Martin Brundle is unconvinced by Lewis Hamilton stating that his final season at Mercedes will be ’emotional’. The seven-time world champion is set for a farewell tour with the team he joined in 2013 before heading off to Ferrari, having informed team principal Toto Wolff about his decision just weeks before the start of the new season.
Hamilton described his feelings going into 2024 as ’emotional and surreal’ at Mercedes’ W15 launch earlier this week. The 39-year-old has made the decision to pursue a new challenge after agreeing a multi-year deal with Ferrari.
Mercedes have been unable to provide Hamilton with a competitive car since the ground-effect design regulations were introduced in 2022. As a result, the F1 veteran has now gone two seasons without a Grand Prix victory for the first time in his career.
The drought will be particularly painful for Hamilton, who Brundle describes as a ‘winning machine’, as he chases down an elusive eighth world title. And the former Williams star believes the outgoing Mercedes man already has his sights firmly set on getting back on top of the podium.
“I don’t buy all of this, ‘It’s going to be emotional leaving’… Lewis is a winning machine, and that’s what he wants to do,” Brundle told the Sky Sports F1 podcast. “It’s a good contract, he’ll be paid a lot of money, get a lot of love and it will be one of global sport’s biggest stories in 2025.”
Much of last season was spent discussing whether Hamilton would agree renewed terms with Mercedes. He signed on the dotted line in August, but activated a break clause to pave the way for his Ferrari switch.
The teams are slightly disingenuous when they tell you about new contract signings because they only tell you edited highlights that suit them,” Brundle continued. “Clearly, they forgot to mention that Hamilton had an exit clause, which he has chosen to take very early indeed. F1 contracts can be up to 100 pages but often there is an exit clause, or a performance-related clause included.
Although Brundle is sceptical about the ’emotional’ element of Hamilton’s Mercedes exit, he has discussed the ways in which it will certainly be ‘surreal’ as the team look to retain their competitive advantage over Ferrari.
Looking to the season ahead, Brundle explained: “You’ve got this transition point where Lewis will stop being invited to meetings
“He’ll stop understanding what’s going on with the development of the car. And the team, consciously or subconsciously, will start favouring George [Russell]. They’ve got to
