Former Ferrari and Williams team manager Peter Windsor believes McLaren’s recent return to the leading pack will give Lewis Hamilton hope that Mercedes “can do the same”, following a challenging 18 months.
The new aerodynamic era of Formula 1 hasn’t been kind to Mercedes or Hamilton, with the Silver Arrows having designed two cars incapable of fighting for the championship.
Despite having been so dominant from 2014-2021, Mercedes have remarkably only claimed one win since the regulations were changed last season, and that was courtesy of George Russell.
Hamilton last won at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with him not looking likely to end his winless streak anytime soon.
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Mercedes have thrown everything at returning to the front of the pack but have been unable to put a dent in Red Bull’s advantage, something McLaren sensationally have done.
Despite having been almost a backmarker at the start of 2023, recent upgrades in Austria and Britain have seen McLaren leapfrog several teams in the pecking order.
The Woking-based side have been quicker than Mercedes at the last two races, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri having finished second and fourth at Silverstone recently.
Whilst McLaren’s stunning comeback might result in Mercedes having another challenger for the podium places in the coming races, Windsor thinks Hamilton can take confidence from the customer team’s return to the front.
He believes that McLaren’s recent improvements will make Hamilton believe that Mercedes “can do the same”, something which’ll give him more belief in signing a new deal with the Silver Arrows for 2024.
“I think Lewis is sort of talking himself into staying at Mercedes, isn’t he?” Windsor said.
“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.’”
Hamilton is still yet to sign a contract extension with Mercedes for next season, despite team boss Toto Wolff having stated several weeks ago that an agreement was just “days” away.
The 38-year-old was briefly linked to Ferrari, only for a switch to Maranello to be quashed by both parties.
Windsor believes Hamilton “might as well stay” at Mercedes given that he will never receive a Red Bull seat, whilst the Germans are also better than Ferrari.
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“I can’t imagine Ferrari is attractive to him,” Windsor said.
“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.”