He once came as a beacon of hope for Michael Schumacher and exceeded all expectations. Lewis Hamilton shaped an entire generation in the Mercedes and was crowned the all-dominant record world champion. On Sunday his time with the Silver Arrows ends in the pale midfield, the departure almost seems overdue. What remains?
2013 was a different world. This also applies to Formula 1. Let’s turn back time for a moment.
Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull (ok, that’s still the same) dominate Formula 1.
At the same time, the German car manufacturer Mercedes is pushing back to the top with its ambitious F1 project. Record world champion Michael Schumacher (until 2012) has recently been doing important development work for this. Now the icon is finally retiring. The up-and-coming Lewis Hamilton, who surprisingly won his only title so far in the last few meters in 2008, is now taking over for him and is now moving from McLaren to Mercedes in his prime as a racing driver. At the same time, a relatively young Austrian takes over the position of team leader of the Silver Arrows.
The rest is history.
The successes came with Hamilton and Wolff
Lewis Hamilton stands for success and records during his time at Mercedes. Six drivers’ and eight constructors’ titles followed in the coming years. There was no way around Mercedes between 2014 and 2020. And that was above all due to the Brit and Toto Wolff.
The combination of the highly motivated Austrian Wolff and Hamilton proved to be a stroke of luck for the German-British team. Wolff is obsessed in a positive sense and a doer with a love of detail, and Hamilton brilliantly combines talent, ruthlessness and speed. The Mercedes engineers now built the car with the best engine for the dawning turbo-hybrid era in Formula 1. The consequence was massive success.
In the new era of Formula 1 with hybrid engines, the Silver Arrows pushed into the Red Bull gap and immediately established themselves as the new dominators.
Most race wins, most poles, most podiums, most titles with one team. Hamilton sometimes dominated so much that he almost crushed the premier class of motorsport or even threatened to put it to sleep. There were phases when you actually knew in advance who would win the race. Namely him. Maybe a teammate (hello, Valtteri Bottas).
The highlight: With his triumph in 2020, Hamilton even drew level with his predecessor and idol Schumacher. Seven world titles. Record champion
Things have been going downhill since 2021
The possible prospect of setting the sole record is and remains an extreme driving force for Hamilton – to this day. Because after the seventh title, his and Mercedes’ success curve took a sharp turn.
The fact that Mercedes has to fight more and stretch more was already evident in the more than controversial 2021 finale. Because of a controversial decision by then race director Michael Masi (and Nicholas Latifi’s crash beforehand), Verstappen was able to overtake Hamilton on the last lap of the last race and thus snatch the historic eighth title from under his nose. For Wolff and especially Hamilton it was an extremely bitter shame that resonated. Mercedes raged, protested and appealed – it didn’t help.
After a long public break, Hamilton attacked again. But the success never came back. For two whole years he, the constantly grinning winner, did not achieve any more GP success. In 2022 he only finished sixth in the World Cup – the worst placement of his career. The following year he at least made it back to third place in the overall ranking.
Mercedes fought against bouncing and the consequences of the botched underbody modification. In short: In the arms race against Red Bull, the Mercedes inventors had lost the connection this time. The era of success was finally over.
This year too there was no big renewed attack on the World Cup crown. Instead of Mercedes, McLaren is fighting at the front. Hamilton is distant in seventh place, which means the next low point. Another disappointing season is coming. Particularly bitter for him: As in 2022, he will end up behind his challenger and Mercedes crown prince George Russell – unless he wins the race on Sunday in Abu Dhabi and Russell remains without points (spoiler: that won’t happen).
Formula 1: Hamilton made his star rise
And so this unique success story has suffered minor and now somewhat larger cracks in recent years. To put it bluntly: Hamilton missed the perfect time to say goodbye.
Now of all times he gets into the Silver Arrow for the last time. The Hamilton era at Mercedes ends this weekend. It’s a bit of a relief for both sides. After the race in the emirate, he says goodbye to the Mercedes factory in England and also says hello in Stuttgart.
Hamilton leaves a great legacy. An era that will forever be remembered in the history books as one of the most dominant. Of course, the many titles and victories remain in our memories. The dominance years. The spectacular duels with his own teammate Nico Rosberg, who was the only one to briefly dethrone him in the peak phase of 2016, or with competitors like Sebastian Vettel. The “It’s hammertime” radio messages from his race engineer Peter “Bono” Bonnington.
Since the hammer news at the beginning of the year, it has been clear that he will be leaving Mercedes at the end of the season. Because of the ongoing crisis and also because Wolff and Mercedes only offered him a one-year contract with an option for another, the Brit decided to make a sensational move to Ferrari before the 2024 season. The departure of Hamilton came as a surprise to Mercedes, but the racing team can now build a young successor with the talent of Kimi Antonelli; Russell is the new strong man. A new era is just around the corner.
Hamilton soon in the mythical red
And Hamilton puts everything on red.
From next year he will have to duel with the next younger challenger. At Ferrari, Charles Leclerc has been waiting for his big World Cup breakthrough and a real chance of winning the World Cup for years. The Scuderia has not won a title (at that time the team championship) since 2008, and the Reds are thirsting for success. Ferrari bought Hamilton for this too. It should bring new, additional shine to Maranello. And at best, the Schumi record and eighth title in a Ferrari. Everyone can imagine the images. It would be historic again.
In the video: Vettel surprised by Hamilton’s change
It currently seems difficult to imagine that this coup will succeed with the new team. In contrast to earlier days, Hamilton no longer appears flawless, almost confused on the track. This was also shown in the most recent race in Qatar, when he allowed himself several bucks. And within the team, he first has to assert himself against Leclerc, who prevailed in a direct comparison with the outgoing Carlos Sainz.
Hamilton is warned: Unsuccessful examples like Fernando Alonso or Sebastian Vettel show that a move by a former champion to the Reds can sometimes go terribly wrong.
He won’t get an inviolable number 1 status there. After all: The racer should be able to drive for the top and challenge RB in 2025. This was also shown by Ferrari’s emerging form in the second half of the year.
It’s a bit like 2013: Hamilton wants to destroy another RB era. It will be a herculean task.