Max Verstappen believes that Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari could make things ‘awkward’ for him at Mercedes. The legendary Brit sealed a shock deal to join the Italian team earlier this month but still has one year remaining with his current employers.
Speaking about the move at the Red Bull launch event, Verstappen said: “I mean I think at the end of the day, seeing him go to Ferrari… it’s not a surprise.
“You know, if that’s your goal as a kid or your dream then you go, right? The only thing for me was that it seemed like it was a bit leaked, of course, and then they had to announce it.
“Because to announce something that big that early in the season I think for sure, for the rest of the year is a bit, I would say a little bit awkward.
“Even though you’ve had a lot of success together as a team, you can’t be included into everything anymore. But for him going to Ferrari, it’s not really shocking, you know.”
With Hamilton heading to one of Mercedes’ key rivals in 2025, the Brit will not be made privy to certain key information in the coming year.
“I mean for sure he has a great relationship with everyone and especially also with Toto,” Verstappen continued.
“But he also knows at one point, and Toto for sure will tell him ‘I’m really sorry, we’ve had all this success, but you can’t be a part of certain meetings any more.’ And it’s normal in F1 and it’s probably a bit weird, but you’re professional enough to deal with that.”
Despite the information gap that Hamilton will be subjected to, Verstappen still believes that the Mercedes team-mates will be on an even footing.
He added: “I think at the end of the day you are professional enough to just deal with what you have. I mean it’s not like they are suddenly enemies or whatever.
“He has achieved so many great things with that whole team that they are still behind him. It’s just you know that at one point you can’t just share certain stuff. But once he is sitting in the car they will still go, of course, flat out for him to try and win races as well.”
Hamilton will get his final season as a Mercedes driver underway at pre-season testing, which begins in Bahrain next Wednesday.
