WIN No7 THEN WALK AWAY
Bernie’s advice to champion Lewis
BERNIE ECCLESTONE believes Lewis Hamilton should quit Formula One if Mercedes pull out of the sport at the end of next season.
The 89-year-old thinks a clean break would suit the six-time world champion better than seeking a final hurrah with Ferrari.
In the Interlagos paddock ahead of today’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Ecclestone said: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if Mercedes stopped.
‘There has been change at the top and the new people are not so enthusiastic about Formula One as the old people used to be.
‘They might think we have won seven world championships — which they will have done by the end of next year — so why stay?
‘If I were Lewis I’d think, “I’ve won another title,” and I’d stop. If Charles Leclerc stays at Ferrari, I’d put money on him to win against Lewis. He’s not necessarily better but he is established in the team.
‘Ferrari is a strange place to work. Lewis doesn’t speak Italian.
‘They might gang up on him — or fall in love with him — but I don’t think he would do as good a job for himself or the sport as he is doing with Mercedes.’
Hamilton’s £40million-a-year contract is due for renewal at the close of the 2020 season.
He has started preliminary talks with team principal Toto Wolff but they will count for nothing if the Daimler board in Stuttgart decide they no longer want to bankroll an F1 programme.
Even with a cost cap of £135m coming in for 2021, drivers’ salaries fall outside the restriction.
Ecclestone said: ‘If Ferrari had a choice of Lewis or Max Verstappen I think they would go for Max, for the same reason they like Charles.
‘With Sebastian Vettel or Lewis they will only get a couple of years but with the younger two they might get 10 years. I’m not sure Max isn’t the best guy at the moment, including Lewis.’
The Dutchman showed his class yesterday by claiming pole position, 0.123sec ahead of Vettel, with Hamilton third quickest on the track where he famously won his first world title at the final corner in 2008. Ecclestone is a close friend of Vettel and caught up with him in the Ferrari
garage ahead of qualifying yesterday. The German, who is 19 points behind Leclerc in the standings, is also out of contract next year. What will he do?
‘I wouldn’t bet on it,’ said Ecclestone. ‘He might stay, he might move to another team or just retire. It could as likely be any of those.’ Hamilton has said he is waiting to see if Wolff stays in charge of the team before committing to a new contract. And there has been talk of the Austrian taking over from Chase Carey as the sport’s chief executive.
But Ecclestone (left) thinks that unlikely, saying: ‘Ferrari have a veto. Toto’s good at management. He’s shown that at Mercedes but it is easy when people have to agree with you. I’m not sure he finds it so easy if people can’t be controlled.’
Liberty, the sport’s owners, have drawn up new regulations for the 2021 season with the intention of improving racing.
‘The regs won’t do what they are meant to do because the problem is the drivers sit there looking for strategy to get them from third or second to first,’ said Ecclestone.
‘They don’t need to race. The people on the pit wall are racing more than the drivers.
‘The one thing I would do is get rid of points. Keep them for the constructors’ championship but not the drivers’ championship. I would give them medals instead. Gold, silver and bronze.
‘They would look so much nicer. It would be good to say you have a bronze or silver medal rather than that you have scored 186 points or whatever. Who cares?
‘It would put us in line with other sports. It could keep the season alive longer, even if one person won most of the first half of the races.
‘We have gone from nine points for a win to 10 and then to 25 so the records don’t mean much. It’s all a bit cranky.’