Behind the Scenes in the Australia GP Paddock: Lewis Hamilton’s New Ferrari Base
A former mechanic for Lewis Hamilton in Formula One has shed light on a humorous yet poignant running joke within the paddock regarding Hamilton’s tumultuous relationship with Nicole Scherzinger. The world-renowned F1 star was romantically linked to the former Pussycat Dolls singer from 2007 until 2015, a period marked by a highly publicized on-again, off-again romance.
Marc Priestley, who worked with Hamilton during his early years in F1, shared insights during an episode of the Pitlane Life Lessons podcast. He recounted how the team’s dynamics often reflected the state of Hamilton’s relationship with Scherzinger. “When he first came into this sport, we used to joke among the team that Lewis’s performance was so intrinsically linked to the state of their relationship,” Priestley explained. “On a good day, he performed exceptionally well. However, during their rocky phases, it was evident that it affected his performance on track.”
The correlation between Hamilton’s emotional state and his racing prowess was so pronounced that Priestley and his colleagues dubbed it an “emotional roller coaster.” “When he was in low points in the relationship, you could clearly track the performance in the car to the way their relationship status seemed to be,” he noted. “We joked that there seemed to be more lap time in keeping those two together than there ever could be with anything we could do with the car!”
Hamilton and Scherzinger first announced their separation in 2010, three years after they began dating shortly after his McLaren debut in 2007. They reconciled several months later, which coincided with a remarkable victory at the Turkish Grand Prix, marking Hamilton’s first F1 win in 245 days. At the time, he referred to Scherzinger as “lucky” for him. Ultimately, the couple’s relationship ended definitively in 2015.
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Scherzinger made her final appearance in the F1 paddock at the 2014 season finale in Abu Dhabi, where Hamilton clinched his first driver’s championship with Mercedes. Priestley continued to elaborate on the emotional impact of Hamilton’s personal life on his professional performance. “There was a serious point to that, in that it was about understanding and appreciating that Lewis’s emotional state clearly affected his performance,” he remarked.
Hamilton is known for his emotional openness; he often wears his heart on his sleeve. “Without the ability to really control those emotions to the level that some other people might find easier, we were faced with an unbelievably talented racing driver whose performance varied significantly depending on his emotional state throughout a race weekend or season,” Priestley explained.
This emotional turbulence sometimes manifested in Hamilton’s press conference demeanor, where he would respond with terse, one-word answers before retreating from public view. “As engineers, our only goal was to try and improve things so that it could be better the next day or the next time out. However, when the driver—the key part of our debrief—was uncommunicative due to emotional struggles, it hindered our progress,” Priestley added.
He recalled how Hamilton would often withdraw on Saturday nights, missing social commitments and isolating himself to ponder his performance. “He would often disappear, shutting himself in a room, and he probably mulled over it for quite some time, digging himself into an even deeper hole,” Priestley described. “He would beat himself up emotionally, reiterating negative thoughts until he finally went to sleep.”
Despite these challenges, Hamilton possesses an incredible ability to bounce back from negativity. One of his most notable phrases, “still we rise,” has been a cornerstone of his resilience. “One thing he excelled at was waking up the next day with a fresh perspective,” Priestley noted. “He always said that every new day brings a new set of opportunities.”
- After struggling with qualifying, Hamilton often emerged for Sunday races with renewed vigor and optimism.
- “He would reset his expectations and relieve himself of the pressures that weighed him down on Saturday,” Priestley explained.
- This ability to shift his mindset frequently led to far better performances on race day compared to qualifying sessions.
Hamilton’s final year with McLaren came in 2012, after which he joined Mercedes, where he secured six drivers’ championships. In a surprising turn of events, he joined Ferrari in 2025, marking the end of an era in F1 history. The now 40-year-old driver has had a mixed start with Scuderia Ferrari, finishing P10 at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and later winning his first race with Ferrari in the Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix. However, misfortune struck when Ferrari faced a double disqualification due to excessive wear on Hamilton’s car’s skid block after he finished P6 in the feature race.
The next race on the calendar is the Japanese Grand Prix, where Yuki Tsunoda has been confirmed as Max Verstappen’s new teammate at Red Bull, swapping positions with Liam Lawson.
