© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Lewis Hamilton says his decision to join Ferrari does not mean he has lost faith in Mercedes, and adds he is certain the team will “win another championship”.
Ever since it was announced that Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes at the end of 2024, there has been a lot of speculation regarding his reasons.
Some have proposed that he decided to leave, because he had lost faith in the team’s ability to be a championship contender. Ahead of the first race of the 2024 season, Lewis said he still has full faith in Mercedes.
“I’m excited about this year, and I know this team is going to win another championship,” the Briton said.
“And I feel I’ll be proud to know that I’ve been a part of it because a lot of the things we’ve put in place in terms of how much more diverse our team is, the processes that we go through.”
When asked explicitly if he had lost faith in the team, and if this was the main reason behind his decision, he said:
“No honestly it wasn’t. I truly believe that this team as I mentioned earlier is going to win another championship.
“It’s an incredible group of people and it’s really well run. Mercedes has such an incredible history and from the board down they are really heavily invested in racing and so many areas.
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“Regardless whether or not this is a championship winning car, it doesn’t have any bearing on how I feel about it, the next stage of my career.”
Lewis then further explained his decision to switch to Ferrari.
“As I said, it’s all about a new chapter in my life and I really feel like I’ve done everything I could possibly do with this team and I’m on the back end of my career.
“I love a challenge and this is the ultimate challenge really to go to a team that is incredibly iconic, has also an amazing history, but also has not had as much success as I guess as they would have hoped in the past decade or so.
“So they’re [Ferrari] already looking very strong this weekend which is positive for them and I hope that my goal is to beat them this year and I’ll see that switches next year also.”
As for the current mood within Mercedes, Lewis said:
“Nothing really changes. I was back at the factory last, on Monday. It’s full attack. Everyone’s all hands on deck.
“And the team, I’ve been with this team such a long time. There’s so much love within the team. And I still, and will always will, love this team.
“Everyone was incredibly understanding within the team, hugely supportive. Everyone knows that I’m here to deliver for them this year, so that’s the focus.
“It’s the same as any other year. It is emotional, and every week will be emotional. The seat fit is your last seat fit with the team and you’ve been doing it. You remember it, the first one.
“The winter test is the last winter test that I’ll do with the team. And so each, there’s going to be a lot of emotional experiences through the year, but we’ll do it together.”
While Lewis admitted Mercedes has work to do to catch up to Red Bull in 2024, he said everybody is really motivated to do so as quickly as possible.
“It’s always an exciting time of the year and you see everyone just coming together and everyone just getting on with their job, great motivation within the team and we have a better platform to work off from this year.
“We still have some problems that we’re having to work through and it’s not perfect but it’s definitely a better starting place from the past two years, so we are relatively happy in that respect.
“We’re not where we want to be and not compete with these other guys at the front but we work towards it,” Hamilton concluded.
