Lewis Hamilton has struggled ever since the defining moment during the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi where he controversially missed out on the opportunity to lift a world record eighth driver’s championship.
The Stevenage-born driver wasn’t helped by the fact that his car was not up to scratch the following season and he failed to register a single race win throughout the campaign for the first time in his 15-year professional career in F1.
While Mercedes has shown minor improvement since then, Hamilton is still without a win in 2023 after the first five races of the season, with all wins picked up by Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Having also split with long-term assistant Angela Cullen, Hamilton has often seemed rather lonely at Mercedes.
In light of this, his former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan believes the time is right for Hamilton to put an end to his current predicament at Mercedes.
“He needs to move on. Just like he did when he was with McLaren. Get out of Mercedes, Lewis,” Eddie said in his podcast with David Coulthard.
“It’s time you reinvent yourself somewhere else.”
Jordan feels George Russell’s meteoric rise at Mercedes has contributed to Hamilton feeling alienated at the team since the Brackley-based outfit sees a long-term replacement for the seven-time world champion.
In his debut season at Mercedes, Russell ended the campaign ahead of Hamilton and managed to win a race as well, something that Hamilton failed to do.
Having initially been skeptical about Russell’s appointment at Mercedes, Jordan was quick to accept his mistake and praised the British youngster for the quick manner in which he has acclimatised at the Silver Arrows.
“I got it wrong with George,” said Jordan.
“He absolutely blew me away. He did, full marks. Hands up – I got that wrong. I never thought he would be doing what he is doing. I never thought he would be beating Lewis.”
While porpoising issues seemed to have a drastic effect on Hamilton’s performance, Russell was able to extract more from the car and noticeably complained far less than his experienced teammate.
Hamilton is not one for pushing Mercedes under the bus, or at least he didn’t during the good times, but things took an ugly turn when he vocally criticised the team following the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Speaking to BBC, he said, “Last year, I told them the issues that are with the car. Like, I’ve driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn’t need.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has also accepted recently that if the team is unable to provide Hamilton with a car worthy of winning the championship, the distinguished British racer could end his association with them.
While Hamilton has been vocal about his disappointment with how things are panning out at Mercedes, he recently reiterated his commitment and quelled speculation that he is willing to make a move to a rival.
Speaking at the Saudi Arabian GP, he said, “I have been with Mercedes since I was 13, and last year we had a difficult year, but I am still here, and whether or not we have a difficult year this year, I will still be here.“