Reality check DC: BUT LEW CAN WIN IT AT MERC
LEWIS HAMILTON will fight to become world champion again – and he will do so at Mercedes.
Speculation has been rife that the lukewarm start to the season by both Mercedes and the seven-time title winner means that the Stevenage ace will look elsewhere as he chases the crown that will mark him down as the greatest-ever.
With contract negotiations over next year still to be finalised – and the indications that Red Bull are, once more, the team to catch – rumours are gathering pace that the 38-year-old could seek pastures new.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff even mentioned the possibility this week but former F1 ace-turned-pundit David Coulthard believes that Hamilton will stay put.
He said: “I don’t believe, at all, any more than Toto does, that Lewis will do anything other than stay at Mercedes – or retire.
“There’s no obvious opening at, say, Ferrari, and he’s very much a British man who thrives within that environment.
“I don’t see him at Red
Bull – I honestly don’t see
Max having any issue – I just don’t think that’s a natural fit for him, either. Given that, where’s he going to go, exactly? Aston Martin? Alpine?
“There are limited opportunities for him elsewhere.
“Does Lewis need another title to confirm him as the greatest the sport has ever seen? In my mind, no.
“I think he’s up there as one of the greats, regardless of whether or not he wins another one.
“Does he want another? Of course he does.
“I’d like a yellow Lamborghini but you have to work for it. It’s just the way that the cookie is crumbling for him at the moment.
“I fully anticipate that he will roll up his sleeves and crack on with it at Mercedes.”
Although the Silver Arrows were second and third on the grid for today’s race in Melbourne and came within a whisker of recording a podium finish in Jeddah, they were eating dust for the majority of that race as the two Red Bulls streaked home in Saudi. Wolff has even gone so far as to question his own suitability to continue in a job where he was the master as Mercedes chalked up a string of title successes.
But Coulthard (left) said the Austrian was simply playing a brilliant media game. He said: “We’ve had two races and they were almost on the podium at the last one. Personally, I don’t see it as the doom and gloom as it’s being projected.
“I respect Toto’s honesty. And I think that’s great for all of us involved because he’s not sugar-coating anything.
“He’s saying, ‘We’re not where we expected to be. And our performance, so far, looks like we won’t have a World Championship-winning car.’
“Yes, there are budget caps and everything else. But that’s for them to exploit the resources and brain power that they have. That was enough for them to win World Championships. It’s a case of success being a lousy teacher.”