Briefly over the winter, there was a will-he-won’t-he debate over Lewis Hamilton’s future in Formula 1.
Hurt by the events of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, we were led to believe for a short time that the seven-time world champion was so disillusioned that he was ready to walk away.
And yet he returned, although not quite to what he would have anticipated at a behemoth like Mercedes, which has long dominated the grid.
His third place in Bahrain last week was a gift handed to him by Red Bull’s fuel issues but the reality is Hamilton knows that fifth place is currently the best he can hope for in terms of outright pace at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend.
Much has been made of Mercedes’ struggles and their race to get back to being competitive before the prancing horse of Ferrari has bolted along with Red Bull to set up a two-way title fight.
Should the struggles continue, then the question marks will begin over Hamilton’s future. At the age of 37, he has not stayed in the sport merely to be scrapping for a place in the top five but for the outright record of eight world titles.
As the F1 driver turned commentator Martin Brundle put it: “If he goes through the whole year and Mercedes are third fastest and others are catching them up, then I suspect he’ll take a different view…and he won’t be enjoying it anymore.”
For Hamilton, it has always been about motivation, primarily about being the fastest and his on-track rivalries, but also about pushing his passions outside of the car such as greater diversity and inclusion in F1.
But if it continues that last season’s title rival Max Verstappen and the newest and most likely threat to the drivers’ crown on early evidence, Charles Leclerc, disappear into the distance then such motivation can be hard to extricate.
That moment has certainly not come yet. To see and hear Hamilton at the Bahrain Grand Prix was to see the same drive and determination as ever in what is his 16th season in the paddock.
He was photographed laughing and joking with the Mercedes engineers in the aftermath of the race, and an ecstatic radio message at the chequered flag for a podium finish that never looked a possibility hardly indicated a driver ready to walk off into the sunset.
Hamilton relishes harnessing the power of the collective behind him. His message was one of thanks to those in Bahrain and back in the factory in Brackley having got out more than the W13 had been capable of race results wise, and how this was just the start of the required rebuild.
There is motivation, too, to beat a new team-mate in George Russell. Unsurprisingly in his first race as a full-time Mercedes works driver, Russell played second fiddle. But there is the added danger of Hamilton getting rattled, as he has in the past, if he matches him.
Mercedes want to keep their No1 asset happy and the easiest way to do that is to improve the car. That, according to Andrew Shovlin, the trackside engineering director, will take some work.
He said of the car: “There is bouncing, the balance is poor, there is a lack of low-speed grip, we’re struggling on traction, the driveability could be better, the tyre warm-up is not good enough and the car’s a bit on the heavy side. There is a lot for us to work on.”
That is hardly the ultimate sales pitch to Hamilton but Shovlin also talked about upgrades for Saudi Arabia and “some easy gains”. For Mercedes and its star driver, they can’t come soon enough.
