Most would assume that Lewis Hamilton perhaps has everything sorted at the age of 39. He is a seven-time F1 champion, who leads almost all major statistical records. Moreover, since he also has a multi-million dollar fortune to his name, what more could he possibly want? However, all those things don’t matter to him as long as he is able to do the one thing he has made a habit of doing all his life – winning despite all adversity! Hamilton is currently in a torrid phase with his career, having not won a race in over two years.
Despite the same, the Briton is not losing his motivation and desire to keep pushing. Speaking in an interview at the Japanese GP, Hamilton mentioned how despite Mercedes’ struggles in the past two years, he is not giving up yet on their prospects to get back to winning ways.
“I have a few of these other things, but still the ultimate thing that keeps me up at night is when we’re going to be fighting for wins again”, said Hamilton as seen in a Twitter (now X) video.
Despite racing in his last season for the Silver Arrows, the #44 driver is in no way taking a back seat. While he would easily stay unbothered about Mercedes‘ struggles and prepare for his Ferrari move in 2025, Hamilton is not the kind of individual to put his foot off the gas.
He added in the interview how he often thinks about how he can help the team bridge their performance gaps, be it during qualifying or the race. The W15 has not fulfilled Mercedes’ expectations so far despite being a completely different car from its predecessors.
Overall, the Brackley team is far away from even being in the sniffing distance of a race win. Still, Hamilton feels they cannot give up just as yet. “We win, & we lose as a team. We’re very united. Everyone’s working incredibly hard. So, just got to continue at it”, he said.
Is Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes optimism futile?
When Lewis Hamilton made the big decision to switch teams from Mercedes to Ferrari, everyone got a huge shock. Still, one could understand the logic and the Briton’s perspective in making this switch in his career. So, now that Hamilton has his career path sorted, why would he want to bother about Mercedes’ future progress?
The answer is pretty simple – his love and dedication to the team. Having been associated with the German brand since the age of 13, the seven-time champion would always want the best for Mercedes.
It doesn’t matter if they have failed to provide him with a winning car since 2022. The 39-year-old will also look at the six world championships, 82 race wins, and numerous such records he has registered with the Brackley outfit.
So, it makes sense why Hamilton would want to keep fighting for Mercedes till the end of his stint with them. However, is he being too optimistic still?
The Silver Arrows have been on the wrong side of car development ever since the new ground effect regulations came into effect. The W15 is their third iteration of this ground effect generation car and they don’t seem to have figured out yet how to make it a race-winning machinery.
And as per the law of averages and the cyclical nature of dominance in F1, it makes sense why Mercedes are struggling. After dominating for eight years since 2014, they finally succumbed to Red Bull and dropped back into the midfield.
The same drop in performance has happened in cases of previous dominant eras by teams like Ferrari, Red Bull themselves, McLaren, and even Williams. So, perhaps Hamilton’s optimism that the Silver Arrows will return to the top may take time.
