Lewis Hamilton Mercedes link quashed: 'He's on the hamster wheel'

David Coulthard does not believe Lewis Hamilton will be mulling over any regret he left Mercedes to join Ferrari following his former team's start to the new F1 season.

George Russell, and the young Italian who filled Hamilton's shoes at Ferrari, Kimi Antonelli, have scored one-two finishes so far this season in the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix, with the British driver four points ahead.

Ferrari has so far proven to be the best of the rest, with Hamilton mixing it again at the front of the grid, and scoring his first podium in 26 grands prix for the Scuderia in Shanghai, although with the team still behind on Mercedes' pace overall.

As to whether Hamilton is now perhaps looking longingly at Mercedes and questioning whether he should have left as he continues to chase a record-breaking eighth F1 drivers' title, 13-time grand prix winner David Coulthard said: "I don't think so.

"I think the mind of a sports person, and more specifically, a racing driver, is all about the here and now. It's about the opportunity.

"He may reflect, when his career is eventually over, on decisions he's made, but right now, he's on the hamster wheel. He's part of this.

"It was huge news when he signed to go to Ferrari. It was a hugely emotionally disappointing year, last year, and we were all sort of going, 'Is he done?' And to his credit, he's come and shown us that he's not done. But that is forever the game, isn't it?

"I think he made it easier for Mercedes by leaving to go to Ferrari, because that would have been difficult for Toto to eventually say, "Lewis, we need to move on. We need the next generation'.

"So that's like one box ticked in terms of Mercedes being released, and if he continues like this this year, then podiums, maybe a win, and then will that make him go again, thinking he can get a championship next year?"

Hamilton "masterclass"

Coulthard certainly feels the Hamilton of old returned in Shanghai, putting behind him the misery of his maiden campaign with Ferrari last year when he emerged from the season without a podium to his name for the first time in his F1 career.

Hamilton, though, is enjoying the new generation of F1 car that leans more to his driving style, in contrast to many of his peers, and Coulthard noticed the difference across the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

"I think he drove brilliantly, and there's no question he's been a lot happier," said Coulthard. "Is it because love is in the air, or is it because he's genuinely enjoying these cars?

"Ferrari has put on track the second-best car at the moment. They're an annoyance to Mercedes, but they don't have the pace in the first two grand prix to beat them over that duration.

"But what we have seen is Hamilton somehow adapting to the set of regulations, and although Leclerc came back strong in the second half of the race, I was kind of watching from the commentary box, thinking, 'Okay, when's Leclerc going to come?'

"Leclerc didn't. That was a Hamilton masterclass in a one-stop race."