Former Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug says it is “very sad” to see Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari red ahead of the F1 2025 season.
And he believes Hamilton and Mercedes suffered “a demolition” after the 2021 World Championship was “stolen” from the British driver at that year’s Abu Dhabi decider.
Former Mercedes boss: ‘Very sad’ to see Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari
Hamilton is preparing for his first season as a Ferrari driver having joined the Italian team from Mercedes on a multi-year contract from F1 2025.
It marks only the second team switch of Hamilton’s illustrious career with his only previous transfer occurring at the beginning of 2013 when he swapped McLaren for Mercedes.
Hamilton cemented his status as the most decorated driver in F1 history over the course
of 12 seasons at Mercedes, equalling Michael Schumacher’s record of seven World Championships in 2020 before becoming the first man to reach 100 grand prix victories and pole positions the following year.
Analysis: Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari from Mercedes for F1 2025
Hamilton’s switch will see him race a non-Mercedes engine for the first time in his career, with the German manufacturer powering each of his 356 F1 starts stretching back to his debut season with McLaren in 2007.
As the former head of Mercedes’ motorsport activities, Haug played an instrumental role in the rise of Hamilton through Mercedes’ works partnership with McLaren.
The 72-year-old narrowly missed out on reuniting with Hamilton at the Brackley-based Mercedes F1 team, having been replaced by Toto Wolff at the end of 2012.
Haug met with Hamilton for the first time in years during the driver’s Mercedes farewell tour in December, which saw the 40-year-old visit Mercedes’ headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, as well as the base of title sponsors Petronas in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Speaking to Sky Germany, Haug confessed that it is “very sad” to see Hamilton in Ferrari colours having expected the seven-time World Champion to finish his career with Mercedes.
And he backed Hamilton to “give everything” in his bid to land a record eighth World Championship with Ferrari.
He said: “It’s actually very sad for me, I have to say. I would never have thought that Lewis would switch again.
“I’ve really known him since he was 14 years old. There really is still a great relationship. “I hadn’t seen him for years…and I don’t know. When you’ve worked with people, with racing drivers, for so long, it’s like the first day, as if the last meeting was yesterday.
“Anyone who thinks that he will give up at 40 and step on the gas less and work less intensively will be wrong. He will give everything [at Ferrari].
“I absolutely trust him to deliver the maximum possible performance in the race.
“And if the car is good, why shouldn’t it work out with the eighth title?”
Hamilton was infamously denied an eighth title in highly controversial circumstances at the 2021 decider in Abu Dhabi, where the race director’s failure to implement the Safety Car rules correctly saw Hamilton overtaken by Red Bull driver Max Verstappen on the last lap.
Verstappen has dominated F1 over recent years, storming to four consecutive World Championships, with Hamilton restricted to just two race wins since the start of the 2022 season.
Hamilton’s decision to leave Mercedes came on the back of a second consecutive winless season in 2023, with the seven-time World Champion activating a break clause to force his move to Ferrari less than six months after signing a two-year contract extension with the Silver Arrows.
Haug has claimed that the 2021 title was “stolen” from Hamilton with driver and team suffering “a demolition” after the controversial Abu Dhabi finale.
He added: “The last few years [have been difficult] since the title we lost in 2021.
“And that really was a stolen title – there’s no other way to put it – due to the wrong safety car decision at the time, but there was a demolition after that.
“The car and the team that preceded it suffered many setbacks, including last year. The victories that did come were some at low temperatures.”
Put to him that Mercedes could return to the top in the near future after a promising pre-season test with the new W16 car in Bahrain last week, Haug added: “I think we are, as you know, just as good as we were in the last race.”
