Despite $76 Million Coming in From Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton Once Argued He Never Left McLaren for Money

Back in 2013, when jumped ship from to , he was going to get $76,000,000 richer, because of the Silver Arrows paying him a bigger salary. However, despite the financials involved, Hamilton has maintained that he never ditched McLaren for money. Advertisement Hamilton once told , Advertisement Loading embed tweet https://twitter.com/ESPNF1/status/1726308332183699566?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw And Hamilton’s account resonates with that of Frank Worrall, the man who authored the Briton’s .

Even Worrall stressed on the fact that it was actually the regression of McLaren from a championship winning team to struggling for podium results that forced Hamilton’s hand. to leave a team like McLaren and go to a mid field Mercedes. In soccer terms, Jeremy Clarkson even compared it to ditching a legendary team like Manchester United to play for a mid table club like West Ham.

However, three time F1 champion Niki Lauda famously convinced him to make the move, and the rest as they say is history. Lewis Hamilton departure coincided with McLaren’s downfall After the involving McLaren rocked the F1 world, the Woking based team had to endure a very difficult period of time. Things began to unravel behind the scenes, and eventually Hamilton left for Mercedes.

In 2015, they partnered with Honda which led to arguably their worst ever period in F1. Loading embed tweet https://twitter.com/F1/status/682495393284919296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Advertisement On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton was pushing himself into a team that had the right people and proven pedigree to win.

Alongside Niki Lauda, Ross Brawn was a big pulling factor for Hamilton to consider a move to Brackley. Loading embed tweet https://twitter.com/ESPNF1/status/1726308332183699566?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw He explained, Hamilton’s arrival in the team really lifted their spirits. The team already had a talented bunch of people around them, but Hamilton’s knack for perfection really pushed everyone to do their utter best.

It is only speculation whether Hamilton would’ve been as successful as he is today if he had stayed back at McLaren. One thing is for sure, because of the Silver Arrows, Lewis Hamilton could live up to his lofty standards and talent. Advertisement.