---
title: "Hamilton was unsure he would win races again after leaving McLaren"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2021/01/26/hamilton-was-unsure-he-would-win-races-again-after-leaving-mclaren/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Hamilton Lyndon-Griffiths"
section: "F1 News"
published: "2021-01-26T10:41:11Z"
modified: "2021-01-26T10:41:12Z"
---

# Hamilton was unsure he would win races again after leaving McLaren

Lewis Hamilton believes he would still only have one world championship to his name had he turned down a move to Mercedes from McLaren.

Hamilton was handed his Formula 1 debut by McLaren in 2007, missing out on the title by just one point in his rookie season before claiming his first crown the following year.

But the Briton failed to add another championship over the next four seasons, prompting him to leave the team to join Mercedes in 2013.

The move was initially branded a mistake, with Mercedes having only won one race since it returned to F1 in 2010, but the German manufacturer turned into a dominant force from 2014 at the beginning of the V6 hybrid era.

Having gone on to win six drivers’ titles in seven years, Hamilton said the prospect of building Mercedes into race winners was decisive in his switch.

“I’d been with McLaren since I was 13 so it was my family and I was very safe there, I was well taken care of,” Hamilton said in an [interview with Mercedes’ sponsor Crowdstrike](https://www.crowdstrike.com/mercedes-f1/a-formula-for-success-podcast/).

“But I think McLaren had this amazing history, they had multiple championships, they were super-successful and I felt that I wasn’t necessarily helping build something. It was already an illustrious team, it already had all that success. It had the biggest cabinet of trophies and I wanted to go somewhere where I could help, could be a big part of building something.

“When I joined this team, it didn’t have many trophies in the cabinet. It was on the way up, it was growing, it was building. There was more people coming. And I was like, I want to go somewhere and see if I can utilise everything I’ve learned in all these years’, the privilege of working at McLaren, apply those learnings to a team that’s not being very successful to becoming successful.”

Hamilton concedes it was a “risk” to leave McLaren at a time it was still competing for victories and championships, and admits he wasn’t sure when he’d win again after arriving at Mercedes.

“There was moments when I was like, geez, I don’t know when I’m going to win again. I had to really analyse a lot of the pros and cons.

“But for me, taking the risk: Senna used to say ‘if you’re not going for a gap, you’re no longer racing driver’. I think if you’re not taking risks in life, then you’re standing still.

“So I could have stayed there. In hindsight, you look at if I had stayed, I wouldn’t have another championship to my name. I would still be a one-time world champion after 14 years.”

A key moment in Hamilton’s decision to leave McLaren was after he retired from the lead at the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix, when a chat with Mercedes non-executive director Niki Laura persuaded him to change teams.

“Things happen for a reason, one way or another,” Hamilton added. “And I’m really, really grateful that I took that step. I took that leap of faith. It’s thanks to people like Niki – rest his soul – and to Ross and to Mercedes for truly believing in me.”