Lewis Hamilton told to ‘forget about emotions’ with Mercedes future up in the air

Jamie Woodhouse 12 Aug 2023 1:45 PM

Lewis Hamilton in the drivers parade. Spa July 2023.

Two-time Formula 1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen says Lewis Hamilton must leave “emotions” out of the equation when deciding if Mercedes are the team to commit his future to.

For months Hamilton and Mercedes verbally have stated their intention to continue racing together in Formula 1, a partnership which began back in 2013 and has since yielded six Drivers’ Championship titles for Hamilton.

However, no signature has been placed on the dotted line for a contract extension, with Hamilton’s current deal due to expire at the end of the F1 2023 campaign.

Mika Hakkinen offers advice to Lewis Hamilton

经历过与梅西无与伦比的成功des, while team and driver are united on diversity and inclusivity initiatives, it is safe to say that the emotional connection between Hamilton and Mercedes runs deep.

However, F1 2023 marks the second season in a row where Mercedes have been unable to offer Hamilton a challenger worthy of competing for what would be a record-breaking eighth World title.

And with Hamilton having made it clear that this is his goal, Hakkinen says performance and finance must be the only parameters for Hamilton when it comes to deciding his next move.

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”刘易斯是一个伟大的冠军,也是因为他has grown over the years in terms of humanity, the way he communicates as a driver and as a person,” the Italian branch ofMotorsport.comquotes Hakkinen as having told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“He has to analyse the future of Mercedes: he has to analyse who designs the next cars, everyone’s motivations, the money available. He has to forget about emotions, he has to make a cold calculation for how difficult it is when you have achieved so much success with a team.

“With his experience he can see what will happen in the next few years and whether there will be the ingredients for a return to winning.”

Having gone a full season without winning for the first time in his Formula 1 career in 2022, Hamilton once more is facing the prospect of a winless F1 2023, with the dominant Red Bull team having claimed all 12 grand prix wins so far.

Hamilton did though deny their runaway Championship leader Max Verstappen pole in Hungary with a sublime effort.

10 rounds remain of the season and Hamilton sits P4 in theDrivers’ standings, just one point behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.