Lewis Hamilton has admitted he was not sure when he would win a race once more after leaving McLaren to hitch Mercedes eight years in the past.
The transfer to Mercedes introduced Hamilton extraordinary success. Final yr he scored his sixth world championship as a Mercedes driver, along with the primary he gained at McLaren in 2008.
Whereas he’s but to agree phrases to race for Mercedes once more within the 2021 F1 season, Hamilton just lately acknowledged he would probably nonetheless have only one championship to his title if he hadn’t left the group that introduced him into the game.
Hamilton mentioned he wished to hitch Mercedes to assist construct them into race-winners. The group had gained only one race in three years since returning to F1 when he signed for them in 2012.
“I’d been with McLaren since I used to be 13 so it was my household and I used to be very secure there, I used to be properly taken care of,” he mentioned in an interview for Mercedes sponsor Crowdstrike.
“However I feel McLaren had this superb historical past, that they had a number of championships, they had been super-successful and I felt that I wasn’t essentially serving to construct one thing. It was already an illustrious group, it already had all that success. It had the most important cupboard of trophies and I wished to go someplace the place I might assist, may very well be a giant a part of constructing one thing.
“After I joined this group, it didn’t have many trophies within the cupboard. It was on the best way up, it was rising, it was constructing. There was extra folks coming. And I used to be like, I wish to go someplace and see if I can utilise every part I’ve realized in all these years, the privilege of working at McLaren, apply these learnings to a group that’s not being very profitable to changing into profitable.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
McLaren had been championship contenders in 2012, and leaving them to hitch Mercedes “was a threat”, Hamilton mentioned.
“For positive there was moments after I was like, geez, I don’t know after I’m going to win once more. I needed to actually analyse a number of the professionals and cons.
“However for me, taking the chance: Senna used to say ‘if you’re not going for a gap, you’re no longer racing driver’. I feel in the event you’re not taking dangers in life, then you definately’re standing nonetheless.
“So I might have stayed there. In hindsight, you take a look at if I had stayed, I wouldn’t have one other championship to my title. I’d nonetheless be a one-time world champion after 14 years.”
Mercedes group principal Ross Brawn and non-executive chairman Niki Lauda – who died in 2019 – persuaded Hamilton to go away McLaren for his or her group.
“Issues occur for a motive, a method or one other,” he mentioned. “And I’m actually, actually grateful that I took that step. I took that leap of religion. It’s because of folks like Niki – relaxation his soul – and to Ross and to Mercedes for really believing in me.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
