Sebastian Vettel’s Lewis Hamilton admission should be clear warning to Mercedes star

F1: Lewis Hamilton trains on ski trip

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have dominated Formula One. Seven-straight constructors’ championships. Six world titles for Hamilton, which, added to his 2007 triumph with McLaren, draws him level with Michael Schumacher for the most in F1 history.

Hamilton now has the most Grand Prix victories, the most pole positions, and the equal-most podium finishes with a single constructor in F1 history.

As Sebastian Vettel explained, it is a daunting challenge to any other driver and team. So why would Hamilton and Mercedes want to break it up?

Hamilton is still to re-sign with Mercedes for the forthcoming season.

The dispute reportedly comes down to money, with the Brit said to be wanting to be remunerated as he believes a seven-time world champion should be.

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As F1 pundit David Croft told Sky Sports earlier this year: “I would imagine the chat is about money. It normally is when it comes to contracts despite both sides trying to play that one down.

“Lewis Hamilton is now a seven-time world champion and would want to be recompensed for being a seven-time world champion and would want to have a salary that reflects his years of dedication to the sport and his success within it.

“Mercedes I’m sure would not want to be paying Lewis Hamilton every single dollar that he might be demanding at the moment.

“But they’ll get their heads together and sit down and thrash it all out before we open up in Bahrain on March 2.”

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The expectation is that a deal will be completed, as Croft highlights, and Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has expressed his confidence that the open communication between the two parties will serve everyone well.

But while discussions continued through the end of last season and now into the new year, the F1 driver carousel conducted its annual spinning routine, so much so that every seat is now taken bar the one next to Valtteri Bottas.

For Hamilton, it is Mercedes or bust, and as Vettel highlights, he would be leaving more than just money on the table.

Speaking in reflection of his and Ferrari’s underwhelming season, Vettel said: “We were up against a very strong team/driver combination, one of the strongest we’ve seen so far, but our goal was to be stronger than that and in this regard, we failed.

“We had good races, bad races, we got close, sometimes far away, there are a lot of reasons why, but in the big picture it’s not unfair, it’s just the truth.”

Should Hamilton and Mercedes split, they would be forgoing the chance to win a seventh world title together, something that is hugely likely given their recent form.

Together, Hamilton and Mercedes are ostensibly irrepressible, impregnable even. 2021 should be more of the same, as far as the general consensus is concerned.

And so, with such historic success on the horizon, the question is begged: Why would either want to throw that away?

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