Arguably the biggest storyline that has emerged before the start of the 2024 season is that seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton will switch allegiances to Ferrari in 2025. This will mark the end of Briton’s decade-long stint with Mercedes. Since the 39-year-old has given a year’s notice to the Silver Arrows, F1 presenter Simon Lazenby believes that the Brackley-based outfit must treat him with respect.
While speaking on the latest episode of the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Lazenby said,
“Lewis has brought everything to Mercedes. Therefore, they kind of do owe him, a little bit. I think they owe him everything really and they probably owe him the respect he deserves, to treat him like the great champion he is for the time he has remaining at Mercedes“.
Host Matt Gallagher asked Lazenby this question as teams usually provide a cold shoulder to drivers who are set to leave. They believe that there is no point in engaging such drivers in their development talks as they will not be around for the long term.
Although such is usually the perception for outgoing drivers, Lazenby believes that Hamilton is an exception. The F1 presenter explained how Mercedes will have to rally behind the Briton if he is in a position to fight for the championship.
Lazenby believes that Hamilton is an individual who has the experience of winning, and Mercedes cannot afford to take the 39-year-old for granted despite knowing that he will leave after a year. Even though Lazenby believes that the Silver Arrows cannot afford to ignore Hamilton at any cost, Karun Chandhok believes otherwise.
Chandhok believes Hamilton’s relationship with Mercedes will be “awkward“
While speaking in a recent episode of The Fast and Curious podcast, Karun Chandhok explained why he believes Lewis Hamilton will share an “awkward” relationship with Mercedes for the rest of the 2024 season. The expert believes that there will come a point over the course of the campaign when the Silver Arrows will not want to indulge the British driver in their development talks for the 2025 and 2026 cars.
Chandhok believes that Mercedes are likely to fear that Hamilton may take some of the team’s secrets away to Ferrari when he moves to Maranello in 2025. However, irrespective of how Mercedes treat Hamilton, the 39-year-old’s sole goal for his last season with them is going to be to fight for the championship if possible. If the Silver Arrows’ W15 is strong enough to match the pace of Red Bull’s RB20, then Hamilton is likely to give it his all.
From Mercedes’ point of view, they may want to favor George Russell as the lead driver since Hamilton will leave at the end of the 2024 season. On the other hand, the 26-year-old is likely to stay with the team for the long term, having joined them only in 2022.
