When Michael Schumacher shared his thoughts on Lewis Hamilton replacing him at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton had replaced the seven-time world champion, Michael Schumacher, back in the 2013 season. Schumacher was unable to provide Mercedes with an answer to whether he wanted to continue with the team in the future.

This prompted Mercedes to sign Hamilton for the 2013 season. Hamilton's decision was widely criticised as Mercedes didn't have strong performances back then.

"I have had three nice years with the team, which unfortunately did not go as well as we all would have wanted on the sporting side," Schumacher said in a Mercedes statement as reported by Autosport in September 2012. I wish Lewis well and for the team to achieve the success we worked so hard for in the build-up. I would like to thank the team for their trust and all the guys for their unconditional commitment. I will now concentrate on the next races."

There was a possibility that if Schumacher had agreed to a contract extension, Hamilton would have never been signed to the team and would not have done the wonders that he did with Mercedes.

FIA Formula One World Championship 2013, Lewis Hamilton at the Grand Prix of Brazil - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton raced at Mercedes for 12 seasons, a partnership that will be etched in history because of their achievements. No driver has won more world titles with the same team than Hamilton who won six of his seven Drivers' Championships with the team, won 84 grand prix with them which is also most by a driver with a single constructor, scored 153 podium finishes again the most, and scored 3,949.5 points for the team, which is the most achieved by a driver at a single team.

Fred Vasseur backs Lewis Hamilton amid early Ferrari struggles

After Lewis Hamilton's tough weekend at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur backed Lewis Hamilton by saying he has full confidence in the Briton and expressed that the potential is there.

The 40-year-old driver expressed after the tough weekend at Jeddah that he was "fighting the car at every corner" and that nothing he did would work.

"I will be 2000% behind him and I will give him support here, and we will start from tomorrow morning to try to find solutions and reasons and to work on it early in the morning, But honestly, I am not too worried; if you have a look on what he did in China or what he did in the race in Bahrain last week, or even on the first part of the season except in this weekend, the potential is there for sure. We just have to adjust the balance because we are, collectively, Lewis and us, we are studying the balance of his car and he is working on the tyres, and it's a kind of negative spot, but I think the potential of the car is there, and we will try to solve that," Vassuer was quoted as saying by Formula 1

Ferrari is currently ranked fourth in the Constructors standings after the first five races in the 2025 season. Hamilton has scored 31 points, with a sprint race win at the Chinese Grand Prix.