Lewis Hamilton to LEAVE Mercedes?

By Joe Murphy

There are only a few things certain in life. Death, taxes and Lewis Hamilton’s F1 seat. He has not been round all the teams in Formula 1 like other drivers. For practically his entire career, the seven-time World Champion has been exempt from any merry-go-round shenanigans. He has been at two teams in his entire F1 career, starting with McLaren and ending up completing nearly ten years with Mercedes. In fact, if the man from Stevenage completes his current deal with the team, he will pass a decade racing in a silver arrow. But it could happen, he could leave the team in the not so distant future for a multitude of reasons.

Now I am not for any moment suggesting that Lewis is petulant. He wants, like any other driver, to be in a competitive car. And, for the vast majority of his career, he has been in such a vehicle. Whilst he is incredibly talented and appropriately in the discussion when considering the greatest driver of all time, the car has been an undeniably important factor in his success. The extent of which, is hotly debatable.

Therefore, after a poor start, critics in particular have got carried away with Mercedes’ poor start to the season. It is hard to see where the drop has come from, however. Toto Wolff’s team are at a similar pace to Haas after the new regulations have been brought in, a car they were multiple seconds a lap faster than, last season. However, let’s be realistic, they still sit second in both championship standings leaderboards, mainly due to the sheer reliability of the W13. Furthermore, there are potential signs that slight alterations could make Mercedes more competitive and lead to them challenging for race wins again in the not so distant future.

So, what could the future hold? I don’t want this piece to come across as click-bait, or a journalist making a story out of nothing. But the future of arguably the best driver in the history of the sport is becoming hazy, for the first time since 2012. The natural question is where does he go? Where would he go? Despite earlier in his career Lewis himself suggesting driving for the Scuderia would be a dream, it seems Ferrari are more than happy with their drivers currently. On the other hand, Red Bull surely wouldn’t work alongside Max Verstappen. A move back to McLaren is perhaps something which could be considered if Daniel Ricciardo doesn’t find some kind of consistency, but then is that really a step forward? Probably not.

The only logical option is for Lewis to stay where he is. Mercedes usually have something up their sleeve and isn’t far off the top as things stand. Look at the progress other teams have made this season, particularly those boasting Ferrari engines. There is no reason why that can’t be Mercedes next season. In the unlikely event Hamilton fails to add any more race wins to his already impressive CV over the course of the next two seasons, then I fear it is more likely that he will leave the sport altogether, than leave for a rival team.