Hamilton tempted by helping a team rise With the move to Mercedes seen as a backward step at the time, given McLaren's status as a consistent and established front-runner, Hamilton said he had been wooed by the prospect of helping a midfield team to try to reach the highest heights in F1.
Why did Lewis Hamilton switch from McLaren to Mercedes?
But despite his success, Hamilton felt that he needed a change and saw an opportunity at Mercedes. The move was not without its risks. Mercedes was not yet the dominant force in Formula 1 that it is today, and many believed that Hamilton was making a mistake by leaving a team that had supported him for so many years.
As per media reports, Hamilton is unlikely to leave Mercedes even if Ferrari doubles the British racer's current deal. Hamilton's existing contract with Mercedes will expire at the end of this season. Since they have not yet extended the contract, Ferrari tried to convince Hamilton to sign a fresh deal.
The Dutchman was ordered to let Hamilton through after race control informed Red Bull that Verstappen had made the pass outside of track limits. If Verstappen was to have kept the place, a five second penalty would likely have been added to his final race time.
Sergio Pérez replaced Hamilton for 2013, after Hamilton decided to leave for Mercedes. The team's car for the season, the MP4-28, was launched on 31 January 2013. The car struggled to compete with the other top teams and the season had McLaren fail to produce a podium finish for the first time since 1980.
A victory in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix aside, Ricciardo constantly fought to find the right setup, balance, and comfort with the car that ultimately never came, despite the hours of toil from both team and driver. The decision to terminate his contract with a year remaining was a painful one on both sides.
Hamilton is under contract until 2023 and has revealed he would like to leave the sport as a champion. Lewis Hamilton says he dreams of retiring as a Formula One champion – but has no plans to stop soon.
Describing Verstappen as “a war machine” and “a robot”, Villeneuve claimed that the Red Bull driver competes with an “extraordinary energy” and consistency unmatched by any other driver on the grid – with Hamilton's performances more unpredictable even during his own dominant era with Mercedes.
Max Verstappen appeared to accuse Lewis Hamilton of being "a bit silly" after overtaking the Mercedes driver and others in the pit lane during Abu Dhabi Grand Prix practice.
Ferrari president John Elkann “personally” contacted Lewis Hamilton to offer him a Ferrari contract. The breaking news is indeed true. According to Italian journalist Leo Turrini Ferrari did make an offer to Lewis Hamilton which he politely refused.
Shakira announced her separation from the soccer star in June 2022 after first confirming their relationship in March 2011. Hamilton has been linked to a number of high-profile women, including Rita Ora and Nicki Minaj, since his 2015 split from longtime girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger.
This led to a Formula One drive with McLaren from 2007 to 2012, making him the first black driver to race in the series. In his inaugural season, Hamilton set numerous records as he finished runner-up to Kimi Räikkönen by one point.
After two years at Renault, Ricciardo joined McLaren for the 2021 Formula One World Championship as a replacement for Carlos Sainz Jr., who had signed a multi-year deal with Ferrari. He partnered with Lando Norris, who was retained by the team.
But first, with a net worth of almost £200m more than Verstappen, is Hamilton, despite his woes at Mercedes in the last two years. The 38-year-old Brit has sat at the top of F1 for most of his career, matching Michael Schumacher's seven world title wins.
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were involved in an enticing rivalry during the 2021 season. The rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, one of the most talented drivers in Formula One, is not confined to the race track. The two rivals have been involved in a war of words in recent times.
Plus, a global survey conducted in 2021 by Motorsport Network found that Verstappen is Formula One's most popular driver with 14.4 per cent of the vote, while Hamilton only managed third behind Norris.
Mercedes had a difficult 2022 season beset by car bouncing problems and a lack of performance due to the compromises required to deal with that. It was bullish that it would be more competitive in 2023 after getting on top of the root causes of last year's limitations and making significant changes to address them.
"I think that F1 has become so big that everything else has been dwarfed. We were really happy, successful in DTM for over 30 years," he said. "But it has come to a point where the works team, if you wanted to compete, you need 40 or 50 million euros and the return on investment was too small for that."
Senna didn't really want to spend a year in what he thought would be an uncompetitive car so on this day in 1993, Ron Dennis – who, like any team boss on the grid, wanted Senna in the car – played a bit of a power move. He announced that McLaren's drivers for the season would be Micheal Andretti and Mika Hakkinen.
Biography. Lando Norris may not be named after Star Wars rebel Lando Calrissian - his Mum just liked the moniker - but he has flair and fighting spirit in bountiful supply. McLaren had the British teenager on their books for two years before fast-tracking him into F1's galaxy of stars in 2019.
