Lewis Hamilton says a move to Mercedes wouldn’t make sense for Max Verstappen given the dominant car he has at Red Bull, but he still expects the Dutchman to be a target for the team to replace him.
Verstappen has been linked with a potential switch to Mercedes amid the ongoing instability at Red Bull that includes his father Jos calling for team principal Christian Horner to be replaced or risk the team being “torn apart.” Hamilton — who will join Ferrari for 2025 — fully expects Verstappen to be courted by Mercedes, and says their previous rivalry has no impact, but believes current competitiveness makes it unlikely.
“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised, no,” Hamilton said of the speculation about a Verstappen-Mercedes move, “because he’s a great driver. We spoke back then [after the controversial conclusion to the 2021 championship battle], I think Max in that moment did what he had to do — there was nothing on him, it was the sport that let us down. I think that wasn’t his fault. Me in his position, I would have done exactly the same thing, so there’s no issue there.
“But I think if you run a team, you want to have the best driver in — you want, as a team, the driver that brings in the eyeballs, brings in the sponsorships and he is one of those, so I understand it. It wouldn’t make sense for him, but it will be interesting to see.”
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Hamilton points to his own switch to Ferrari as evidence that a Verstappen move to Mercedes cannot be ruled out, and says he’s looking forward to watching the driver market play out this year.
“I think my move has shown that anything is possible, and it’s going to be a really interesting next six months or so. I don’t have any extra scoop. I’m sure Max is on the list. But I’m pretty sure he’s tied up, and I also don’t see why he’d leave a car that is that good!”
A central reason that Verstappen has been linked with a move is his father’s recent comments, with Jos Verstappen also pictured speaking to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff in Bahrain. However, Hamilton says the role of a parent can be difficult one for a driver to deal with in F1, following his own experience with his father Anthony.
“I don’t know the details of [the comments on Horner], so I don’t know what he is basing his foundations off. But, at the end of the day, he is not a part of the team, he is a parent. So that’s just an opinion but it’s definitely not helpful.
“I think it is a very thin line to walk. I think it’s also depends on your relationship with your parent, and you meet some people who have great relationships … they have been amazing parents, and then you have got people that have had bad relationships, and it’s not necessarily parents that have been good to them.
“I don’t know about his relationship; obviously you hear things here and there, but I think Max is a grown man, he’s a champion and I’m sure he can make his own decisions. But I think, in our world as drivers, it is very easy to be misled by people whispering in your ear, and perhaps not guiding you always the right way — and I’m not saying that’s the case there because they’re doing great, but I know in other sports with other athletes that I’ve spoken to that I see, whether it’s in tennis — and I’ve experienced it when you sometimes don’t have the right guidance around you, it leads to you either making the wrong decisions or not being able to perhaps be the best at what you do.
“That’s obviously not the case there because he is performing well. But it’s very difficult because you want your parent to be your parent and have a good relationship, but when business is involved it makes it really difficult.”