Sky Sports' Ted Kravitz has revealed that Lewis Hamilton was the only F1 driver who cared for the now-abandoned W-Series. Kravitz's comments came a week after the series went into administration due to financial issues on June 15.
The W-Series was an all-female single-seater racing series, with its inaugural series in 2019 followed by two seasons in 2021 and 2022. The last iteration of the series came to an early halt, due to financial troubles, with only seven of the 10 races completed.
Hearing the recent news about the series, Kravitz hailed Hamilton who was the only F1 driver who bothered about the W series.
"Lewis was to my certain knowledge the only driver who bothered to come down to the W Series paddock," he said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast.
Kravitz added:
"He went down. He did. I asked him on Friday what he felt still needed to be done and he was looking at companies coming in. I don’t think W Series fell short by tens of millions of pounds."
The Briton went on to add that any one of F1's big sponsors could have saved W-Series by throwing it a "lifeline."
"In the grand scheme of F1 sponsorships and the amount of money going around, it wouldn’t have been much for one of the sponsors to throw it a lifeline."
After folding up early last season, W-Series announced its intent to make a return in 2023. However, its return seemed unlikely when Formula 1 announced the F1 Academy, an F4 equivalent racing series for young women.
Lewis Hamilton wants Mercedes to emulate Red Bull and focus on 2024
Eight races into the 2023 season, Red Bull has enjoyed a stellar start to its campaign winning all the races. With no other team close to the RB19's pace, Lewis Hamilton believes the Milton Keynes-based outfit is already focused on the upcoming season.
The Briton wants Mercedes to ditch their efforts for the season, as both the titles are far out of sight.
"...It's going to be a developmental battle, I guess, for the rest of the season. I think Max's team is already working on next year's car, so we need to deviate a bit and focus on next year as well." Lewis Hamilton said to Fox Sports.
Max Verstappen leads the drivers' standings with a 69-point lead over teammate Sergio Perez, with six wins early in the season. Red Bull comfortably leads the constructors' standings with Mercedes trailing behind by a massive 154-point gap, just eight races into the season.
The team is also eager to wrap up both titles early in the season, with the cost cap penalties expected to affect their development rate later in the season. Hence the team wants to shift focus to 2024 with Lewis Hamilton left wanting Mercedes to follow suit.