sport news Why Lewis Hamilton should quit this F1 season NOW, writes JONATHAN McEVOY trends now
Lewis Hamilton is clearly out of sorts. So I wonder if he might not be best advised to take the rest of the season off to prepare for his final fling at Ferrari next year.
It may not be in his nature to sit out a single race, but I can see how he might be tempted. And there is a precedent for such a move. It goes back to 1979 and the tortured season Niki Lauda endured at Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham.
Lauda suffered 11 retirements from 13 races, and enough was enough at the Canadian Grand Prix. The great Austrian’s mood matched Montreal’s miserable weather.
After practice, he told Ecclestone he was ‘tired of driving around in circles’ and was retiring on the spot, not from races but from grand prix racing (later to return, in 1982).
Ecclestone accepted this, albeit with some reluctance given there were two rounds of the championship remaining.
Lewis Hamilton should quit Mercedes now - it would benefit him, Ferrari, and Mercedes
If he walked away from Mercedes, he could start working with Ferrari helpfully early
‘Well, ‘said Ecclestone, ‘in that case you better leave your overalls behind. We’ll need them.’
Ecclestone then plucked a replacement from the crowd, a young Argentine called Ricardo Zunino, a driver on a weekend off. He had tested for Brabham, and there he was suddenly about to compete in the Canadian Grand Prix – wearing Lauda’s race suit.
Hamilton, 39, need not make it as dramatic as that, but would a rest not do him good after 18 seasons and possibly one last push left in him?
Not entirely a foreigner to parnoia, he is likely to grow increasingly frustrated at what he will view as favouritism towards George Russell, who is outperforming him and who represents the future.
Given his impending move to Ferrari, Hamilton will be left out of all conversation concerning next year’s car development. (Ironically, he was arguably, and indulgently, allowed too much of a voice in creating this year’s jalopy, despite no strict engineering expertise.) If he walked away, he could start work with Ferrari helpfully early.
What would Mercedes do in this scenario? Move on. They could look for a swap deal with Carlos Sainz, Ferrari’s brilliant winner in Melbourne on Sunday 16 afternoons after his appendix operation, or blood a youngster, such as Kimi Antonelli, who, I am told, is due at the Mercedes wind tunnel over the next few weeks. The Italian is 17, racing in F2 for Prema, and on Mercedes’ junior programme.
Mercedes could blood a youngster such as Kimi Antonelli, who is on their junior programme
Hamilton is likely to grow frustrated with what he will see as favouratism towards George Russell, who is Mercedes' future
James Vowles, then of Mercedes and now of Williams, brought in Antonelli and predicts he will be a world champion one day.
Perhaps Antonelli’s elevation now would be premature, but whatever happens it would serve both Lewis and Mercedes to cut ties sooner rather than later.
According to my millinery source, Adam Norris proudly wore the Pirelli cap awarded on the podium to his son Lando for taking third place in Melbourne. ‘It was on all the way via Doha,’ I’m reliably informed.
Melbourne to kick off next seasonDark glasses hid some dog-tired faces in Melbourne. I don’t believe in jet-lag, actually, but my denials of its existence faced a stiff examination last week. A fly-in, fly-out trip to and from the other side of the world for the third race of the season is lunacy.
Doctors and mechanics can agree on that.
Which is why it is fabulous news that the 2025 season will, I can reveal, start in Melbourne next season for the first time since 2019 (a result of Ramadan putting paid to the counter-attraction of the big-paying Middle Eastern states).
Melbourne would have staged the
