Hamilton's departure 'making things different inside of Mercedes'

Since joining Mercedes in 2013, Hamilton has won six of his seven world titles, with 83 of his 103 race wins coming with the German team, cementing him as one of the greatest of the sport. There was hope that the final season of the Brit's Mercedes career would have brought more joy on the podium, but with Hamilton leaving for Ferrari for the 2025 season, there is talk as to whether the huge driver transfer has changed the mood and motivation in the garage.

What are the differences for Mercedes and Hamilton?

Speaking on Sky Sports on Friday at the Spanish Grand Prix, both Danica Patrick and former F1 driver Karun Chandok had their say on this growing situation.

Patrick started by saying: "If I'm going to guess, I'm sure he obviously wants to do everything he can to win, but he knows that he's leaving, and I'm sure that might be making things different inside the team. There's no way around the fact that he's leaving, and they can't share everything. Who knows? But that's the normal way of it when you're leaving, so I'm guessing that he wants to make the best of every situation. However, there is always that contingency in his head of, 'But I'm leaving'."

Of course, Hamilton and Mercedes will be hoping to have at least one more victory together before the end of 2024, and with upgrades to the W15 improving the pace of the car, there is potential for Hamilton to improve on his slow start and find his way onto the podium at Catalunya, especially after taking P1 in FP2.

However, as Patrick alluded to, the relationship that has been so strong for many years will have to change somewhat with Hamilton departing, knowing they cannot share information that may benefit Hamilton and Ferrari. Chandok agreed with Patrick but dismissed the "sabotaging" claims.

"I think it would be normal to be gravitating towards George in terms of information sharing, but I think back to when Mercedes had Nico and Lewis, and even Valtteri and Lewis at the time, even though Valtteri was a number two driver, they never favoured anyone in terms of updates or strategy and things like that.

"As a team, philosophically, they are very good about giving both drivers equal opportunities, and equal chances. I know there have been rumblings all over the internet about the team favouring George and all sorts of stuff, but nobody with Mercedes wants to finish on a low with Lewis Hamilton. They have had amazing success together, and they want to finish these next 15 races with as much success as possible.