Max Verstappen has predicted Formula 1 rival Lewis Hamilton will experience an “awkward” time in 2024 with Mercedes as he builds towards his departure to Ferrari.
The driver market for next season has been thrown into disorder before the current campaign has even begun with the revelation that Hamilton will move to Ferrari in 2025.
Hamilton has been aligned with Mercedes his entire F1 career and has been driving for the German marque’s works team since 2013, taking six titles and 82 race wins.
The Briton, who has concluded the previous two seasons without a single victory, has opted to activate a break clause in his deal to agree a switch to Ferrari from next season.
However, Verstappen believes that rumours of the ongoing negotiations caused both parties to make a premature announcement regarding Hamilton’s future destination.
“It seemed like it [the news] was a bit leaked of course and then they had to announce it because to announce something that big that early in the season I think for sure for the rest of the year is a little bit awkward,” Verstappen said at Red Bull’s 2024 car launch.
“Even though you have had a lot of success together as a team, you can’t be included into everything anymore. But for him going to Ferrari it’s not really shocking.”
As is standard practice when a driver is set to leave a team, Hamilton will be gradually phased out of meetings on car development when it comes to Mercedes’ 2025 creation.
But Verstappen is certain that Hamilton will continue to receive complete support from Mercedes as the sport’s most successful partnership bids to end on a positive note.
“For sure he has a great relationship with everyone and especially also with Toto [Wolff, Mercedes Team Principal]. But he also knows at one point, and Toto for sure will tell him like ‘I’m really sorry, we’ve had all this success, but you can’t be part of certain meetings anymore’,” Verstappen explained.
“That’s normal in F1 and it’s probably a bit weird, but you’re professional enough to deal with that [as a driver].
“At the end of the day, you are professional enough to just deal with what you have.
“It’s not like they are suddenly enemies or whatever. He has achieved so many great things with that whole team that they are still behind him, it’s just you know at one point you can’t just share certain stuff. But once he is sitting in the car they will still go flat out for him to try and win races as well.”
