refuse.
As per reports, the Briton is all set to join Ferrari on a multi-year deal for $435 million. This will see him draw $87 million as salary and claim $21 million in bonuses for his Mission 44. The deal will see him stay in the team for 2025 with an option to extend to 2026.
Along with this, Ferrari seem to have also agreed to his demands of a brand ambassador role. Moreover, Scuderia Ferrari also stands in a better position to challenge Red Bull than Mercedes at the moment. Therefore, the deal for Hamilton seemed ideal at this point
As for Mercedes, they are likely to turn all their attention to George Russell now. This is because the team is unlikely to involve Lewis Hamilton in any of the development works from this year onwards as he would leave the team at the end of the season.
