Ferrari urged to tempt Lewis Hamilton like Niki Lauda and Ross Brawn once did
Niki Lauda and Ross Brawn were among the driving forces of bringingꦰ Hamilton across from McLaren in 2013 in a move whic💜h raised eyebrows because Mercedes were not considered frontrunners.
Six more F1 championships later, Hamilton is now 38 and in the ꦆfinal year of his contract with Mercedes unable to provide a car which can compete for glory for☂ two seasons in a row.
“As a racing driver I don’t see why he would not have the motiv๊ation, especially for that eighth title,” ex-F1 driver Herbert told .&nbs🅠p;
“He is still good enou♍g✅h. I know what it means for him.
“George Russell is doing a cracking job but Lewis has still got what i🌌t takes to win races.
“He is not comfortable with the car, but that happens. Every single driveꦛr I know has moments when they feel uncomfortable with their car and complain.
“It is unfair to criticise Lewis for that. The motivation for the eighth is sꦐtil𝕴l there.
“But it has to have the right ingredients - like he did when he went f🎶rom McLaren to Mercedes when a number of people, including myself, thought he was m🦩ad to do it.
“Mercedes♏ at that point were nowhere. What Niki Lauda and Ross Brawn were abඣle to present to him excited him. That’s why he went.
“🌳Ferrari have got to do a similarly big selling job꧑.
“Lewis hasn’t signed his extension and t♔hat enables him, if he is still motivated, to look elsewhere.
“And why wouldn’t he? Ferrari has to 🎶be the option. He is not going to go to Red Bull, that isn’t going to happen. He is not going to go to Aston Martin either.
“I know Ferrari have not quite been able to achieve what we all expect Ferrari to achieve, but they certainly have🙈 the potential to be ꩵable to do it. That’s for sure.
“They have🧸 got closer over the past couple of years but it hasn’t quite worked out.
“Maybe he wants to hold on to see which direction Mercedes has gone and what they do, which is not very positive, and th♌en maybe put the feelers out for somewhere else.
“The red car makes the mos♐t sense. If it happened, then the one who would suffer would be Carlos Sainz as Charles Leclerc is already concreted in.
“Hamilton and Sainz at Ferrari would be a wonderful pairing, to be honest. The young and the experienced, fighting it out in a Ferrari that hopefully, with the whole ability that Lewis has, to draw in the right people to be able to produce a car and take it to Red Bull as it ওis at the moment.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and Hamilton himself have both suggested that a contract renewal is on the cards and could be 😼signed with🔯in weeks.
However, the longer it goes unconfirmed and the long🍎er that Mercedes’ W14 lags behind the Red Bulls, the more tempted Hamilton might become💦 to try something new.
James was a sports journalist a🍎t Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to foot💯ball, to F1.
