Lewis Hamilton will complete a life-long dream in 2025 when he dons the red overalls of Ferrari, representing F1’s most iconic outfit. One factor, however, that compels him to end his decade-long association with Mercedes is their on-track struggles. F1 pundit Karun Chandhok lauds the Briton for making a wise decision in that respect.
Hamilton has been with Mercedes since 2013 and won six of his seven World Championships with the Brackley-based team. After the regulation changes of 2022, Mercedes entered a slump and their performance keeps getting worse with each passing season.
Chandhok states that Hamilton saw this drop-off and didn’t want to linger around for too long. In a segment on Sky Sports, he said,
“Lewis Hamilton must have a crystal ball. He made that switch. We’re sitting here, we’re only five weekends in and Mercedes are 99 points behind Ferrari.”
Chandhok went on to refer to the recently concluded Chinese GP to point out that even on Ferrari’s worst day of the season, they were comfortably ahead of Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton’s miserable weekend in China
Lewis Hamilton’s Chinese GP weekend started on a positive note, owing to his P2 finish in the Sprint race. However, in the very next session [Grand Prix qualifying], he made a mistake in his final Q1 run which limited him to a P18 position on the starting grid.
During the race too, Hamilton struggled to make up places and complained about the W15’s pace on several occasions. Still, he fought and got two points for Mercedes with a P9 finish.
P6 finish for George and P9 for Lewis at the Chinese GP pic.twitter.com/W4NeFubxfy
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 21, 2024
Hamilton’s teammate George Russell too isn’t faring too well either. The young Brit has outperformed Hamilton so far this campaign, but not by much. In China, Russell finished P6 in what was a rather lackluster race for the 26-year-old.
Hamilton is currently P9 in the drivers’ Championship standings with 19 points to his name – statistically his worst start to a season barring 2009. Long-term results at Mercedes won’t bother Hamilton much though, as the Stevenage-born driver is jumping ship to Ferrari in eight months.
