Oscar Piastri Emerges as Lewis Hamilton’s Replacement; Mercedes Can “Release” Him From McLaren

Now everyone is aware that Lewis Hamilton abandoned Mercedes to move to Ferrari. Although this was in the works for years, there were numerous offers from John Elkann, the chairman of Ferrari. Hamilton now looks set to end his glorious career at the Maranello-based outfit. But now that Mercedes has an empty seat, who will take on the role of their star driver?

Ever since the news about Hamilton broke out, speculations of the next Mercedes driver began. With a seat to fill in Mercedes, Toto Wolff is under pressure to find the next best driver for the team. Popular F1 journalist Peter Windsor stepped forward to share his thoughts on who should join the Silver Arrows.

Oscar Piastri to step into the shoes of Lewis Hamilton

Peter Windsor recently went live on YouTube to talk about what he thinks of the direction Mercedes is heading towards. After discussing the transfer of Lewis Hamilton, he turned his attention to the empty seat at the team. He discussed a WhatsApp conversation with his mate, where his friend asked him who would he put into Mercedes if he had the choice. That’s when Windsor surprised the world as he stated, “I suddenly realized what I would do, what would try to do, and I would try to put Oscar Piastri in there.”

Windsor continued to explain, “Because I think he would be, I’d get him on a four-five year deal and I think Russell-Piastri would be a really good team.” Replying to his own contradiction, he says, “But he has a mega contract with McLaren. Of course he is, but there is a price for everything, and we’ve seen changes take place with payments before. Assuming Oscar is happy to go with it, let’s say for a number, $50 million, that Mercedes paid McLaren for the services of Oscar Piastri to release him from that McLaren contract.”

The talk of paying for releasing Piastri from McLaren might seem extreme, but it looks like Windsor is sure about the move he would make. Although Piastri is under contract with McLaren, the fact that he stood 9th and exceeded expectations makes him a viable candidate to take Mercedes’ 2025 car to victory.

Why did Lewis Hamilton leave Mercedes?

After all the talks about the transfers, sometimes the real reason behind Lewis Hamilton gets left out. Hamilton faced difficulties in the last couple of years with Mercedes, losing the 2021 championship in agonizing circumstances and facing challenges with a car that couldn’t match up to Red Bull’s performance. Despite initial belief in Mercedes’ ability to rebound, Hamilton’s confidence waned as the team’s struggles persisted.

Lewis Hamilton decided to leave Mercedes because he saw an opportunity with Ferrari that aligned better with his ambitions and offered a promising future. In his words, “Ferrari laid out their masterplan, showed him their development direction and what they had in store for 2026,” which convinced him to make the switch.

Read More – Lewis Hamilton Predicted to Break Ferrari’s 17-Year-Old Curse With Max Verstappen-Like “Winning Mentality”

Hamilton felt that Ferrari offered a more compelling future for him forward, as Mercedes had let him down. F1 correspondent & presenter Lawrence Barretto wrote in his column for Formula 1.com, “When he saw what Mercedes had planned for 2024 and beyond, it wasn’t enough to convince him things would improve quickly.” Barretto added, “Hamilton will have weighed all this up and decided that now was the time to jump. Sure, it might not work – but was it likely to be different if he stayed at Mercedes? Evidently, he believes not.”

With what Peter Windsor believes, Oscar Piastri would be the right driver to replace Hamilton. With the fact that he thinks Oscar should be given a multi-year contract, what do you think Mercedes will do for 2024?

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