Lewis Hamilton cast off any lingering doubts about his driving as he ended an almost three-year winning drought last weekend at Silverstone, according to one former F1 driver.
Since the seven time world champion narrowly lost the highly-contentious and ultra-close title battle with Max Verstappen in 2021, Mercedes has struggled in the new ’ground effect’ era.
However, the other problem is that Hamilton’s teammate George Russell has looked the strongest Mercedes driver since 2022, raising questions about whether Ferrari has made a bad decision by signing the 39-year-old for 2025 and beyond.
Frederic Ferret of L’Equipe, however, thinks Hamilton should never have been doubted. "Legends must be respected," he wrote, "and never buried."
Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur told the Financial Times that he has no doubts that Hamilton is still capable of winning more championships - and even revealed that the contract is for a full three years.
"He had to make a choice - ’Where do I have the biggest chance to win the world championship in 2025, ’26, ’27?’’" said Vasseur. "And he said ’Ferrari’."
But even Hamilton himself admitted after a rare display of flowing tears last Sunday that he doubted whether he was still as good as he was in his prime.
"There’s definitely been days between 2021 and here where I didn’t feel like I was good enough or whether I was going to get back to where I am today," he added.
"We live in a time where mental health is such a serious issue," Hamilton said, "and I’m not going to lie - I have experienced that. There’s definitely been moments where I thought it was never going to happen again."
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher says Hamilton deserves to feel like back in top form after Silverstone.
"There have been voices saying that his time may have run out, that he is getting too old, that Ferrari may be annoyed about their decision," he told Sky Deutschland.
"But now everything is back to square one - Hamilton is back," Schumacher added. "Stories like this are the beauty of motorsport and Formula 1."