Martin Brundle believes that Lewis Hamilton could be tempted by the prospect of a move to Ferrari amid Mercedes' recent struggles. While Hamilton has previously voiced his intentions of staying with the Silver Arrows beyond the end of 2023, the Briton has also been vocal in suggesting that the squad did not listen to his concerns over their car's design. With this in mind, Brundle has questioned what Hamilton's future in the sport could look like.
Brundle: Eighth title is everything to Hamilton
Brundle thinks that Hamilton's main goal is adding another championship to his current tally of seven, and expects that the 38-year-old would be willing to move to whichever team he could achieve this with. "I think it's absolutely clear that taking that eighth title is everything to him now," Brundle said on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast . "To move that hightide mark and be right up there and considered the greatest and have one more than anybody else is important to him, and I think he'll want to drive wherever he can achieve that." However, the former F1 driver admits that Hamilton may be limited in his options. "If he went to Ferrari, for example, would you be certain you could achieve that better there? They've got a number of their own challenges at the moment," Brundle continued. "Would he get in the door at Red Bull? Because that's the only place right now you'd think he could go to. Could you have a [Max] Verstappen-Hamilton line-up? Could you afford them? Do you need that? "Because I think Red Bull are quite happy with a number one and a one-and-a-half driver in their car. "So it's all very well saying he'll go somewhere else, but where at the moment? So he's better to make what he's got at a magnificent team work."
Could Hamilton follow in Schumacher's footsteps?
With Fernando Alonso remaining successful in the sport at the age of 41, Brundle is confident that Hamilton has "another five years" in Formula 1. "Lewis has got one more roll of the dice to join a team and make them World Champions and get all the accolades that he wants, so I think that's where he's at the moment," Brundle added. While Brundle believes that staying at Mercedes may be the best option for Hamilton, he also expects that the idea of switching to Ferrari – like his fellow seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher did - might be in Hamilton's mind. "There's a lot of good reasons to stay at Mercedes, he just needs them to tell him how they're going to sort this out, but you know, [Ayrton] Senna left McLaren to go to Williams, Schumacher went off to Ferrari, didn't he?" Brundle said. "And it took a long time but they made that work.So these great drivers are not scared of going somewhere and then galvanising and getting a lot of new people around them and making something happen. "And I think there must be part of Lewis that thinks, 'You know, I'd love to go to Ferrari and do a Michael Schumacher and really turn that back into [a winning team] – if I can't win my eighth or ninth right now, why don't I go and have some fun there?' "I'm sure these are all playing in his mind and he'll be talking to his dad about this as well and his management team about where to go from here and that will be exacerbated by the dismal performance of the car in Bahrain."
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