“Like a divorce”: Lewis Hamilton’s recent actions at Mercedes analyzed by F1 Expert

F1 pundit Naomi Schiff claimed that Lewis Hamilton's recent actions towards Mercedes appear like a 'divorce' between the duo. The seven-time world champion would be leaving the German team at the end of the 2024 season to join Ferrari on a multi-year deal.

The British hasn't had the best of starts to his farewell season with the former world champions and has been lagging behind teammate George Russell in qualifying and the races thus far.

While appearing on the Sky F1 podcast, Schiff talked about the 'weird' body language that Lewis Hamilton displayed in Monaco and his comments regarding the qualifying deficit to Russell, saying:

"You could see that already in Monaco that there was some weird body language and Lewis saying that he was not going to out-qualify George for the rest of the season."

"So, I don't know if there's also a whole new layer or a psychological aspect that's coming in with essentially what is like a divorce between Lewis and the team."

Schiff pointed out that it was natural that Mercedes would leave Lewis Hamilton from the team meetings going forward as they won't disclose information about the W16 before him given he was moving to Ferrari, adding:

"It's going to happen throughout the season and inevitably he's going to start being left out of important meetings. All these sorts of things are going to plant a little bit of a layer of doubt, both in the team's head and Lewis's head of what game are they playing. Has Lewis checked out? Is he still on board?" she added.

Hamilton was eerily silent when Toto Wolff tried to cheer the British driver up on the team radio after his P4 finish at the Canadian GP. He was in dismay and shook his head after the Austrian claimed that the car was back to competitiveness.

---

F1 pundit envisions further cracks between Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes's partnership

Naomi Schiff believed that it would be hard for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes to end their partnership on a high given the difficult start to the season.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, the F1 presenter questioned if the dynamic would change if there were further doubts from Lewis Hamilton's end. She said:

"I know that there's a sentiment from Mercedes and Lewis that they want to end this on a high. I think they both really feel that way."

"There's so much respect between the team and the driver, but the reality of it all is, that when that doubt starts to creep in, can you maintain that relationship with the team? It's got to be hard, but I hope that we'll see him reset."

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have won six driver's and eight constructor's titles as a partnership from 2014 to 2021. The British driver won 82 of his 103 victories with the German team and they have firmly cemented themselves as the most successful driver-team pairing in F1 history.