Ted Kravitz is speculating that there could be more behind Lewis Hamilton's decision to switch to Ferrari than just taking a chance on his future.

Now at 40, Hamilton is acutely aware that his window for clinching an unprecedented eighth Formula 1 championship is closing.

Opting for Ferrari over his long-standing team Mercedes, he's betting on the Italian outfit to help him realise his ambition. This comes after a trio of seasons where Mercedes failed to deliver a competitive car for a title run, with Ferrari outperforming them in two of those years.

Hamilton's belief in Ferrari's potential led him to make the move before the 2024 season kicked off, and the results seem to vindicate his choice, as Ferrari ended the season a whopping 184 points clear of Mercedes.

Reflecting on this, Sky Sports F1's pit lane reporter Kravitz pondered if Hamilton had a premonition about Ferrari's prospects during the winter before the 2024 season.

On the Sky F1 podcast, he posed the question to colleague Karun Chandhok: "Did Lewis know when he decided over the winter? 'Do you know what, we haven't even turned a wheel in testing yet but I don't think Mercedes is the place to be - I'm going to go to Ferrari'. Was that just a leap in the dark for you? Because it turned out to be absolutely true. Look at Mercedes - they've been a bit lost."

Kravitz recently sparked discussion over Hamilton's experience with his unpredictable car, questioning: "They never knew which kind of car was going to turn up at the racetrack and what it was going to do. It might win brilliantly, like in Belgium then one gets disqualified because they're running it too low, too light, the wear, whatever.

Countering Kravitz's doubts, fellow analyst Karun Chandhok expressed his opinion that Hamilton's navigation of the situation seemed more akin to chance than certainty. He remarked: "I think it was a punt, because how could you tell what the opposition were doing? He would have obviously have had a feeling of what was going on at Mercedes."

Chandhok further speculated about the potential reasons behind Hamilton's decisions, noting the disconnect between driver and team: "He's talked about people not necessarily listening to what he was saying and not fully taking on board some of his thoughts of where he thought the cars should go and things like that.

"On reflection, early in the year, he was talking about some of those conversations so maybe that just steered him towards thinking, 'Maybe I'll go somewhere else where they will listen a bit more'."

Reflecting on Hamilton's career moves, Chandhok also mentioned a historical parallel: "I don't know, but it's funny, I was re-watching some interviews that were done towards the end of 2012 with people like Niki Lauda about Lewis coming to Mercedes.

"And even that was a bit of a punt, because he just wanted a change of environment to leave McLaren and go to somewhere else. I think it's a calculated risk. It's worked out once, we'll see what happens again."