When Lewis Hamilton announced that he would be moving from Mercedes to Ferrari next year, his former teammate Nico Rosberg was as surprised as the rest of the public, but the German believes that the move makes sense and that it might be as good for Hamilton as moving from McLaren to Mercedes in 2013.
It was Nico Rosberg who met Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes garage in the aforementioned 2013. For the next three years, he lost to the Briton in an intra-team clash, until he won the world championship in 2016 and decided to retire from driving.
After that, Hamilton won four more titles with Mercedes and equaled the number of titles with Michael Schumacher . However, after losing that turbulent championship in 2021 and the drop in Mercedes’ form that started in 2022, Hamilton announced at the beginning of this year that he is leaving for Ferrari in 2025 .
With that, he stunned the public, and Rosberg also admitted that he was surprised by that decision in an interview with Sky Sports . Still, he says the decision makes sense at this point.
“OF COURSE IT WAS A HUGE SURPRISE. NO ONE EXPECTED IT, AND NEITHER DID I. BUT IF YOU LOOK AT THE BIGGER PICTURE OF THE WHOLE SITUATION, WHY NOT? HE IS COMING TO THE END OF HIS CAREER, AND THERE ARE TWO LEGENDARY TEAMS – MERCEDES AND FERRARI.”
“I KNOW LEWIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A BIG FAN OF FERRARI’S ROAD CARS SO WHY NOT MAKE THIS CHANGE AND HAVE A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE DRIVING IN RED? THEN HE CAN REALLY TICK ALL THE BOXES, SAY THAT HE DROVE FOR TWO OF THE MOST LEGENDARY TEAMS.”
“BY THE WAY, AT THIS POINT IT SEEMS TO BE THE RIGHT DECISION IN TERMS OF PERFORMANCE AS WELL. MAYBE HE MAKES A REMARKABLE TRANSITION LIKE THAT TIME, 12 YEARS AGO, WHEN HE SWITCHED FROM MCLAREN TO MERCEDES. MCLAREN WAS WINNING RACES THEN, MERCEDES WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND, AND AFTER HIS DEPARTURE, MCLAREN STARTED TO SINK AND MERCEDES STARTED TO WIN RACES. MAYBE HE CAN HIT THAT KIND OF TIMING AGAIN,” COMMENTED ROSBERG.
Hamilton’s teammate in Ferrari will be Charles Leclerc . The Monegasque driver is doing his sixth season with the Italian team and his dream is to win the title in the red racing suit. If Ferrari’s car is going to be competitive, Leclerc will certainly not just give up the status of driver number 1 to the newly arrived Hamilton.
“OF COURSE, WE ARE ALL LOOKING FORWARD TO THE DYNAMICS IN THAT RELATIONSHIP,” SAID ROSBERG. “CHARLES DOESN’T SEEM LIKE SOMEONE WHO GETS INTO TOO MUCH CONFLICT WITH HIS TEAMMATE, SO IT WILL BE EASIER BECAUSE OF THAT. FROM THAT POINT OF VIEW, IT MIGHT NOT BE AN EXTREMELY BITTER RIVALRY.”
“BUT REGARDLESS, CHARLES IS PROBABLY THE SECOND BEST DRIVER IN QUALIFYING AFTER MAX VERSTAPPEN, WE CAN SAY THAT AT THE MOMENT. IT WILL BE A FIERCE BATTLE FOR BOTH OF THEM, REALLY. I THINK THE LEVEL COULD BE PRETTY EVEN AND IT WILL BE GREAT TO WATCH.”
