Huge Lewis Hamilton boost as crucial figure returns to inner circle

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton attends a sponsor event.

Lewis Hamilton has his former right-hand man and confidant Marc Hynes back alongside him ahead of the 2024 F1 season, a welcome boost for the Briton.

Long-time friends since their days racing in Britain’s junior series, Hynes was one of Hamilton’s closest allies for many years, not only taking care of his business interests but also working as the chief executive of the F1 star’s ‘Project 44’ management company.

The partnership ended in 2021, but that was said to be an “amicable” split.

A source close the F1 driver told the Daily Mail: “Marc has left Project 44 to pursue other opportunities within motorsports and Lewis wishes him well knowing that he will be as valuable to his next challenge, as he was to P44.

“Marc and Lewis have known each other since they were young, as friends first and business partners second, so, while they are parting ways in a business sense, they remain close friends.”

But the band, as the saying goes, is getting back together for this year’s Formula 1 World Championship.

According to The Telegraph, Hynes is rejoining Hamilton’s team but this time around he will be “solely focused on racing activities” as he supports the seven-time World Champion at Grand Prix weekends.

A spokesperson for Hamilton told the publication: “Lewis is looking forward to the beginning of the new Formula One season and he will be working with Marc Hynes, his long-term friend and former colleague who will be providing his expertise to assist Lewis on the track.

“Marc will be solely focused on racing activities and supporting Lewis’s commitment to bringing the fight back to the top spot.”

This season Hamilton is vying for a record-breaking eighth Formula 1 World Championship with Mercedes determined to end Red Bull’s reign.

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The management agreement between Penni Thow and her company Copper with Lewis Hamilton came to its natural end in December 2023, after the expiry of a fixed term.

Over the course of the partnership, Thow and her team have supported Hamilton’s entrepreneurial vision and together they have launched several exciting ventures.

While the management agreement has ended, Copper will remain working with Lewis on some of these joint projects.

A spokesperson added: “Over the coming months Lewis will expanding his company Project Forty Four, which was set up in 2014, and will be making exciting appointments and announcements as he continues to grow his entrepreneurial business and investment interests.”