Lewis Hamilton back to McLaren? F1 insider tips Ferrari escape route

McLaren could potentially be an exit route for Lewis Hamilton if he becomes frustrated with the situation at Ferrari according to a prominent F1 insider.

Peter Windsor's comments come at a turbulent time for Hamilton and the Scuderia, still reeling from the on-track drama with teammate Charles Leclerc in Mexico City, after which the Brit demanded 'serious talks' behind the scenes.

Those talks happened ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, but it's business as usual in terms of the rules of engagement between the two drivers, with Ferrari having simply reminded them that they must put the team first, not themselves.

Indeed, calls from some, including 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill, for Ferrari to make Hamilton their number one appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

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F1 insider thinks McLaren could sign Hamilton

Speaking ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, amid the ongoing frustration Hamilton appears to be experiencing, Windsor was quizzed on what he thought would retire the seven-time world champion, age and losing pace, or impatience with Ferrari.

Windsor said he doesn't believe it would come to the latter, and that if Hamilton did decide to leave Ferrari, McLaren chief Zak Brown would try to lure him back to the team he left in 2012.

"It's kind of difficult to imagine those situations because if he got to the point of saying, ‘I love Ferrari, I love the money. I love the people. I love Maranello. I love the pasta. I love everything, but I don't like Charles Leclerc anymore and I find that they've got no ability to run this team efficiently because Charles constantly disobeys team orders,' or whatever he's thinking, 'I'm going to retire’," Windsor said on the Cameron CC YouTube channel.

“The minute he said that, I suspect Zak Brown would be immediately on the phone saying, ‘Lewis, two-year contract, McLaren, easy to run team, Oscar in the other car, Lando in the other car, whatever it is. Your team, we want to win the world championship again. This is a different McLaren. This isn't the Ron Dennis McLaren. This is the real McLaren now and we've got the Mercedes engine still. It's going to be a brilliant thing, come on, come to McLaren'.

"I think Lewis will go back to McLaren if he really doesn’t want to race for Ferrari anymore."

Windsor continued: “What I'm saying is, I don't think that Ferrari scenario would necessarily force him into retirement. It would just maybe open him up to maybe going back to McLaren.

"I can't see him going back to Merc or him fitting in at Merc. But I think he could go back to McLaren on the basis that it's a different team. That's where he started. Go back to them, Rwanda, the whole thing. Zak would love all that. So I think that could happen.”

Windsor: I can only imagine Hamilton going to McLaren

The F1 insider concluded that he wasn't trying to be sensationalist with his opinion, but rather stating that if Hamilton were to leave Ferrari, he sees McLaren as the only other team on the grid he would join.

“I mean, I'm not suggesting that would happen in the sense of clickbait, but I'm just saying that's the only team I can imagine him going to other than retiring," Windsor said.

“If he can't go to McLaren, then he's fed up with Ferrari. Yeah. He probably would retire, I suspect.”

McLaren, of course, have two drivers at present, with Lando Norris contracted to the team through 2030, and Oscar Piastri having signed a 'multi-year' extension until at least the end of 2028. But, clearly, Windsor believes Brown would go to great lengths to land Hamilton, were he to become available.

For Hamilton, having been a McLaren protege and made his F1 debut with the team, there would clearly be an emotional pull, but whether it would be enough to lure him back to Woking is a different matter.

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Written by

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson - F1 Editor

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