Lewis Hamilton Retirement V2
Lewis Hamilton Retirement V2
While many would say that this has been a down year for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, considering that people have been used to seeing them stomp over their competition and win races by a wide margin, Lewis Hamilton has never looked more energized than ever and as though there weren’t any allegations on whether or not he would return to the sport before the start of the season. But father time is undefeated and age will inevitably catch up to everyone, even to a 7-time world champion like Lewis Hamilton.
So how long does Lewis plan on staying in the sport? What are the chances of him resigning after his contract ends next season? Does team boss Toto Wolff have on this? And what are the team’s plans for next season in order to make the most out of the last year of Lewis’s current contract? Well, you’re going to have to stick around to find out. But before we get to it, consider subscribing to the channel as we upload 4 videos a week at the minimum just to keep you updated on the latest happenings in the F1 space. Now that’s out of the way, let’s get to it.
Heading into the French Grand Prix this past weekend, Lewis was set to reach a milestone of racing in his 300th F1 race. A feat only the likes of Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, and Michael Schumacher can say that they have reached in their careers.
This past weekend Lewis, his teammate George Russell and Mercedes would get a 2-3 finish, they’re highest race finish this season up to this point. And the 7-time world champion seemed as elated as we’ve seen this season bagging his highest finish this season. After the race, Lewis would emphasize that he’s never been more energized in his 16-year career saying:
“I still feel fresh and there is plenty of fuel in the tank,” he said. “I am enjoying the process and arriving every day and working with this group of people and I am enjoying working with this sport. There are some great people in this sport and I am enjoying my time more than ever.”
Team boss Toto Wolff would also confirm that he and Lewis have discussed the idea of Lewis continuing beyond his current contract that ends after the 2023 season. Toto would share that the figure they had discussed was the idea of continuing their partnership for more than 5 years which would see Lewis driving well beyond his 40s. In Toto’s words:
“We talked a few weeks ago about how long a partnership can go and the figure discussed was about five to 10 years, so I think we can go to 400 [races]. Someone said you have to win the eighth [world title], so why not 10?”
But most fans would point out that these comments from Toto seemed to contradict what Lewis had to say about his future in the sport in an interview a few weeks back where he said:
“When I’m 38 there’s going to be a point in which I’m going to want to move on to do different things. I guess it just always comes down to how I never do anything half a***d so I’m not going to do it at 80 per cent, 70 per cent and just trundle along. There are people that can do that but I’m only here to win. If there’s ever a point that I feel that I don’t want to commit the time or the effort, the mental time and energy that it takes, that will be the time for me to stop. I don’t plan to be here till I’m 40. I hope I have something else exciting to do beyond but regardless, no matter what time I stop, I’m going to miss this sport.”
With these contradicting statements from the 2, it is safe to say that was just a prisoner of the moment that he was in, getting his best finish of the season which led him to say statements that he may not fully believe once the highs of a P2 finish passes. But what is a certainty is that A, Lewis is still contracted to race for the team next year which means the team has to look ahead to next season and what changes they have to make their car to give Lewis and George the best chance to win it all next season. And B, the French Grand Prix gave the team a bit more insight about the W13 and how they can increase their chances of at least finishing 2nd in the constructors’ championship.
Starting with A, Mercedes head of trackside operations Andrew Shovlin has come out to say that the team is looking to revamp their car design next season and that it is unlikely that they will run this year’s failed design ever again. Shovlin would then add that the team is now looking at other teams’ designs to get an idea of what would and would not work next season saying:
“We don’t think that just changing our sidepod will change our competitiveness. We’re certainly not of that mind. Nor are we wedded to saying this is how the Mercedes car must look. From the very early part of the year, we’re looking at other teams’ bodywork and certainly with a view to next year, looking up and down the grid to see ideas. And it may be that we don’t just take another team’s idea, we’re looking at combinations of different concepts. But it’s a gradual process. I think fundamentally our car isn’t going to change appearance massively this season but I’d be surprised if next year’s car looks the same.”
Mercedes fans watching fans are surely happy to hear that the team is looking to improve on the W13 from a holistic approach but still incorporate cutting-edge and out-of-the-box designs the team is known for and what has led them to win 8 titles in a row. And moving to B, Toto Wolff would remain pessimistic of the teams’ chances this season even though both drivers finished on the podium saying:
“Delighted would be to win. But we need to stay humble with our guys just not good at the moment to fight with the guys in front. I’m always a little bit pessimistic because I think I need to be. We’re just lacking six or seven-tenths to the leaders and whilst we have stabilized in the race and [Max] Verstappen hasn’t been really gaining more ground, he was also looking after his tyres. So overall I think the team effort was great. The drivers did a really good job, George was clever and fast. Lewis the lion that was just always there didn’t let loose. We’re doing the maximum at the moment on race day.”
Toto would also talk about the team’s subpar performance during the qualifying sessions saying:
“If you would have told me that we are ending up [there] I would have said that’s not possible. So that’s a bit of a slap in the face. We were slowly but surely working our way back to the front runners and there were good signs in Silverstone. Then we went to Austria, a track where we are normally not competitive at all and we could clearly see the signs why we were not competitive but we were close. It’s a one-minute circuit and we were three-tenths off so that was acceptable. “Then we brought quite a nice update package to Paul Ricard, the track is smooth, off we go, let’s hunt them down. And boom, no performance. Like, no performance and we can’t figure it out, what went wrong. We experimented with rear wings, from almost the biggest we have – which Lewis described as dragging a parachute behind him this morning – to a smaller version which makes us lose too much speed in the corners. Then we experimented with tyre temperatures. We struggled to bring the tyres in the optimum window and in qualifying, sometimes we have it in the second or third push lap and obviously, you’re missing the peak then from the first flying lap,” Wolff said. Then in the race, you can see that we’re losing three seconds at the beginning of the race or four and then we’re stabilizing, we’re actually not so bad. So there’s a lot of head scratching going on. But we have the most capable people, the best ones I believe, and at the moment [it] is a little bit trial and error. But that’s great to see that science can also improvise and we [have] got to move fast.”
As we speak right now, Red Bull is looking like the runaway favorite to win it all this season, so the only interesting battle to keep our eyes on for now is whether or not Mercedes will be able to close the gap with Ferrari at Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend.
While Ferrari undoubtedly has the quicker car, Mercedes outclasses Ferrari in the reliability department which has proven to be Ferrari’s Achilles heel throughout this season. But what do you think? Will Lewis renew his contract after his current one ends next year? Will Mercedes be able to catch up to Ferrari in Hungary? Let us know in the comment section below. And as always don’t forget to like and subscribe to the channel if you haven’t.
