In Canada in 2011, Hamilton had a very difficult time facing an extreme defense from his then partner Button, who almost pushed him onto the pit wall in a cloud of rain and at almost 300 km/h in one of the toughest defensive maneuvers in memory. . Of the two McLarens, only one reported damage: that of Lewis, who was forced to retire with a demolished suspension; the other went with Jenson to win the longest Grand Prix in history. This year, approaching the ninth GP of the season, the seven-time world champion is once again expected to undergo an important exam, but this time more from a career perspective.
It’s no mystery that the 2024 Mercedes is a shadow of the silver-gray missiles that came before it. In this context, maintaining motivation, not losing the killer instinct and always going on the attack is undoubtedly very difficult for a champion of Hamilton’s caliber. And it is no coincidence that, apart from a sharp performance in the Sprint race in China, we have seen very little of him so far in this World Championship. This while his partner Russell seems to have regained his tarnished enamel last season, and especially when his partner of the future Charles Leclerc is in paradise today. After the red triumph in the Principality, Hamilton therefore finds himself reflecting on various fronts: given this season as lost, what will be the balance he will find himself experiencing in Maranello from next January onwards?
The image of the driver with the greatest media prominence in modern Grands Prix, inside and above all outside the paddock, is therefore at a crossroads: how to defend it between now and when, in just over six months, the new page of his career will begin, almost certainly the last one? The numbers are known: Lewis will turn 40 at the beginning of January. Not a few for a driver, even if Alonso’s eternal youth would seem to promise more. But another fact will also be on the scale: the distance of four complete seasons between the seven-time world champion and his last era of winning, fighting and continuous confrontation at the top. And this is a fact that is more weighty than his age: even the immense Niki Lauda remained far from the seriously winning level from 1978 to ’81 inclusive, but two of these seasons were when he retired from racing, working on airplanes; and in any case in 1982 he counted 33 years of his return to the top, not 40.
So who will help Lewis Hamilton keep everything together between now and the end of 2024? Not Mercedes, today occupied with very different meditations starting from a modest single-seater, up to a loose team under the no longer impeccable leadership of Toto Wolff. For the Stella team, Lewis is an ex: he left without even warning of the possibility; and this year no miracle of his will be able to reverse the situation.
So all that remains is Ferrari. The red team knows very well the media and image value of Leclerc’s future teammate. But Lewis is someone who talks, talks, talks: not so much about racing and technique, but about the various topics of knowledge, from Diversity and Inclusion, to the drama of war and the massacre in Gaza, to global pollution.
A loudspeaker of its size must be kept nearby, sheltered, safe. A potential criticism of him towards the team, or how he will be treated towards Leclerc will have enormous weight. Charles is no longer the 22-year-old who beat him in Monza five years ago without having too many problems pulling a terrible brake on him in the Second Variation; next year he will be a 27 year old in his seventh season at Maranello, where they love him like a son, and what’s more he is a terribly fast driver, almost impossible to beat if he has the right car in his hands.
In short, it is known in the Scuderia that an efficient communication machine must be built around Hamilton in recent months, capable of defending him but also – possibly – of defending itself from him. And Vasseur is probably the team principal capable of dealing with this issue too. His progress in small steps, pragmatism after pragmatism, is starting to pay dividends. The company has maximum faith in him, and he knows how to manage the riders. Just look at how today, with Carlos Sainz certainly not satisfied with the treatment he received, to make room for Lewis, the atmosphere is all in all calm.
Saving Soldier Hamilton is now one of the key missions ahead of 2024.
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