Many speculations came around the fact that Lewis Hamilton announced his Ferrari move before the 2024 season even started. It is usually midway through a season that a driver announces his move. The timing put many F1 pundits including Peter Windsor in wonder of why the 7X champ made the announcement so early. But there might be a bigger story or reason behind it as the Ferrari-bound Brit hints at being not treated equally to George Russell by Toto Wolff and Co.

Former Ferrari driver Ivan Capelli revealed that Wolff was the one who leaked Hamilton’s Ferrari move and prompted the 7X champ to make the announcement earlier than expected. As a result, Hamilton would have to sit out the discussion regarding the 2026 car. And it might also have prompted Mercedes to start the development in George Russell’s direction, hence why we’re seeing Hamilton getting beaten in qualifying every other weekend.

While none of the teams on the grid except Red Bull confirm the No.1 and No.2 driver dynamic, there always is a preferred driver. In Ferrari’s case, it was Leclerc, and that’s why Scuderia renewed his contract despite Sainz being in better form. At Mercedes, after the 7X champ’s announcement, the dynamic shifted in George Russell’s factor and Toto Wolff appeared to be playing tricks with Hamilton. 

Speaking after the Monaco GP, where Russell out-qualified Hamilton, the Briton explained how he doesn’t expect to finish ahead of Russell this year, giving a slight hint about the things at Mercedes. He said, “We just got to keep on pushing. We’ll slowly get closer through the year as more upgrades come. I don’t anticipate being ahead of George in qualifying, particularly this year. But we just gotta keep pushing. The races are strong.” When the reporter asked, “All Year?” Lewis Hamilton Shrugged his head in disappointment and said, “We’ll see.”

Regardless, Lewis Hamilton is hopeful that Mercedes will find some pace in the upcoming race and he’ll be able to fight near the front once again.

“We will keep pushing and Bring more updates”: Lewis Hamilton Hopeful of Mercedes improving the car throughout the season

Since the start of the season, it seems like Mercedes are just falling back in terms of performance. Whereas in reality, with their upgrades, they’ve managed to increase the performance gap to the likes of Aston Martin, but have fallen down because of the major upgrade packages brought by Ferrari and McLaren. However, Hamilton is hopeful that with future upgrades, the Silver Arrows will make up ground for the front-runners

Talking about the upgrades brought to the Imola GP, Lewis Hamilton said, “We’ve taken a small step forward this weekend and we have improved. Unfortunately, that is slightly masked by the step forward others such as McLaren and Ferrari have taken. We will keep pushing to bring more updates that can add performance. Until then, we will make sure we are scoring as many points as we can.”

What do you think? Does Mercedes have it in themselves to become a front-runner once again before the season ends?