For Hamilton, the idea of joining Red Bull, which has shown dominance in 2022 and 2023, does not align with his vision for his career. In a candid conversation with the media, Hamilton shared his thoughts on why he chose to continue with Mercedes. He emphasised that while every driver dreams of being in a winning car, for him, the journey of transforming a less successful team into a champion holds greater appeal.

The British driver commented:

“I think of the signing, and it has shown my commitment to the team.

“Let’s be realistic, every single driver that is racing here dreams of being in a winning car, and I think in my younger days when I hadn’t maybe had a lot of success in the McLaren days, it was a lot more attractive.

“When I think about it from a racing perspective, when I moved to this team, I enjoyed moving from a more successful team to a team that hadn’t had success with the vision of growing and building with a team, because when we did that, it was such a better feeling.

“Every driver here looks at the Red Bull car and would love to drive that car, and I am not saying that I wouldn’t love to drive that car and feel how good it is, every driver would feel that.”

Reflecting on Mercedes’ recent performance struggles, Hamilton continued:

“We’ve had two difficult years, and if we work towards being that car, it is going to be a way better feeling than stepping into the best car.

“That wouldn’t do much for me, in the sense of stepping into the car that is the most dominant of all-time.

“Working with my team to build and be able to beat them, that would be better for my legacy.”