Lewis Hamilton’s stint at Mercedes has seen a fair share of frustrating stories too. All certainly wasn’t smooth sailing between Hamilton and Mercedes and thus the switch to Ferrari has happened. Apparently, former Mercedes boss and engineer James Vowles revealed recently that the Briton had his own way of doing things that frustrated engineers in his early days at Brackley team. The current Williams boss was talking on the High Performance Podcast in which he revealed some anecdotes about Hamilton’s habits.
Vowles stated, “One of our biggest frustrations with him was that out of 20 laps, he did one. I am like common, you could do more than that.” He was highlighting how Hamilton had a peeve for being a “perfectionist”. Thus, the 39-year-old would back out of laps often when things did not go right like, locking up or going wide.
However, Vowles cited how the #44 driver has matured since he first joined the team in 2013. Now, he completes every lap and learns from the bad laps too. Though, the British engineer stressed the fact that whenever Hamilton quickly changed the setup in his car, it would throw the engineers off, as all their data used to get skewed.
Vowles added, “You’d lose yourselves as engineers. It’s difficult when your data’s all moving the tracks moving, the grip’s moving, the driver’s moved everything on the steering wheel, you don’t know where you are.”
Nonetheless, the Williams boss appreciated how this was a double-edged sword, and naturally, Hamilton’s habits had their upsides to it. His ability to quickly explore and understand a plethora of setups in a single session, helped him to gain an edge over his rivals.
Therefore, whenever the Briton was down, he could always come back up to the top in any session. No wonder Ferrari has put all their eggs in Hamilton’s basket for 2025. However, it certainly is a massive loss for Mercedes who have a large vacuum to fill after their lead driver’s exit.
How has Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes in a disarray
Mercedes has been the guiding light for Lewis Hamilton, all his career ever since his early days in single-seater racing. Hamilton has achieved six of his seven world championships at the Brackley team, amassing 82 wins, which is about 80% of his race wins.
However, that may have been the bone of contention in his reasoning to leave. Going winless for two consecutive seasons is not something Hamilton fancied in this new era of F1 regulations. Meanwhile, Ferrari, despite their struggles have often been the second-best contender to the all-conquering Red Bull.
Thus, the seven-time champion may have felt to not honor his promise of reviving Mercedes. The Briton probably does not see the improvement potential in them now (which he was confident about, 6 months ago). The lack of confidence is probably what prompted him to change his lane to Maranello for 2025.
Despite having a contract till the end of 2025, Hamilton has activated a release clause to part ways with the Silver Arrows at the end of 2024 itself. This will facilitate his shocking mega move to Scuderia Ferrari on a multi-year contract.
This move leaves Mercedes in a huge dilemma to replace their champion driver who was leading the team for over a decade. It certainly poses questions on whether the 8-time champion team is facing any internal operational crisis.
There is also a possibility that Hamilton had a falling out with Toto Wolff or the Mercedes management. Regardless, they now have to search for the 39-year-old’s replacement. Fernando Alonso has been the name in contention ever since the news of Hamilton going to Ferrari came out.
Some reports suggest Wolff has been in contact with Alonso’s inner circle after the #44 driver’s shock move got official. Whether Alonso will look to switch from his Aston Martin project is a whole different conversation. But he will certainly be the perfect like-for-like replacement if Wolff offers him the seat.
