“The timing for Lewis was just horrible” – Mark Webber believes George Russell’s debut for Mercedes in the Sakhir Grand Prix in 2020 could be the turning point for Sir Lewis Hamilton and his future in Formula 1.
One of the most entertaining seasons in recent memory ended with Sir Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes winning yet another title. The season finale was a borefest though, with Abu Dhabi GP living up to its reputation of being a disappointment.
But, quite unexpectedly, the drama going on with the Mercedes-Hamilton contract has reached massive heights already. Unexpectedly because only a few days back, Toto Wolff confirmed Hamilton will sign on the dotted lines before the season starts in Australia.
Mark Webber on George Russell replacing Sir Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes
But arguably Australia’s greatest export to F1 in recent memory Mark Webber (or Daniel Ricciardo, debatable) is not ruling out the possibility of the talks breaking down. Speaking to the ‘At The Controls’ podcast, Webber suggested the turning point in all of this could be the Sakhir Grand Prix 2020.
For those unaware, Hamilton got infected with Covid-19 before Sakhir, and Mercedes spoke to Williams and got George Williams the W11. And he did brilliantly, alright, and should have won the race, had it not been for the Mercedes crew and the Pirelli tyres.
“The timing for Lewis was just horrible.”
“We all thought during the season ‘imagine if Lewis or someone in the Championship battle got Covid and missed a few races’. I think I drove 1,000 days in a Formula 1 car with testing, practice, Grand Prix weekends over 12 or 13 years, and I think I had three days off.”
“That’s because I don’t want anyone near my car. You try to look after your own share price, you don’t want people to have exposure to your material, your people. It’s such a cut-throat industry, even someone like Lewis that [missing the Sakhir GP] was all downside for him.”
Also read: “Is he already Lewis on Sunday? No”- Mark Webber on Max Verstappen
