With Mark Webber now having committed to Red
Bull for another year – a good decision all around – there are not
that many seats out there available for a driver of his calibre. Mercedes
if Michael
Schumacher retires? Perhaps, but there is no guarantee they will
produce a quicker car than McLaren next year. Ferrari
if Felipe Massa moves on?
It’s difficult to envisage Lewis working alongside Fernando Alonso again,
especially with the Spaniard now so firmly embedded at Maranello.
Lotus? Lewis would likewise be taking a huge punt on them being able to
produce a championship-winning car.
No, I would advise Lewis to stay right where he is, and I am sure he will.
It has not always been the smoothest of rides with Lewis, but when he gets it
right he remains sensational. Of his 100 races to date, and the 18 wins,
that famous victory at the rain-soaked 2008 British GP stands out. But it
was the way Lewis arrived in the sport five years ago, claiming nine
successive podiums and matching his double world champion team-mate Alonso
from the word go, which most impressed me. Yes, there have been strops and
controversies and collisions along the way. But as I have written before,
Lewis is a driver who wears his heart on his sleeve, goes for it 100 per
cent, and is never less than compelling.
In Bernie Ecclestone’s travelling circus, as Formula One is sometimes called,
Lewis is a genuine headline act and one we are lucky to have. Here’s to his
next 100 races.