Hamilton’s Future in F1: Exploring Five Possible Options
Mercedes is once again struggling to put a worthy challenger on the track in F1 2023, leaving Lewis Hamilton at a career crossroads. A bad start in the new era of Formula 1 with ground-effect cars in 2022 was a setback for Mercedes, with their W13 only managing one pole and one win all season, both marked by George Russell. But the team remained confident that it was just a hiccup, and although they don’t know when they’ll return to the title track, they expected to be much closer to this scene from the start in F1 2023. It can be said that the team has only fallen back, clearly catching Hamilton off guard, who publicly affirmed that the team didn’t listen to him when he told them what the W14 needed, while also talking about the « miserable » feeling of driving a car he can’t « connect » with. Perhaps it is these struggles that have led him to somewhat reveal his laser focus on the number eight of the world championship, a record he had downplayed the importance of to him in the past. But as his frustration obviously grows with Mercedes’ lack of progress in putting him in position to achieve this goal, we see five options on the table for Hamilton with his current contract with Mercedes set to expire after the F1 2023 campaign. Let’s go through these options, starting with what we believe is the most likely scenario to the least likely.
Extend with Mercedes for a Year
At this point, this seems to be Hamilton’s most likely move, and one that Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff may be expecting, judging by his comments on Hamilton’s future before the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. « I don’t think Lewis will leave Mercedes, » he said. « However, if he wants to win another championship, he must make sure he has the car, and if we can’t demonstrate that we are capable of giving him a car in the next two years, then he must look everywhere. « I don’t think he will do it at this stage, but I won’t complain if it happens in a year or two. » In this vein, Mercedes still seems confident enough that Hamilton will give them a little more time to get it right, the team having won eight consecutive constructors’ titles between 2014 and 2021, with Hamilton winning six drivers’ titles during that time. Mercedes has effectively scrapped its initial W14 concept, and a major upgrade is coming, so if the team can progress again as F1 2023 progresses, then Hamilton may well sign up for another year and give Mercedes a chance to show that any improvement is not a false dawn this time.
Complete Retirement
However, it is still quite embarrassing to see the seven-time world champion, who possesses the most wins, poles, and podiums of all time in Formula 1, struggle even to make himself a podium contender these days. And after all that success, it’s safe to say that Hamilton will derive little satisfaction from racing around the track without sniffing a chance of victory. Hamilton is not short of projects outside of Formula 1, with his commercial interests covering fashion, food, sports, film, and more, while his charitable contributions are also a great source of pride for the Briton. So, if he decides he has had enough of trailing behind the leaders and doesn’t see Mercedes returning to the top anytime soon, then he may decide that it’s better to call it a legendary career and move on to the next chapter of his life.
Take a Sabbatical
Or, does he step away temporarily? Fernando Alonso did it in 2018 after a frustrating period with McLaren as their Honda reunion collapsed majorly. He returned to the sport in 2021 with Alpine, and now that he’s moved to Aston Martin, the Spaniard is enjoying Formula 1 life and driving as much as ever. So maybe Hamilton could do with a year or two away from the sport to recharge mentally, assess his options, and choose the right team to finally win that eighth world title with? However, given the list of outside interests we just mentioned, it feels like when Hamilton steps away from Formula 1 racing, he’ll do it for good. If Hamilton were then to decide to take a sabbatical after F1 2023, it would seem to go like Mika Hakkinen’s, rather than Alonso’s.
Long-Term Extension
The problem with taking a break and coming back later is that Hamilton is almost part of the furniture at Mercedes now, so seeing him racing with a different team wouldn’t feel quite right. « He’s at the stage of his career where we trust each other, » said Mercedes boss Wolff. « We have formed a great bond between us. We don’t have any reason to doubt each other, even if it’s a tough period. So, if Hamilton has no reason to doubt Mercedes, then he will surely sign a new multi-year deal to commit to the recovery effort? Well, we just can’t see that happening right now given his current frustration and that final, ultimate record of an eighth world championship that is so important to him looking so far away. If Hamilton were to extend his stay at Mercedes beyond F1 2023, it surely wouldn’t be for more than a year initially.
Join a Rival Team
And so we come to scenario five, where Hamilton decides that Mercedes is no longer championship material and he finds a team he thinks is, or at least very soon will be. The obvious team is dominant Red Bull, but while fans would absolutely love to see bitter title rivals from F1 2021 Max Verstappen and Hamilton as Red Bull teammates, we doubt Red Bull is such a glutton for punishment, and Verstappen would probably never accept it anyway.
Maybe Aston Martin then? The ambitious Silverstone team shares many similarities with Mercedes when Hamilton left McLaren to join them, Mercedes at the time a team with bold plans to ascend to title glory, and we know how that turned out. Perhaps Hamilton could repeat that gamble then on Aston Martin, which now looks like the second-fastest team behind Red Bull in racing after a huge leap forward for F1 2023. This could see Hamilton reunite with his former McLaren teammate Alonso, which surely promised fireworks as this pair still lit them up last season. It’s probably not the sticking point, it would be Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin as Lawrence Stroll will certainly never fire his son. This leaves Ferrari then as the only other team that looks like title contenders anytime soon, although there has been no Drivers’ title winner at Ferrari since Hamilton’s rookie season in 2007. Somehow though, it feels like time has long since passed for Hamilton and Ferrari forging an iconic partnership despite discussions around both parties having arisen in recent weeks. It would be a huge shock to see Hamilton racing for someone other than Mercedes at this point in his career.
Your Say
So these are the options that we believe are on the table for Hamilton, but what do you think he should do? Let us know your thoughts on his future in Formula 1 in the comments section below.
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