Ex-Formula 1 driver Martin Brundle has warned never to write off Lewis Hamilton after the Briton's shock move to Ferrari from Mercedes.
Hamilton will end his long association with the Silver Arrows at the end of this year to start a new chapter, joining the Italian outfit alongside Charles Leclerc.
A bulk of Hamilton’s F1 success has come with Mercedes but the seven-time World Champion has voiced that the “time is right” to take on a new challenge in Formula 1.
Mercedes slipped back in the pecking order ever since the 2022 campaign when new technical regulations came into play.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Brundle suggested that Ferrari is offering him a chance to shift all of his focus back into F1.
“He’s had a couple of years of not winning a race and we see other changes he’s made around with bringing back Marc Hynes, who was his long-time mentor, eyes and ears in the paddock, a former racer, a really solid guy to have around him,” Brundle said.
“And I think Lewis has probably gone ‘right, I’m going to stop focusing so much on all of the stuff outside of motor racing, and I just want to get back to Lewis Hamilton, the racing driver’, and I think this is just a wonderful opportunity to motivate him, to energise him for this phase of his career.”
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'Hamilton move could be Schumacher-esque'
Ferrari is currently enduring a lengthy title drought, having last won a championship in 2008.
Brundle believes that Hamilton can mirror fellow seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher by aiding Ferrari back to the front of the field.
"Never write off Lewis Hamilton," he said. "He knows how to win races and championships, and it'll be very Schumacher-esque if he can go there and really drive the team to start winning a lot more races and be championship contenders."
"He's had a couple of years of not winning a race and we've seen a couple of other changes he's made, bringing Marc Hynes back, who was his long-time mentor and eyes and ears in the paddock
"I think he's probably gone 'I'm going to stop focusing on all of the things outside of racing and get back to Lewis Hamilton the racing driver'.
"I think this is a wonderful opportunity to motivate him and energise him for this phase of his career."
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Zeffy
No it will never be Schumacher-esque. Hamilton might be the luckiest driver in history, but there's no way he will pull another winning lottery ticked and the Ferrari becomes dominant. He will have his hands full with Leclerc just as with Russell, but now he has all the excuses should they fail.
Sundance98
*Not so fast to diminish this move. Hamilton can be a cry baby at times, but he is also a hardened veteran of these campaigns. Should he endear himself to the Ferrari team, willing to block occasionally for LeClerc on an even basis.....well.....you just never know what might happen. The key will be the engineers' relationship with Hamilton.