Lewis Hamilton’s decision to swap Mercedes for Ferrari “a calculated risk”
“I think he does but it’s a calculated risk. It’s worked out once. Let’s see if it happens again.”
Ex-F1 driver Karun Chandhok believes Lewis Hamilton’s decision to leave Mercedes for Ferrari is a “calculated risk”, but one that has “worked out” before.
Hamilton officially joined Ferrari on January 1, 2025.
Hamilton had spent 12 years at Mercedes, winning six of his seven titles with them.
The seven-time world champion will now likely finish his F1 career with the Scuderia.
It’s the second time in his F1 career that Hamilton has made a bombshell move.
At the end of 2012, Hamilton left McLaren, which were title contenders at the time, for Mercedes, which were effectively a midfield team.
Assessing his decision to leave Mercedes following a turbulent final season with the team, Chandhok told the Sky F1 podcast: “I think it was a punt because how could you tell what the opposition was doing? He would obviously have a feeling what was going on at Mercedes.
“He’s talked about people not necessarily listening to what he’s saying and not fully taking onboard some of his thoughts of where the cars should go.
“On reflection, earlier in the year, he was talking about some of those conversations. Maybe that steered him into somewhere else where they might listen a bit more.”
“It’s worked out once”
Hamilton’s last F1 team move worked out better than anyone could have imagined.
Immediately, Mercedes overtook McLaren in performance terms.
Since Hamilton’s departure, McLaren have only returned to the top of F1 this year, finishing ahead of Mercedes in the constructors’ championship.
Chandhok sees some parallels to Hamilton’s decision to leave McLaren, which was widely criticised at the time.
“I was re-watching some interviews that you [Ted Kravitz, who also appeared on the podcast] and Martin were doing towards the end of 2012 with people like Niki Lauda about Lewis coming to Mercedes,” he added.
“Even that was a bit of a punt. He just wanted a change of environment to leave McLaren and go somewhere else.
“I think he does but it’s a calculated risk. It’s worked out once. Let’s see if it happens again.”
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
