Max Verstappen has explained that Mercedes will block Lewis Hamilton from 'certain meetings' this year with the British racing superstar leaving to join rivals Ferrari in 2025.
After another disappointing season last year, Mercedes headed into 2024 with optimism about closing the gap to Red Bull with both Hamilton and George Russell leading the fight.
But the mood around Mercedes ahead of the new season has been dampened after news of Hamilton's shock deal to join Ferrari at the end of the year.
Both Hamilton and Toto Wolff insist its business as usual for the pair of them with the seven-time world champion fully focused on helping the team.
Time will tell whether that is the case by the end of the year but Verstappen still feels it will be "awkward" now that everyone knows Hamilton is leaving and he'll be left out at certain points.
Lewis Hamilton will race in Mercedes colours for one more year
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“For the rest of the year, I would say it’s a little bit awkward,” said Verstappen.
“It’s not like they are suddenly enemies. He has achieved so many great things with them.
“They are still behind him, and for sure he has a great relationship with everyone, especially Toto.
“But he knows at one point, and Toto for sure will tell him: ‘Look, I know we’ve had all this success, but you can’t be part of certain meetings any more’.
“That is normal in F1. It’s probably a bit weird.
“But you are professional enough to deal with that. And once he’s sitting in the car, they will of course go flat out for him.”
It's not usual for a driver deal to be announced 12 months before their actual switch with teams keen to keep those conversations under wraps until later in the season.
The F1 'silly season' in the summer break is usually when more details are leaked about potential moves.
But Verstappen feels the only reason Hamilton's deal with Ferrari was announced so early was to get ahead of any "leak".
“It must have been leaked to announce something that big that early in the season," Verstappen added.
Lewis Hamilton still wants to challenge for Mercedes
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“Him going to Ferrari is not really shocking. It’s not a surprise they were talking.
"I just think the announcement was a bit rushed.”
Hamilton may have one eye on his move to Ferrari in 2025, but the 39-year-old is not letting that get in the way of what he wants to achieve in 2024.
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Max Verstappen was speaking after Red Bull's car launch
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“The focus through the whole of winter training is getting the team back to where we once were,” he said.
“We have had these difficult couple of years, which have been really grounding for us. It has helped us regroup and really look at things.
"I’ve always loved working with the team, particularly when there’s so many people, it’s a huge human element.
"Without those people working so incredibly hard, we wouldn’t get where we want to be. It’s great when we have a common goal and we focus on that on the whole year, it’s a real privilege.”
