Lewis Hamilton names ‘amazing option’ he would love to see replace him at Mercedes

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton believes Sebastian Vettel would be an “amazing option” for Mercedes but at the same he’d love to see a “youngster” replace him next season.
Having dropped the bombshell on Toto Wolff that he’s leaving Mercedes at the end of the year to join Ferrari, the Mercedes motorsport boss is now in the hunt for a new team-mate for George Russell.
Could Sebastian Vettel replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes?
And he has options aplenty.
From a double World Champion in Fernando Alonso to the only driver to beat Red Bull since 2022 in Carlos Sainz, Wolff has his pick of today’s drivers.
There’s also one former driver who could be interested with four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel telling Sky Sports: “I am speaking to Toto. I don’t know if that qualifies as Mercedes, but about other things. I’m talking to a lot of people because I know them, but not very specific.
“I mean obviously it does cross my mind, I do think about it, but it’s not the main thought… There are thoughts, but nothing concrete at the minute.”
His former title rival Hamilton says he would support Vettel returning to the grid.
“I would love for Seb to come back and I think it would be an amazing option for the team,” said the Ferrari-bound driver.
“German driver, multi-World Championship winning driver, and someone who has amazing values who would continue to take the team forward. I’d love it if he came back.”
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However, if Mercedes went the other way and put a rookie in the car with junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli linked to his seat, the Briton thinks that too would be a great move by Wolff and Mercedes.
“The only thing I really care about is that the team takes on someone that with integrity and that are aligned with the team and where the team’s going,” he added.
“Someone compassionate that’s able to work with great people and continues to lift them up. There’s so many great people in this team.
“And as drivers… there are some that are more selfish than others, there are some that are good drivers but perhaps not the best within the team environment, I don’t know because I’m not been in with all of them. But I hope they find someone great.
“They’ve already got George and he’s perfect so finding a good option alongside him I’m sure they’ve got so many good options. They’ve got so many options.
“I do think it’s always great to give an opportunity to up-and-coming drivers so the idea of a youngster coming in for me is exciting.”
As for Russell, he insists he doesn’t mind who is in the car alongside him be it a “World Champion” or a “rookie”.
“Sebastian’s a great person and he’s a four-time World Champion and for sure his personality is missed on the grid and I think it’s important that we have the best 20 drivers in the world all competing for race wins and championships,” he said in the driver press conference in Japan.
“So, as I said before… I’m really happy and open to have anybody as my team-mate, you know, whether it’s World Champion, whether it’s a rookie, it doesn’t change how I go about my business. And yeah, as I said, we’ll welcome anybody.”
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