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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Daniel Moxon

Lewis Hamilton given Mercedes advice by his dad as he considered huge F1 career move

Lewis Hamilton was told by his father to snub Mercedes and stay with McLaren, the Brit has revealed.

After his first couple of seasons in Formula 1, the world was at Hamilton's feet. As a rookie he came with one point of the title and matched team-mate Fernando Alonso. And he wrote his name in the history books as a sophomore in 2008 with that last-gasp success over Felipe Massa.

For a while after that, though, his career trajectory did not quite take off as expected. McLaren's fortunes began to decline and Hamilton was not getting the opportunities that he wanted to win more titles.

The F1 world was stunned when Hamilton quit the team in favour of Mercedes. It was a relatively new team with no history of championship success while McLaren, despite their declining fortunes at the time, had a strong track record over several decades.

Many felt he should have stayed where he was – including his own father. Hamilton said: "I remember the first race, I remember the decision I took to join this team. I didn't let anybody influence the decision that I took. I wanted to make it wholly with my own judgement and no influence.

"You know, there were people that told me that I should stay at McLaren. My dad said stay, loads of people said stay. But something inside of me told that this was what was right for me.

Hamilton's father was among those who encouraged Hamilton to stick with McLaren (AFP/Getty Images)

"I got to the team, had my first seat fit with [Pete Bonnington, his race engineer]. People underestimate how long it takes to understand each other, to build up a friendship.

"Especially that first year, I struggled with the car. We had a different type of suspension that I'd never had before. We struggled like crazy with it. But we did get a win." That victory in Hungary in that 2013 season helped him to finish fourth in the standings.

He added: "If there was any doubt over decisions, whether I was right or wrong, this was confirmation that it was the right step. It was great to get back on the podium and to solidify the decision that the team took."

Safe to say Hamilton's Mercedes move was the correct decision (AFP/Getty Images)

In 2014, his second season, Mercedes realised their full potential by adapting to the hybrid engine regulations the quickest and embarking on what would be an eight-year winning streak in the constructors' championship.

Hamilton has seven championships himself and dreams of an eighth. He admitted earlier this year, though, that he is fearful that the opportunity to achieve that might never come along amid the team's current performance struggles, since another change to car regulations came into force at the start of last year.

He said: "There are days where I do feel like I'm not enough, there are days where I don't feel like I'm good enough. People can be like, 'Yeah, but you've won seven world titles', but still there are days where I question, 'Have you still got it? Can you still be the best?' I'm having that conversation with myself often."

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