Hamilton will talk to dad about ‘doing a Schumacher’ - Brundle

The intense speculation surrounding Hamilton’s future at Mercedes has ramped up after the seven-time world champion criticised his team for failing to listen to him over the development of their W14 following a dismal start to F1 2023. 

• What next for Hamilton and Mercedes? 

Hamilton has begun talks over an expected contract extension but doubts have since emerged about whether the 38-year-old Briton will remain at Mercedes or look to move elsewhere.

And Sky Sports pundit Brundle believes Hamilton will be tempted to try and emulate Schumacher by joining Ferrari and building F1’s most famous team back into serial winners. 

"There's a lot of good reasons to stay at Mercedes, he just needs them to tell him how they're going to sort this out,” Brundle said on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. 

“But you know, [Ayrton] Senna left McLaren to go to Williams, Schumacher went off to Ferrari, didn't he? And it took a long time but they made that work.

"So these great drivers are not scared of going somewhere and then galvanising and getting a lot of new people around them and making something happen.

"And I think there must be part of Lewis that thinks, 'you know, I'd love to go to Ferrari and do a Michael Schumacher and really turn that back into [a winning team] - if I can't win my eighth or ninth right now, why don't I go and have some fun there?’

"I'm sure these are all playing in his mind and he'll be talking to his dad about this as well and his management team about where to go from here and that will be exacerbated by the dismal performance of the car in Bahrain.” 

Join Ferrari, Red Bull, or stay put at Mercedes?

Brundle reckons Hamilton has one final “roll of the dice” to join another team and make them world champions. 

"Going to Mercedes looked like a risk at the time but what we didn't know was all the things that Ross Brawn, Andy Cowell and many others could tell Lewis - 'have a look at our hybrid power-unit that we've got coming, we're miles ahead of anybody else,’” Brundle said. 

"Lewis was able to see that. I don't think he'll have that kind of head start if he moves at the moment.

"He's obviously in the latter part of his career, but I could easily see him having another five years - look at Fernando Alonso - he's three years older than Lewis and driving probably at his best, or equal best.

"Lewis has got one more roll of the dice to join a team and make them world champions and get all the accolades that he wants, so I think that's where he's at the moment.

"'If in doubt, stay put', I would have thought would be what he's thinking. 'If I can make this work, that's my best solution, if not I may have to look elsewhere.’”

But Brundle suspects Hamilton’s best bet of taking an unprecedented eighth drivers’ crown is to stay at the team with which he has already won six of his seven world titles.

"I think it's absolutely clear that taking that eighth title is everything to him now, to move that hightide mark and be right up there and considered the greatest and have one more than anybody else is important to him, and I think he'll want to drive wherever he can achieve that,” he added. 

"If he went to Ferrari, for example, would you be certain you could achieve that better there? They've got a number of their own challenges at the moment.

"Would he get in the door at Red Bull? Because that's the only place right now you'd think he could go to. Could you have a Verstappen-Hamilton line-up? Could you afford them? Do you need that? Because I think Red Bull are quite happy with a number one and a one-and-a-half driver in their car.

"So it's all very well saying he'll go somewhere else, but where at the moment? So he's better to make what he's got at a magnificent team work."