When Ferrari started the 2024 season as the closest competitor to Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton must have felt good about his decision to join them in 2025. However, with Mercedes getting three wins in the last four races, and Ferrari falling behind McLaren, F1 pundit Karun Chandhok was recently asked in a chat on Sky Sports News, if the seven-time champion would be questioning his choices.
Chandhok explained that Hamilton wouldn’t have had very high hopes for Ferrari in 2025, to begin with. Instead, he would have been betting on the 2026 regulation changes for the Italian team to deliver a championship-worthy car, as the SF-24 has currently become the fourth-best car on the grid.
F1 News: No regrets about 2025 Ferrari move – Hamilton https://t.co/x9NYNxpjJA Lewis Hamilton insists he has no regrets about choosing to move to Ferrari next year instead of sticking with the improving Mercedes team. pic.twitter.com/U791Xxju1L
— AutoRacing1.com (@AutoRacing1) June 25, 2024
Up until the Monaco GP, Ferrari looked like the team to take the fight to Red Bull. But, after Leclerc’s memorable home win, the Scuderia went down the wrong development path. While Ferrari has managed to increase the downforce levels of the car, the upgrades they have brought since Spain have also reintroduced porpoising to the SF-24.
The team is now looking to revert those upgrades so that they can move in the right direction. “Maybe, you know Ferrari started the season strongly and has since dropped backward…”, Chandhok said on Hamilton second-guessing his decision.
“But Lewis is betting on 2026 you know… I think Lewis is really hoping and betting on the fact that um the 2026 car from Ferrari will be better than the Mercedes”.
And if the past has shown anything, Hamilton knows how to play the waiting game. When he switched from McLaren to Mercedes, the team was nowhere near the front of the grid. But, the turbo hybrid regulation changes in 2014 allowed the Brackley team to dominate for years to come, resulting in six of the seven championships for the Briton.
However, this mega partnership will come to an end in 2024. Hamilton wants to leave Mercedes on a high and the team is already delivering on that expectation.
Hamilton is proud of leaving Mercedes in good shape
Austria was a surprise victory for the Silver Arrows having picked up the pieces of the battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. However, when Hamilton won the very next race in Silverstone, many wanted to know if he was rethinking the decision to leave Mercedes.
However, the 39-year-old said, “I think leaving when the chips are down would be the worst feeling for me. But leaving when the chips are up or on their way up and I’ve been a part of helping progress this car to where it is today and that’s an amazing feeling. So I’m very proud of it and also excited for next year”.
It will be interesting to see if Ferrari can make a comeback towards the end of the season as they did last year. Hamilton would also hope for the same, as it sets the Maranello outfit well to make a big step forward over the winter.
