P1 with Matt and Tommy - What does Lewis Hamilton do next?

Episode Date: March 23, 2023

Stay at Mercedes? Move to Ferrari? Retire from F1? We discuss the spicy topic about what seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton should do next and whether he'll still got that eighth world title.COME SEE US LIVE! There are just a handful of tickets left for our first London live show, at Leicester Square Theatre on 6th April! Get your tickets before the sell out!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok.***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, everybody and welcome back to the P-1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. It's a big one today. It's a huge topic of discussion, debate, and perhaps controversy, if you want to go completely left-field with what you think will happen in Lewis Hamilton's career from here on in. But there is a lot of different opinions, Tommy. We've obviously gone online and a bit of market research to see what people have. thinking and they're thinking everything. Yeah, he is the most divisive driver in F1 and that just comes with success.

There's no surprise that as soon as someone does well and is successful, they're the drivers that have a huge fan base, but also a huge group of people that doubt them or think they're overrated or think they're underrated or whatever. So, yeah, Hamilton is a spicy debate at the moment. and there's a lot of opinions flying around about what's going to happen next. They certainly are, and we're going to share two more, myself and Thomas. Now, during our race podcast, we had this question sent in from on Wayne Sellegic. Cool.

Wainslike. All that, whatever you just said. Brilliant. Hamilton couldn't pass Russell with softer tyres. His performance coach has left, and the FIA are harassing him about his jewellery. I think our wrestling is a bit strong. How much more is he going to take before he calls it a day? Now, this entire topic is far too spicy and far too in depth for just a five-minute chat and a race review.

So we've decided to dedicate a whole podcast, not just to that question, but to the overall topic of Hamilton, how he's potentially feeling and the future ahead for him. Now, that one, I guess we can sort of look at now. it's a difficult one, really. I think I said in the race review that I wasn't particularly blown away by Hamilton's performance in Saudi. I genuinely thought at one point he was kind of come steaming through the field

with the preferential tires. The mediums were definitely the tire to be on in Saudi. But he just couldn't extract the performance that he needed. Russell played a little bit of a, well, coming over the team radio and saying, Hamilton, you know, can we just focus on in front? and was playing that sort of, I'm not scared of you approach to his teammate,

who is a seven-time Formula One World Champion and Russell's just joined this team only last year. And it was a big statement of intent. We didn't hear much from Lewis's side of the team radio and whether he had anything to complain about with regards to this. But I guess they weren't fighting for the victory. So maybe there was less at stake in Hamilton's eyes. But you have that.

You had the performance coach leaving and the FIA harassing about his jewelry. I think the jewelry thing's really not as big as. everyone makes out. I think Hamilton's just a case of, nah, mate, I want to wear what I won and the FIA like, okay, but no, but yes,

but no, but yes. So yeah, overall, that one, not really that fuss about. The performance coach, one I think is the biggest thing,

which maybe highlights all is not well in the Hamilton camp. No, we mentioned that briefly. I think it was one of our previews about, yeah, Angela leaving and very strange that she's left after a second rate. of a season, not like a clean,

wasn't it? Sorry, one race of a season, yeah, not like a clean cut at the end of a season or something. So we'll go into that a bit later. In terms of Hamilton and Russell, yeah. Russell said looked more team leader like if you want to say that because a lot of people thought he'd just slot into that, not Botasrol, I don't think he was ever going to do that, but maybe just a bit more settled and know that his time will come when, then Hamilton does call it a day, but he is not wanting, he's not going to lie down.

And I think Hamilton's interview afterwards was actually quite telling that this is, this is the same for every driver. So I'm not before everyone goes, oh, you're so hating on him and stuff like this. Every competitive and great driver in Formula One is a very sore loser, basically. And Hamilton looked very, uh, I got the vibe that he was a bit. pressed by the fact that, you know, Russell had beaten him and he was very dismissive of the fact that I was all just set up and I chose the wrong one, but normally I choose the right one, so it's not a problem. Let's see if that is the case, 22 races time or are we, is it going to

get spicy between him and Russell? And how I see it as well, this, this teammate rivalry between Russell and Hamilton, it has been quite amicable. We have had a few moments Miami comes to mind last year where they went very close wheel to wheel racing there. But how I see Russell as a driver is he's only going to get better. And he's very much in the infancy of his career. He's only been in Formula One for a handful of years. Obviously, most of that with Williams than going to Mercedes last year. And I feel like the more and more he beds into this team and the more years he gets under his belt,

the better he's going to get. Whereas Hamilton is obviously a lot older. You have to say, probably we've seen the best of Hamilton. You can't imagine he's going to get even better as the years go on from here as he very quickly will end up 40 years old. But I don't think Alonzo is in his prime either as much as he's driving really well. I don't think he is the best Fernando Alonzo we've ever seen. That was definitely more the Renault days in my opinion. So yeah, it could be a very interesting dynamic should Hamilton stay at Mercedes for a few more years,

where that performance shift may well go more towards Russell. I still think Hamilton over the course of a season will beat Russell. I still believe that. And this set up explanation he gave, I have no reason to not believe that. But I feel as though those days of Hamilton having an edge over Russell will become less and less and less as the races go by. Yeah, he can't just expect going forward to be completely owning Russell. I think it's quite clear that that's not going to happen because last year, I know there was the setup thing. and I know Hamilton was experimenting a lot,

but it is still no mean feat for George Russell to beat Hamilton over a season. Never mind his first season as a Mercedes driver. We went into seasons knowing that Hamilton, it was almost an inevitability that Hamilton was going to win the world championship if the Mercedes was good because you're like, well, Bottas isn't. And if the Mercedes good, Hamilton's champion. And we had years of just expecting that. And now Hamilton's got a teammate that,

that isn't going to roll over for him and is competitive. Certainly is. Let's now move to the big question then, shall we? Lewis Hamilton, what is next? Before we dive into our opinions on what we think is going to happen, which will be very exciting, we asked all of you on our YouTube community page, 73,000 of you, in fact, voted about when you think he'll decide to call it a day.

20% said this year, 25% said 2024, 31% said 2025, and 24% of you said 2026 or later. That is the most evenly split thing I've ever seen for 73,000 people voting. And there being four options and nobody can agree, which firstly means there's no right answer. Not yet. Not yet. Anyway, he hasn't said anything. But it creates a fascinating debate. Of course, Hamilton's contract is up at the end of this year. I think he just wants that flexibility.

You can have that as a seven-time world champion to be like, well, I'll assess my options at the end of the year. You're not necessarily a botass who is clinging on for another year. And Mercedes kind of stringing him along a little bit. Like, yeah, you can have one more year and then we'll see how it goes. I don't think there's any chance of Hamilton being replaced at Mercedes. It's more of a case of does Lewis look elsewhere? So what do we think is the big question now?

Tommy, tell me yours first. It's really hard to say what I think, because I can totally understand why this poll is so split, because at the end of the day, his contract is up. So if he was going to say, nah, I'm done. Now's the time to do it. If he's not going to decide to go to another team or doesn't want to renew at Mercedes and things aren't going the way they want,

then you've got a rule change coming up, but then the rule change seems almost a little bit too far away that is going to be past his peak. And then even if he did get that car, is it just a case of, you know, one more chance, one more chance, one more chance. How far does he go? And he said he's not done yet. I find this a really difficult question to answer. I'd probably say at the end of 2025, but I wouldn't even say I'm,

even 50% sure. I think that's the case. I think it's just so split. There's a reason why this poll is so incredibly divided because other people in Formula One, you can kind of guess their career paths a bit more. And when you think their time's coming to an end, someone like Sebastian Vettel,

it kind of felt, although people would say now that, oh, Astor Martin got good. But you felt like his career was winding down and he was in that kind of period, same with like a Kimmy Rikkonen. Hamilton, you just don't know. So 2025, but I'm literally just throwing a dart at a dartboard.

And you're not very good at darts. I've seen you. So I think it's very performance based. If Mercedes whack on the Red Bull aerodynamic approach and all of a sudden next year they're challenging for wins, they're challenging for titles, I could see him, I was going to second see him,

retiring earlier, but then would he retire if he's winning races and winning championships with a team? It's like a long say, he's finally got that car. I know Hamilton will not be in a case where it's like, oh, finally, I've got a car that's good because he's had a car for so long. But when you're in that position, it's almost even harder to let go. But then it's really hard to let go because you don't have a good car. Exactly.

It's so difficult. I feel I genuinely believe that if Hamilton had secured his eighth title in 2021, he's gone and then saw that the 2022 car was as bad as it was, I think he would have retired at the end of last year. That's how I see it. Now that he's in this position, as much as very calm, composed, well, maybe a little bit less composed at the moment.

We've seen a few outbursts from him this year about Mercedes not listening to him and so on. But I feel as though, it's so difficult, isn't it? Oh my goodness me. It's an impossible question. It's a true and throwing about it. it's such a difficult question to answer.

But I don't know, because yet the frustration, but then I think that he's hanging on to try and obviously get that eighth title. As much as he is composed, it has hurt him a lot what happened in 21. There is no denying about that. As much as he'll try and mask it and not talk about it, that must absolutely, for anyone in that situation,

it would destroy them because they put their heart and soul into one of the most colossal championship fights. and then it got taken away through external means. So now I think he, this is where it's quite, quite an interesting and perhaps might be of detriment to him is that he is trying to cling on for another world title and he may go through another two or three years of pain where the Mercedes car isn't good enough.

I feel as though in this situation right now, he will see until 2026, if Mercedes aren't good enough in the next few years, he's got to see at least one year of the new regs just in case Mercedes or whoever he's with has that car to win. But then if he's in 2026 and then he starts winning everything, then you won't want to leave. Yeah. And that's why there's 20%, 25%, 13%, and 24% across the four options we gave. So it's a fascinating topic. I'd love for people to send us your thoughts, whether that's on social media to our Matt P1-Tommi accounts or in the description if you're on

YouTube as well because it's one of those where it's not set in stone. I don't think it's set in stone for him either. I don't think he's made that. No. I don't think he has a clear because he did that lie detector thing on Sky and said, you know, I'm not retiring until I get my eighth. But if that car doesn't improve and then maybe they don't improve again in 20206, does he just keep going till he's 50 and hopping around teams,

hoping that one day it happens. It's easy to say I'm not retiring to my eighth, but you need that fortune and a good car to fall to you to be able to do it. And as well, he's going to have that difficult moment where as he does get older, we're literally talking just about biology and nature here, natural degradation of humans

and not being as good as you once was. But having that part of you that's like, I really want my eighth, but you are slowly on a downward curve in terms of your performance. That must be such a difficult thing to know when is actually right to stop. Fernando Alonso has proved that you can do it at 41 years old, but he's in a position where he's got a really good car and also a teammate that you wouldn't put up there as someone that could win a world title.

Sorry, Strull, I don't think you're going to be a world champion. If Astor Martin is good, Strull is Alonzo's Bottas. Yeah. Whereas right now, Hamilton's not in the setup that he would need to comfortably say, I could win a world title at Mercedes if the car's good enough

because you'll have a prime George Russell that you're up against. Yeah. Yeah, he's fight. If Mercedes did fix that car, he's fighting not just for Stappen. He's fighting George Russell. So it's not as easy as,

oh, give me the car I need and I've got the championship because it's quite clear that George isn't a number two driver. Absolutely. This is a fascinating topic. I hope you're enjoying this podcast. Zach underscore 17 asks, do you think Lewis still has the belief

that Mercedes can be contenders soon? Or are these recent frustrations actually the realization that it won't happen any time soon at Merck? I think he still has the belief. I think he has to. It'd be harsh of him to lose all belief in Mercedes after winning eight Constructors' titles and seven driver's titles,

obviously not all of them for him, but the majority. For him to give up on Mercedes, I don't think it's the right decision. And also as well, when you look around, where else could he go where he could be more confident of a decent car that is a realistic option for him? That's the thing, right? Yeah, true. I mean, Hamilton, yeah, his belief in Mercedes, he's, we said it in, we did a podcast about it and how he kind of popped up.

at Mercedes a little bit by saying they didn't listen to me. But he's not saying he doesn't trust them completely. But I do think there are... He's not done a tossed. No. He's just said like, I don't trust any of the Alphateri crew. Yeah. Or he's not done a...

It doesn't feel like a situation, like maybe an Alonzo or something when he was at McLaren, for example, and you just know he's had enough and he's going. And there's absolutely no way he's staying there to the end of the year. It doesn't feel like. that even with a few comments here and there. And he just doesn't, I think you still got the belief there, but it probably just stings that they say everything that happened in Abu Dhabi. And now he's seeing Max O'Sappan breathes past him on the straight like he's driving a Formula 2 car.

And Max is in a Formula 1 car is crazy. And yeah, I saw. The thing with Hamilton is as well, I remember everyone mentions the comment from Toto Wolf about everyone's got a target on their back. But I saw a clip the other day that's now aged incredibly badly. At the start of 2022, a journalist asked him, you know, how do you feel if Mercedes got the rules wrong? Like, what would happen?

And he's so dismissive. And it's that quote of my team. don't make mistakes. Why would I possibly think that? And they have. And they did in 2022. And they have in 2023. And that's got a, it's got to hurt him because he has been used to for so long. It's been nearly a decade where he just goes into a season and he knows he's got a car to deliver the championship. Smallest violin in the world though, I would argue, uh, for all the other drivers on the grid like people that have never won a race. Holcombberg's not ever got a podium and Hamilton's like, I'm not going to get my 104th win.

Yeah, it is crazy to think. But then that is the expectations that he has, right? And once you're so used to something, yeah, once you're so used to winning, that's what you expect from a team every single time. And he's proved that he can deliver world titles consistently when he's given the car to win. So, yeah, I don't think he's too frustrated with Mercedes right now, but we'll have to keep an eye. Keep an ear out for it.

A few more George saying no to letting him pass than maybe. Yeah, perhaps. Next question. Pitt underscore perspective. How did the replacement of Bottas with Russell affect Lewis? Of course, Bottas being the best wingman ever. Do you remember that? That was good old Bottas.

Those were the days, eh? How did the replacement affect Lewis? I don't think it's difficult to really measure if the changing of teammates has affected him. If anything, you would think having healthy competition will help you push forward and push the team forward and make them better. So I'm not really of the opinion that it's affected Lewis much, if at all, having a different teammate. He's had other teammates in the past. I guess Rosberg didn't end so well.

But they're not fighting tooth and nail Lewis and George. So I don't feel as though it's a particularly – difficult thing for him to have processed. I think opposite, people would be happy to hear that we've got a differing opinion. Argument. Yeah, because Hamilton really wanted Bottas to stay. He, when we had the whole, who will they pick, Bottas and Russell? Hamilton was Bottas his biggest cheerleader and saying that, you know, we've got a good thing going here.

Why would you fix, why would you change it? Because people would argue, Bottas wasn't delivering and wasn't very good. But when they did have the dominant car, you want someone that's not going to challenge him. And of course, Hamilton, he says he wants the challenge. But I think when you've got that, you're in that position, he probably does have in the back of his mind that Mercedes could deliver me a car now where I can win the championship. But they've signed an extremely talented driver that is going to be my replacement. one day, not my replacement, my predecessor. He was there to join, take over when Hamilton does decide to call it a day,

but he's already kind of gone in there and not, not seem to, he's not fitted that mold. He's fitted that mold of, well, no, I'm here to win. And he's the one that got that win for them last year. So I think there will be a little bit, but then I wonder how much. that does play on his mind as well of the team didn't listen to me because I wanted Bottas and I'm sure Red Bull probably listened to Max Stappen over who we want as a teammate. Yeah, I suppose it is an interesting dynamic. Of course, Mercedes have to put the team first as much as Hamilton's desires of X, Y and Z are there.

And I'm sure they try and fit a lot of what he asks for. They can't just stick. Bottas was never going to be the number one at Mercedes. We could see that from day one, really. So I can see exactly why Mercedes did it. There could have been at risk of losing him as well if they'd have said, no, another year at Williams, look at Piastri. That was a lot quicker of a situation and a different situation.

But Russell, I'm sure if Toto, if he was still, if Russell was telling that Williams, he'd be there talking to Red Bull, Ferrari, everyone going, no, I'm done with Mercedes. they're not promoting me. Hamilton's there saying, I'm not going to leave till my eighth, and it doesn't look like he's ever, then he'd wonder if he's ever going to get that seat. So you can see why Mercedes did it.

And it's just how it's kind of played out with the stages of their careers. Interesting. I still don't believe he's been emotionally affected by his change of teammate. But fair enough, look, we agree to disagree. What a great time here on the P1 podcast. Next question. Jan underscore Krubasic.

If Russell beats him in back-to-back seasons, could that be the killer blow for his career and motivation? No. I am genuinely of the opinion that Hamilton doesn't really care unless it was for the title. So if he's fourth, fifth in the championship, yeah, there might be a bit of, oh, that's a bit annoying. You know, oh, he's beating me in the standings.

But I don't think he's going to lose sleep over it. He would if George Russell becomes world champion and Hamilton misses out over the course of a season and gets outperformed by George. But to be beaten to fourth or third or fifth in the championship, I don't think he cares at all. No, it's only going to be a problem when or if Mercedes deliver that car and George is beating him then.

So, yeah. Have you changed your opinion? Because I know before we were like saying Hamilton is still the better driver of this quarter of season, the start of this season, Tommy, are you a bit more of the opinion that George has stepped up a tiny bit? I think George's stepped up. I still think Hamilton will normal races have the race pace.

I think I could see George maybe out-qualifying Hamilton a fair bit during the season. Then Hamilton maybe comes back in the races and kind of more like what we saw in Bahrain. But I think I think Russell is getting to the point where. I think it's getting to the point now where it could go either way in races rather than me thinking that Hamilton is going to win all the time and then Russell might get a few chances. Yeah, I felt like it sat maybe last year as thinking maybe it was a 70, 30 in terms of Hamilton coming out on top. And it feels as though more it might be towards the 60, 40, perhaps even 50, 50, 50 when it comes to who's actually going to come out on top in the Mercedes pairing. And, well, let's see how that one goes. Hamilton and Russell now is what I expected science and LeClair to be like, but it hasn't been.

And you could argue that what's happening with LeClair and science is how I expected Hamilton and Russell to be. But it's not, say, role reversal. So what you're saying, Tommy, is that you're completely washed. I just, yeah, yeah. This is why I get zero in the predictions. No, I'm exactly the same. I'm completely on board with that opinion, for sure. Next question.

Callum Nova. Do you think Mercedes is freezing him out? out on purpose. No. I don't really freezing him out in terms of just trying to make him leave.

Like I'm not of that opinion at all. I think Mercedes owe a lot to Hamilton and Hamilton knows a lot to Mercedes. That is very much a partnership that has had, you know, title record breaking

period in Formula One. So I don't think there's any kind of animosity from anybody within Mercedes to try and get Hamilton to move elsewhere. I just don't see that being at all, like 0% that Mercedes are trying to get rid of him.

No, they're definitely not trying to get rid of him, but I think they are, I guess with Russell, they were, they didn't, they didn't completely go with what Hamilton wanted in terms of like keeping Bottas, it kind of goes back to that.

They had to do what they needed to do. So it's not, it's not a case of, it's Hamilton's, team and we're going to completely sacrifice herself for Hamilton. But I don't think they're trying to just kick him out and let him go. But it does pose an interesting question that they've now got two drivers who are performing very similar.

And yeah, one that you think, if you had to pick one right now, who would you go with? Because you've got Hamilton, who's an incredible multiple champion, but not got many years left in you say that he's probably on a downward slope, not huge downward slope, but tailing off. And George, who's now matching Hamilton and doing well, and has got so much of his career ahead of him and only going to get better

and probably 10% of his salary as well. So I wonder what, I wonder what it would be, if you had to, if Mercedes had to decide tomorrow, they can only have one of them. I wonder who they'd pick. Yeah, George, I think, if you're looking into the future

and their prospects for 10 years' time, Hamilton's not going to be in Formula One. So it makes sense from a business perspective. So yeah, it's a good point. I think freezing them out, absolutely not, but not pandering to everything that Hamilton wants is perhaps a better way of saying that that's the kind of angle that Mercedes are going with. Tobias H underscore F1. Do you think the sudden departure of Angela Cullen hints at a retirement soon?

Now, this one, I just can't get my head around. I don't know why. I'm not going to go into it or speculate because it might well just have been personal circumstances for Angela, who we don't know anything about in terms of she hasn't come out and said anything. It's very weird to have her leave after one race. So that's why it looks as though it's more sort of personal and that's why you can't really speculate on it. But from Hamilton's side, it is a big shift. It's someone that's always been around him in race weekend.

ends and that familiarity and just it is it must be something that that changes and shifts your mindset to it being feeling a little bit more foreign when you're actually there at a Grand Prix. You don't have that comfort of knowing that Andrew's going to do this, that and the other for you and whoever then slots into that position. There's always going to be a few teething problems and things won't go as smoothly as perhaps they did before or you know, you pick up his dog and oh, where's the dog got? You know, all kinds of things that could be like very tiny things. they can add up because you want as seamless and as least as least as less stressful,

one or the other, a weekend as possible. And that's someone like your trainer that can be alongside you and always helping you at every stage. Yeah, she was super reliable to him. And she was there through all his huge successes. So I will speculate. don't take it as a any kind of factual information. This is just obviously

everyone has an opinion. Just me, no one ever takes any of what we say as factual information, Tommy. I just want to check. I just want to make sure that we are just fans going, this is what I think.

I've not heard anything. Tom Bellingham says. Tom Bellingham says. Tom Belling from P1 thinks that Hamilton, yeah. I, when I first saw this, my opinion was that I wonder if

she's, Hamilton's there. He wants to get his eighth. Angela kind of thought, I'm going to stick with Lewis into another year. Hopefully he gets that eighth title. She's seen that the Mercedes is absolutely awful. Hamilton's going to want to get his eighth and gone,

oh, Hamilton's going to stay for it. Lewis is going to stay for another like six, seven years here. Nah. Bye. Also, absolutely awful. Let's put this into perspective. Well, this is the thing. This is not absolutely awful.

As much as we're like, oh, well, they always won all the time and now it's not as good a car. It is not an awful car. To the McLaren fans out there, that's an awful car, okay? Just wanted to cover that one off. But do you really think, Angela, who has all of these years with him, will surely have a level of loyalty to Hamilton, would bin him off after the first race of the year because the car's rubbish?

I wouldn't say bin him off, but just kind of gone. maybe it was always planned but it just seemed weird timing but if it wasn't planned maybe it's just a case of Lewis I I can't I don't want to go into another crazy long season doing this and yeah I don't know we'll never know unless one day she writes a book yeah nice little book that'll be that'll be ideal for her that'll be that'll make us some cash yeah um let's speak about um um let's speak about um Hamilton then, his next move, what will it be? Of course, mentioned that his contract expires at the end of the season. And W.J. Kederman asks, should he switch teams?

And if yes, to which one? Goodness, gracious me. We spoke about Lando previously and whether he should move and where he should go. Now we're on to Hamilton. Should he switch teams? Okay. My brain and my heart are two different things. My brain is saying, God, no, don't change, just stick with Mercedes.

They have the track record that hardly any other teams have in this modern era. Why would you go to another team and roll the dice at the end of your career? My heart is saying, God, just go and convince Horner to have a little one season pop with Red Bull for Stappan versus Hamilton in the same team. Oh my God, drive to survive. They would be absolutely drooling and licking their lips over that one. but no, my brain is saying absolutely not. It makes no sense.

It doesn't. You mentioned the Lando topic that we had. Lando's got his whole career ahead of him. Hamilton's is winding down. We don't know how long he's got left. According to the poll, it could be one year. It could be four or five. We don't know.

But he is in that kind of twilight of his career. And it's a big risk to move now. and I just also don't see where he's going. You mentioned Mercedes, and obviously kind of half jesting that the car was terrible because it's terrible for a Mercedes, but they are third in the constructor's title. They're joint, actually, second,

if you don't count on kind of race results. They've got exactly the same point as that's after Martin. So if you look at where Hamilton could go, the only step up is Red Bull. Christian Horner today has been asked by Sky and he said, nah, it's not going to happen. Let's go with the actual quote.

Yeah, go on. Go on, you read the quote. You're better reading than I am. Okay, here we go. So Horner was asked by Sky about Hamilton and he said basically around Peres of a Stappen, they are committed as a pair for not only this season, but next season as well.

So I can't see where we would be able to accommodate Lewis. But I'm sure they're going to sort their issues out and we're certainly not writing him off yet. That's not writing him off yet. him off in the sense of how I understand it of Mercedes not being written off and that they once they whack on some new sideboards. Not writing him off. Exactly.

To join the team. Yeah, he wouldn't join Red Bull. He's not, he's not a fit there. Imagine all the kind of bad blood between. Oh, but can we have an alternate reality? Just, I just want to see how that would work. Do a swap where Verstappen is working with, uh, with Toto and, uh, Horn is working with Hamilton and they're in slagging each other off that way, imagine.

But no, Red Bull's the only place he can go that's better than Mercedes right now. Aston Martin is a weird one. Some people are saying, oh, well, Alonzo will retire soon, but for me, that's a sideways step. They're going to have to- And he's just going to be here for another four years. Come on, easy. But he, even if he does, I do think Mercedes would be the team to get it right eventually. And then Ferrari, I'd love to see it.

I would absolutely, that for me is my heart would want to see that. And just having to watch F1 with popcorn every week because it would be incredible. Could he change the mentality there? But even that, I think that would also create problems of what's that message to someone like Charlerc, who's put his faith in Ferrari. You're going to piss him off as well if you sign someone like Hamilton. So I just, it's easy to say, oh, he should move from Mercedes and that's something that, you know, tabloids and people have jumped on now. But where can he go?

And think the sad reality, if you're a Hamilton fan and don't believe in Mercedes, is there's no way he can go. There's better than where he is right now. Exactly. You've eloquently pointed that out. They have potentially the, well, maybe the third fastest, car. They are second, joint second in the constructors. The reason why I didn't say my heart in Ferrari, as much as I'd love to see it,

I'm concerned that Charlotte LeClaire get beaten, so I just don't want to see that, to be honest with you, Hamilton going into Ferrari, because my heart would be completely and utterly bedazzled, that's not a word, but just confused. You know what I mean? Like Ferrari would start potentially winning with Hamilton, but it wouldn't be LeCleur, and then I'd be like, what do I do now? How does my brain work? So, yeah, it's not going to happen. It's going to be Mercedes all day long.

It doesn't make any sense. Aston, yeah. Alonzo's not leaving. It's not going to happen. Alonzo will, as I said, will need to be dragged out of that cockpit, kicking and screaming if he is to leave that team. And I think Lauren Stroll wants him.

It's a good thing to have. And if Alonso starts getting a little bit worse, a few years down the line as he gets older and older, and then Lance Stroll starts beating him, oh, God, Lauren Stroll's like, yes, please. My son's beating a world champion, a multiple world champion. But yeah, as much as we'd love to be imagined, use our imagination to think of Red Bull or Ferrari, it just has to be Mercedes, especially as he's so ingrained in that team as well.

But then he'll have to beat George Russell if that championship winning car comes out of that Mercedes factory. But you bet we're putting him in some Red Bull overalls for the thumbnail. Oh yeah, you best believe it. And you clicked it. So thanks for being here. Next question. Alex presents. Do you think Lewis will race anywhere else later on in life, Indy, NASCAR, Formula, etc? No.

No, next. I don't think. I'm pretty sure Hamilton himself has said, it's F1 or nothing for me. It doesn't seem like the kind of person that, I don't think it's unfair to, it's not like, this is not me slandering him, but I just don't think he is like a motorsport through and through.

He loves Formula One. He's loved Formula One since he was a kid and he likes racing in Formula One. but he's not a Sebastian Betel or Fernando Alonzo that has his eye on Le Manson and he thinks it's really cool and wants to do a bit of NASCAR and wants to do the Dakar rally or something. He's not, he just doesn't seem that kind of character. He's got interests outside of Formula One that have nothing to do with motorsport.

He's into his music. He's into his fashion. He's into that kind of thing. So no, just apps, no chance. I would be, I think that's zero percent. That's one thing I can confidently say is a zero percent. Lewis Hamilton at the end of the year

announces he's going to Formula Re announces Mercedes Mercedes Ferrari yeah love it

but no I agree I think it's no chance he's never really stated that he wants to go and do the Indy 500

or any of that kind of stuff to put on his accolades he just Formula 1 and Formula 1

only which is absolutely fine it's the same with me and Tommy we are primarily Formula 1 and that's our focus

now final question will Hamilton get his 8th before he leaves Formula One. 18,000 of you voted in our Twitter poll and 74% of you said no. Ouch.

My opinion, not that anyone wants it. I don't think so. I think it will be one of those endings to his career, however long it goes on for. And I just, it's a really difficult thing to see where he'll get his eighth. If Mercedes don't figure it out in the next year or two, He's then in a really difficult position where, oh, he might have to move teams, but then you have to think of an adjustment phase when you move to a new team. And he doesn't have that long left in his career to be making such drastic changes at the,

you know, at 40 years old or whatever. Alonzo's in a great position, as I said earlier, because he's up against Stroll. I don't see any other teams that are top teams, whereas a guarantee if Hamilton at 39, 40 years old will win a world title if he goes up against Leclair or if he goes up against Rush, If he goes up against Norris or whatever, I don't think it's a guarantee like he had previously with Botass as his wingman to get his eighth. So that Hamilton fans might not like hearing that, but 74% of you also think no. I thought saying no would be a hot take that was going to get, yeah, can't get me cancelled

on Twitter for saying no, but 74% agree and that that is crazy to me. I wonder what this percentage would have been at the end. of 2021, start the 2022 season, probably more than 74% the other way. It seems unheard of that we're sat here wondering, so many people will think it's not going to happen. And I sadly don't think it will either. And yeah, you mentioned Alonzo. Alonzo as well is in a unique situation where everything is so novel to him because

he's had a useless car for so long and he's been waiting to make a good career choice. it's a very different situation to Hamilton where even if Mercedes became the second best car, if there's still two seconds off Red Bull, I don't think he even would, I'd say he doesn't care even for podiums. He'll want to win races still and top up that trophy, but it's the championship he wants. He's not there to finish on podiums and things. So yeah, God, I can't believe where I can't believe how that that pole is massively swayed one way

and it's hard to disagree. So you are a no? I am. What was that? You muted your mic and all over it was a no. Yeah, it's such a strange thing to be saying out loud as you say. I think if 2021 we'd have said, will he get his 10th?

74% would have said yes at this point rather than where we are now. So yeah, that is a fascinating question to end this on. It's been quite a long podcast, actually. I hope you have enjoyed this discussion. Tommy, what's your final thoughts? My final thoughts, I actually have some. This podcast was actually very enjoyable and I enjoyed the kind of debate back and forth. So if you guys have ideas for kind of topics that you want us to feature, obviously we saw this question and I sent it to you, Matt, I was like, we should do a whole podcast and this because

this is quite a tasty debate. So if you guys have ideas, yeah, drop us a message because when we've got little or no racing and there's also a big old gap after Australia, feel free to drop your ideas over to us. Absolutely. And my one is please don't kill us, Team LH. I really appreciate you tuning in.

Hopefully you enjoyed the discussion. It is one of the most debated topics right now. and I can't wait to see how it unfolds. I hope Hamilton doesn't retire anytime soon, just purely because I love having him in the sport, and I think that when he does decide to leave, it will leave a massive hole in what Formula One is, in my opinion. He carries so much weight.

He is statistically the greatest of all time. So I really do hope he does stay for a few more years, and I hope he gets his eighth as well. Otherwise, Abu Dhabi 2020 will be lauded as one of, I mean, it already kind of is as one of the biggest sporting controversies and Travis is ever, but if he doesn't ever get his eighth, it will leave a much bigger mark, I think, on the sport than if he does eventually wrap it up and get that eighth.

Yeah, definitely. And also another reason for him to state is that he's now driving a car that has similar pace to Fernando Alonzo, and I need that in my life for a few more wheel tour battles between them. Yeah, a few more years of that would be lovely, even though we'd love it for P1 rather than P3 or 4. Anyway, thank you so much, everybody, and we'll see you very soon for another piece.

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