Claiming he was not fast anymore last season, F1 journalist Ben Hunt has pondered whether Lewis Hamilton had “kind of checked out” as he served his notice at Mercedes.

Last season marked Hamilton’s 12th and final year with Mercedes, the Briton announcing even before the first race of the F1 2024 championship that he would be leaving to join Ferrari in 2025.

Ben Hunt on Lewis Hamilton: That’s someone that’s had enough

It was a season of highs and lows for the Briton and Mercedes as while he broke his 945-day winless streak, he wasn’t in contention for the World title and eventually finished a distant seventh in the Drivers’ standings.

It was the first time in Hamilton’s 18 years on the grid that he was outside of the top six, and 2024 was also only the second time he lost a qualifying head-to-head against a team-mate.

It had Hamilton saying after Sprint qualifying in Qatar: “I’m definitely not fast anymore.”

With the question of that hanging over his head as he joins Ferrari, F1 journalist Hunt wonders if perhaps Hamilton had “checked out”.

“He’d handed his notice in at the start of the year, and he was serving his notice, he’d kind of checked out,” Hunt said on the James Allen on F1 podcast. “And you know, once you’ve done that you’re never working at your same capacity. The drive isn’t there to deliver week in, week out, when you’ve done so.

“I think his head had been turned. He was looking at Ferrari, and what was unusual was the fact he said it, but it was an unusual circumstance for him as well, because he’d had that dip in motivation, and like I say, his focus had to switch to another team who he wasn’t driving for.

“So, you know, while he was running around behind that Ferrari, he was probably thinking about what he could bring to the table to make it even better. And it was kind of detracting from his usual thinking process.”

Hamilton’s “not fast” comment wasn’t the only time in 2024 that he raised eyebrows, he also wanted to retire the car in Qatar only to be told otherwise by his race engineer Pete Bonnington.

Hunt believes comments such as that were out of character for Hamilton who had become “disillusioned” during his final years at Mercedes, as six World titles with the Silver Arrows were followed by three years in an uncompetitive car.

“I think that his time at Mercedes,” he said, “I don’t want to say he grew stale, but he certainly got very disillusioned I think with life at Mercedes.

“And I think that he needed this change for the motivation. He was kind of going through the motions is how I felt for the last couple of years at Mercedes, as they’ve failed to deliver a car that is capable of fighting at the front.

“We know that this style of car doesn’t suit his driving, and he’s tried to learn and combat that, but it’s not been helped by an uncompetitive car.

“But he’s always had that motivation to turn up and deliver and do as best as he can, which you know is admirable. You rarely hear him say, ‘I want to retire the car’, which is why on those occasions last year when he mentioned it that’s really out of character. That someone that’s has had enough.”

The good news for Ferrari is the F1 journalist believes Hamilton will be re-energised by the Ferrari challenge, he may even win that elusive eighth World title.

“He wanted the new challenge,” he said. “He wanted to be really motivated, re-energised.

“I think there’s a couple of factors. He needed that challenge. He could see what Ferrari can offer him, but also what he can offer Ferrari and Lewis always talks about legacy and sort of a building process.

“His job at Mercedes was done. He came in in 2013 he was able to deliver them consistency, make improvements, and obviously all those titles.

“He now has the opportunity to do that at Ferrari, and maybe then top out at Formula One having guided them back to glory. Maybe win that eighth title. That would seal his status as Formula 1’s greatest ever, wouldn’t it? Would be a massive achievement.

“But yeah, Lewis is motivated. You know, I think he needed this change of direction. And one of the other aspects of him is always when people tell him he can’t do something, or there’s a lot of criticism put in his way, he uses that as motivation.

“I think that the comments from Toto Wolff saying that every driver has a shelf life, I think that will only serve to drive him on even more. And I’m really excited to see how he utilises all of that next year. It’s going to be one hell of a learning curve for him, but it’s going to be exciting.”