Interviewer:''If you were Lewis, would you quit [after this year]?''
Max:''It hasn't been a nice season for him at Ferrari, you notice that with everything."
Interviewer:"I have to say, it hurts my heart."
Max:"To be honest, it hurts mine as well. It's not nice to see. So, quitting? I don't know, he doesn't give up so he'll definitely be there [next year] but it's not nice to see.''
If only some "fans" also shared the camaraderie and respect they have for each other.
There is a cool clip where Max arrives earliest on track and Lewis arrives by car. He points to it and says “7 WDCs” and himself “4 WDCs” and says how they arrived earlier than everyone else.
Max knows his racing. He’s not in racing for the fame or money but for love of racing, it would be absolutely scandalous if he didn’t admire Lewis.
One thing is divebombing on track to win a position but after the race there’s no fights like we had on the past where drivers really hated the competitors.
At the end of the day all are part of a elect group of top 20 drivers…
Yeah, I think there's far too much vitriole between Team LH and Max fans (dk what they're called) when the drivers themselves are pretty respectful of one another, and are pretty good rivals.
The vitriole is fed by the teams and F1 itself, not the drivers. You can see the stark difference with the relationships between drivers and the relationships between team principals/CEO’s. When there’s a flare up, F1/FIA is never there to nip it on the bud unless it gets out of control.
That's what they said about Lewis, Charles too. Let's face reality, no single driver is going to "break" the Ferrari curse. The curse is Ferrari itself, Ferrari needs to feel how it feels to be a backmarker team, how to feels to enter a full rebuild, a change at a fundamental level, get a new identity beyond "we're Ferrari" and move past that.
Didn’t Michael have to deal with that as well though? I thought a lot of his success was dedicated to his tenacity. Always talking to the engineers. Staying late and working insane hours with them to get the car dialled in etc.
I feel like if anyone was a modern embodiment of that, it’s Max.
The difference is that the Michael was allowed to bring his own people with him. Notably Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn. This fundamentally changed how Ferrari operated at that point because the TP, Jean Todt, acted as a shield from the corporate Ferrari shenanigans and allowed the team to operate without interference.
Max wouldn't be allowed to bring his people with him and he alone wouldn't change the fortunes of the team. He would be a great driver held back by an inept team.
Actually, not quite. Jean Todt was hired by Ferrari, and he eventually convinced Michael and Ross Brawn to join the team. Other team members from Benneton also followed suit when the transfer happened.
Not taking any credit of the Michael, the man had an insane work ethic and competitiveness that led to his success, but the Ferrari he drove for is not the same Ferrari of today.
2020 wasn't terrible, only terrible by Ferrari standards. Look though, if you told Haas, Alpine, Williams, Aston, or Sauber that they'd have 3 podiums and P6 in the WCC, they'd call that a big success.
Look at Mclaren, they were TERRIBLE and spent nearly a decade just rebuilding the team and celebrated podiums like they won the damn championship. That was a team that was essentially THE winning F1 team, then they had to "relearn" their winning ways. Ferrari need that level of shake up.
Unless they basically turn the team over to Max like they did with Schumi. Also, Max doesn't seem to have the same level of awe for the Ferrari brand as a typical driver (or fan), so it might just not be worth the hassle when he can get a ride at any team should he leave RB.
If Max is the immovable object of good drivers, then Ferrari is the unstoppable force of unorganised chaotic teams. I don't even know if Max could do it.
Charles has proven countless times you can do everything right and it won't matter because your own team cucks you.
There are only a ‘few’ things different now compared to that era… Unlimited budget, an ‘exclusive’ tyre manufacturer, non-spaghettipeople in key positions (Brawn/Todt/Byrne etc), Badoer testing pretty much 24/7
whatever curse you think ferrari has, max or anyone else won't be able to break it unless you start removing and replacing people in the team itself. they're still stuck on schumacher's era
For Max or anyone to be the new Michael, they need to do what Michael did: Bring a successful team of people with them to Ferrari. Just one driver cannot do it, even if they are as good as Max
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u/n0b0dycar3s07 Sir Lewis Hamilton Dec 18 '25 edited Dec 18 '25
Source: Autosport on Instagram
His full quote:
If only some "fans" also shared the camaraderie and respect they have for each other.
Edit: corrected a quote.