Lewis Hamilton’s career now is a completely different one from when he worked with Jock Clear at Mercedes 12 years ago, before teaming back up with his former engineer at Ferrari.
The seven-time world champion took the bold move to swap McLaren for Mercedes in 2012 as a one-time world champion, before leaving the Silver Arrows at the end of the most successful driver-team relationship in F1 history.
During his transitional years at Mercedes, Hamilton’s engineer was Clear, who helped him land his second world title in 2014. However, Clear joined Ferrari as head of engineering at the end of the season.
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But the two were reunited at Ferrari 11 years later when Hamilton fulfilled his dream of racing in red. Clear had taken up the role of Head of the Ferrari Driver Academy but was still close to Hamilton in Maranello.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star Sport, via betselect.co.uk, Clear revealed that Hamilton still brought his infectious energy and hunger to Ferrari, which had not diminished over the years despite everything he had achieved.
He said: “Maybe after a few months at Ferrari, people saw a different Lewis because I think he was then fully appreciating the magnitude of Ferrari, the culture, and what the animal really looked like.
“But is there much difference in Lewis? I think the reassuring thing is no, not really. Which is encouraging, because the last time I worked with him at Mercedes, in the middle of ’15, he’s gone on and won four more championships since then.
“You could have expected that to go to his head a bit, but it hasn’t. He and I kept in touch a lot during those years anyway, and obviously always talked about the potential of him wearing red.
“He’s a bit of a Disney character, almost. He doesn’t age. Is he more mature? I don’t think so. He’s still a great kid. That’s not true of everybody I’ve worked with.
“I’ve seen drivers mature over the years and actually be very different. But Lewis is still the kid he was when I worked with him before.
“He’s still a fun character, enjoys the same things, and brought the same energy to Ferrari that he brought to Mercedes when he arrived back there in 2013. So yeah, I would say reassuringly, there’s not a big difference.”
After a frustrating first season, Hamilton sits third in the drivers’ standings with one race win and five podiums to his name as he looks to finish ahead of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris as the best of the rest behind the dominant Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.