Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is about to make one of the biggest driver moves in the history of Formula 1.
From the 2025 season onwards, Lewis Hamilton will race for the iconic Ferrari team after an unprecendented spell of success with Mercedes that has seen him win six Drivers’ Championships.
However, nothing lasts forever in F1 and heading into the 2024 campaign, Hamilton had gone more than two years without winning a race.
The 39-year-old finally ended a nearly 1000-day wait by taking an emotional victory at his home race at Silverstone, before inheriting victory from George Russell when he was disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix.
Mercedes are set to finish fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, sitting more than 150 points behind Red Bull but nearly 300 points ahead of Aston Martin.
Hamilton has four races left at Mercedes before his highly anticipated move to Ferrari, although George Russell’s recent crashes have made Hamilton’s chances of winning one more race for the Silver Arrows very unlikely.
Only Fernando Alonso has more experience on the grid than Hamilton and his expertise will be invaluable when he arrives at Ferrari.
However, Gutierrez has admitted that Hamilton is still working extremely hard to help his Mercedes engineers understand how he feels his car can be improved and what changes need to be made.
Even though it would be easy for Hamilton to phone in the final races of the season with his prospects of winning again looking low, that’s now how a seven-time world champion’s mindset works.
What Lewis Hamilton is doing behind the scenes to help Mercedes before Ferrari move
Talking about the difficulties Hamilton has faced driving the Mercedes, Gutierrez said: “It’s all about that operating window and it comes down to out-laps, how you prepare your tyres and whether you go for more temperature or less temperature on the out-lap or the quicker lap.
“I think finding that sweet spot, it’s been really tough and Lewis seems not to be getting the full confidence out from the car lately.
“But, he’s really good at working with the team and saying, ‘OK, this is what we need and we need to try to achieve it’.
“So, his dynamic of work that Lewis has with his engineers is very impressive.”
Lewis Hamilton to honour Brazilian icon Ayrton Senna at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix
If Hamilton could choose to win any of the last four races of the 2024 season, he would want to be stood on the top step of the podium at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Hamilton has a strong connection with the fans in Brazil, who have thrown their support behind the Brit, especially since in recent years they’ve not had a local driver to cheer for.
That’s despite Hamilton winning his first championship at Interlagos at the expense of Felipe Massa in 2008.
It’s another special moment Hamilton can share during his final races with Mercedes before moving onto his next challenge.
