Lewis Hamilton is about to leave Mercedes after this season and it looks like the 7-time world champion is not getting the attention he needs. After deciding to leave Toto Wolff & Co., Hamilton still has one last season to serve with the Silver Arrows. However, the team failed to give him a competitive car which led him to finish 7th.
His teammate, on the other hand, finished 5th after losing 2 positions from the start of the race. Although Hamilton climbed up the grid by two spots, he had many problems with the car that set him back by multiple seconds.
Lewis Hamilton’s uneventful first race
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Based on the pre-season testing, the W15 did not seem ready to fight for the podium and the Bahrain GP proved just that. After the race, Motorsport reported that Lewis Hamilton explained why he came in 7th and said, “My battery was dead for a while and I just had no power on the straights, and so I lost a lot of ground to McLaren.”
By the time the issue was resolved, the Brit had already lost out on time. He continued with his rant, stating, “I was able to fix that within a few laps, but it took a good ten laps and by then I had already lost a few seconds.” He explained how he tried to catch up with the McLarens but his brakes started to overheat, calling the car’s performance “so-so.”
The situation was so bad for Hamilton that he had to drive with a broken seat. Highlighting the problems he faced with the seat, the 39-year-old said, “It clicked and then my left side sagged a little. Then it moved in the braking zones, which wasn’t great.” With the way the car is performing, it looks like Lewis Hamilton might be happy about his decision to move to Ferrari. But will this move benefit the driver?
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What did Ferrari offer Lewis Hamilton that Mercedes didn’t?
As Lewis Hamilton reached the end of his term at Mercedes, the Briton driver was looking for a multi-year contract with the Silver Arrows. But that request was countered with a 1+1 contract by Toto Wolff. This was something Lewis Hamilton did not enjoy.
John Elkann, on the other hand, already had a word with Lewis Hamilton and pitched him a deal that he could not say no to. Hamilton needed a multi-year contract and Ferrari pitched a 2 year deal. Although that might not sound much better than Toto Wolff’s offer, along with the contract, came the deal of being the brand ambassador. This was something Lewis Hamilton wanted with Mercedes for so long, but it never happened.
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Ferrari gave much more than what Hamilton demanded from Toto Wolff. This became the reason that the switch became an obvious decision for Hamilton, along with the chance to fulfill his dream of driving in red. With that said, will the billion-dollar man race better once he puts on the red suit? Or will his goal of being an 8-time world championship fail? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.