Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes
After the most successful partnership in Formula 1 history, which lasted from 2013 to 2024, there was curiosity about how Lewis Hamilton’s career would progress without Mercedes and how the team led by Toto Wolff would react without their champion.
Lewis Hamilton – aside from the China Sprint – is encountering multiple difficulties in his first races with Ferrari. Mercedes has yet to win a Grand Prix but is showing great consistency, earning them second place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Gary Anderson’s Opinion
From the pages of The Telegraph, Northern Irish engineer Gary Anderson – with a long career behind him at McLaren, Ensign, Jordan, Stewart, and Jaguar – analyzed both the situations of Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. Regarding the English driver, he explained: “Apparently, not much has changed from the last three difficult years at Mercedes, where he never fully adapted to the ground-effect cars. Despite the team change, he’s encountering the same problems. Lewis Hamilton has lost his way.”
Anderson then evaluated the post-Hamilton scenario for Mercedes: “Russell and Antonelli seem to be trying to get the best out of what they have, rather than searching for magical solutions. Their car seems more predictable and stable, and I think this shift can be linked to the fact that Hamilton is no longer in the team.”
The engineer elaborated on his thoughts: “In previous years, Mercedes couldn’t ignore Lewis Hamilton’s feedback, given the success they achieved together in previous seasons. They had to treat him as the number one driver, and probably, George Russell was somewhat sidelined.”
Anderson continued: “Lewis Hamilton often said he was experimenting with the setup, while George Russell just did his best with what he had. I believe Mercedes will grow as a team and engineering group without Hamilton. Now, Mercedes has a new development path thanks to the contribution of younger drivers, less experienced, and less successful.”
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