Rusty Lewis should take year off and rest up for his final fling

LEWIS HAMILTON is clearly out of sorts. So I wonder if he might not be best advised to take the rest of the season off to prepare for his final fling at Ferrari next year.

It may not be in his nature to sit out a single race but I can see how he might be tempted. And there is a precedent for such a move. It goes back to 1979 and the tortured season Niki Lauda endured at Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham.

Lauda suffered 11 retirements from 13 races and enough was enough at the Canadian Grand Prix. The great Austrian’s mood matched Montreal’s miserable weather. After practice, he told Ecclestone he was ‘tired of driving around in circles’ and was retiring on the spot, not from races but from grand prix racing (later to return, in 1982).

Ecclestone then plucked a replacement from the crowd, a young Argentine called Ricardo Zunino, a driver on a weekend off. He had tested for Brabham, and there he was suddenly about to compete in the Canadian Grand Prix — wearing Lauda’s race suit.

Hamilton, 39, need not make it as dramatic as that, but would a rest not do him good after 18 seasons and possibly one last push left in him?

Given his impending move to Ferrari, Hamilton will be left out of all conversation concerning next year’s car development. (Ironically, he was arguably, and indulgently, allowed too much of a voice in creating this year’s jalopy). If he walked away, he could start work with Ferrari helpfully early.

What would Mercedes do in this scenario? Move on. They could look for a swap deal with Carlos Sainz, Ferrari’s brilliant winner in Melbourne on Sunday 16 afternoons after his appendix operation, or blood a youngster, such as Kimi Antonelli, who, I am told, is due at the Mercedes wind tunnel over the next few weeks. The Italian is 17, racing in Formula 2 for Prema, and on Mercedes’ junior programme.

James Vowles, now of Williams, brought in Antonelli and predicts he will be a world champion one day.

Perhaps Antonelli’s elevation now would be premature, but whatever happens it would serve both Lewis and Mercedes to cut ties sooner rather than later.