Lando Norris may be swaying Lewis Hamilton away from Ferrari in major boost

After seeing a recent uptick in success for Lando Norris in the McLaren car, Lewis Hamilton may be left reconsidering any potential move away from Mercedes for next season.

Norris had been struggling for form earlier in the campaign, as the McLaren was proving difficult to drive, yet an upgrade package installed in Austria allowed the young British driver to show his skill and finish fourth – his best result of the season before finishing second at Silverstone a few weeks ago.

Such a dramatic turnaround in results may play a part in Hamilton’s considerations on who to race for next year. The seven-time world champion has yet to pen an extension with Mercedes, despite expectations that a contract would be announced over the winter break.

One possible explanation for the delay is that Hamilton is waiting to see how the Mercedes car performs over the course of this season before committing his limited time in Formula One to the team.

Despite strong results in Spain and Canada for Hamilton, the gap in pace between Mercedes and Red Bull is vast. As such, the veteran driver may be reconsidering his options for next year.

F1 expert Peter Windsor, however, believes that Hamilton is “talking himself into” signing an extension with the Brackley outfit.

He said: “I think Lewis is sort of talking himself into staying at Mercedes, isn’t he? You could argue that tonight [after the British GP], he’ll get on the plane back and he’ll be thinking ‘well look at McLaren, they’ve turned it around. We can do the same.’

“I’m sure there’s a lot of that going on at Mercedes and I think Lewis with these conversations with Toto afterwards was saying ‘McLaren is unbelievably good on those fast corners, that’s what we’ve got to do.’”

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Reports in May suggested that Ferrari were prepared to offer the Brit £40million to coax him away from Mercedes. This link was strengthened by the fact that Hamilton and Fred Vasseur, team principle at Ferrari, worked together during Hamilton’s time racing in Formula Three.

However, these rumours were quashed by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who suggested that the story had been deliberately planted to hinder negotiations between Hamilton and Mercedes.

“I can’t imagine Ferrari is attractive to him,” Windsor suggested, as they currently sit three places below Mercedes in this season’s Constructors’ Championship.

“Obviously he did work with Fred Vasseur at ASM in his Formula Three days and knows him and Fred would have put out the feelers to him.

“But then if he doesn’t go to Ferrari and all the chaos, where is he going to go? He’s not going to get a Red Bull seat so he might as well stay where he is.”

Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013, with many calling the move a gamble due to the lack of success the team had in F1. This signing has since proved to be incredibly fruitful for Hamilton, who has won six of his seven World Championships with the team.

It remains to be seen who Hamilton will race for next year, yet the summer break fast approaching may render Hamilton with an opportunity to finalise any negotiations in progress.

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