Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is in the midst of contract negotiations with Mercedes over his future at the Silver Arrows.
Hamilton has claimed he sees Mercedes as family and is set to finish his career at the team despite the struggles to keep up with the pace of its Red Bull rivals.
“My goal was always to be with Mercedes, y’know? I signed with them in 1997,” Hamilton told reporters.
“I think I’ll always be with Mercedes ’til the day I die. And I feel like I can race for quite a bit longer. So, I’ll be potentially steering towards that,” he added.
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Gerhard Berger, who raced for Arrows, ATS, Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren, on the other hand, believes that, after 10 years at the team, Hamilton might seek newer pastures in his quest for a record-breaking eighth world title.
“Every racing driver wants to drive for Ferrari at least once,” Berger told Austrian outlet Kronen Zeitung.
“Almost all the good [F1 racers] have been there. Ayrton Senna just didn’t go to the Scuderia because he knew, ‘I can never win there’.
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“It may be that Lewis thinks so too. But if he doesn’t get a competitive car at Mercedes, if he doesn’t see a place at Red Bull Racing, then he might think, ‘I don’t want to stop just yet, I want to try Ferrari again. Maybe I can fix it’.
“Although Lewis constantly emphasises that he would never leave his Mercedes family, that means nothing in Formula 1. No-one reveals the cards there,” the former F1 driver said.
Hamilton’s contract expires at the end of the 2023, so Mercedes will be keen to move swiftly to secure his services into the future.