Coulthard: Hamilton may not get what he expected at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes at the end of this season, after more than 10 years with the team, to join Ferrari.

Since joining the Brackley-based team in 2013, Hamilton and Mercedes have formed the most successful driver/team partnership in F1 history.

However, Mercedes’ failure to challenge Red Bull in the current ground effect era, which begins in 2022, has led Hamilton to move to Ferrari to chase his eighth title there.

Speaking to PlanetF1.com at the Red Bull Showrun event in Galway, Ireland , David Coulthard shared his views on how Hamilton could perform in his first season at Ferrari .

“Lewis has nothing to prove, he is a seven-time world champion,” Coulthard said.

“You know he could have been a nine or 10-time champion because he came very close some years.”

“Personally, I don’t think how great a driver someone is has anything to do with how many championships they win.”

“But that’s what the history books need, isn’t it? For someone to be the undisputed best driver in the world, they need to have eight championships.”

But no matter what he does, someone in the future will come and beat his record because every generation has to be better. Otherwise, we would not be able to develop as a people!” he said.

“I think it was a bit emotional and a bit of a disappointment,” Coulthard said of Hamilton’s move to Ferrari, which is nearing the end of his career. “Some relationships wear down over time.”

“He may have seen the Ferrari opportunity as an opportunity like when Mercedes brought back Michael Schumacher. But they only took a Michael who was performing well, not the Michael from Ferrari.

“So Ferrari may have just taken the Hamilton who is performing well, not the Hamilton who was at his best at Mercedes.”

“But it must be said that Lewis like this is still useful, even though he has been outpaced by George many times this season in qualifying and so on.”

“Pilots like Mika, Kimi, Michael, Ayrton had incredible speed. But when they lost that, they were still good but not as great as they used to be.”

“So Lewis may not find the success he is looking for when he moves to Ferrari because he has to pass Charles in the standings first.”

“I think Charles is still very capable at 27 years old and that could make things difficult for Lewis.”