Sascha Roos, a long-time commentator for Sky Deutschland’s coverage of Formula 1 racing, believes that Mercedes should offer Lewis Hamilton a new contract for 2024 and beyond.
In 2022, Mercedes replaced Hamilton’s teammate of the previous five years, Valtteri Bottas, with the younger George Russell. “I didn’t think Russell would score more points than Hamilton in his first year,” said the 50-year-old Roos. “I expect more from Hamilton in 2023, but I put it in pencil whether he is the undisputed number 1.
I think it’s a similar situation at Mercedes now as in the time when Nico Rosberg was next to Hamilton,” he added.
The Hamilton-Rosberg situation ultimately descended into the destruction of their personal friendship as Rosberg went on to win the 2016 title. “In the end last season, it was a clear story in Russell’s favour and I think Mercedes handled it very fairly,” said Roos.
However, Hamilton and Mercedes intend to ink a new contract beyond 2023, with team boss Toto Wolff declaring this week: “Lewis is part of the team and the team is part of Lewis. There is no reason for that to not continue.”
Roos agrees that Hamilton should be offered a new contract for 2024 and beyond. “He’s motivated,” he said. “But I don’t think there will be a situation between Hamilton and Russell as there was between Hamilton and Rosberg. At that time, to the outside world, it was always emphasised that Rosberg and Hamilton were on equal footing. But internally, Hamilton was preferred. In my opinion.”
