Didn't see that one coming!
Honestly; great move.
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Didn't see that one coming!
Honestly; great move.
Didnt see this coming either... mainly because didn't believe they would pay his high wage demands. I suspect he has taken a drop.... but still a great move. Great way to finish your career. Hope it works out well for both Ferrari and Lewis.
Hamilton and Leclerc would surely make a great team but they also need a car that is capable of beating the Red Bull.
I´m no fan of Lewis but I like this move, if true.
It is true. Mercedes and Ferrari have now confirmed it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mia 01
Wonder who will be the unofficial No1... and anyone have predictions on who comes out on top between Charles and Lewis?
Could be wrong but I think a young, fast and well established in the team Charles might be a tough cookie for Lewis to consistently get the better of.... should be very very interesting to see either way.
Poor Carlos 😞. I thought he had done enough to keep his seat. Carlos to Merc... or do Merc take one of the McLaren boys and Carlos goes back to McLaren.... or long shot... does he replace Checo at RB?
It's about the last time to do it, he'll be 40 next year and not getting any younger.
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Apparently, the Hamilton contract with Mercedes was a one year with an option for a second year. It really would not surprise me that he would decide if this is what l am getting then he would not take up the option after the actual one-year contract. Mercedes f*cked up and they have lost their man to Ferrari as a consequence.
That is an example of how to disrespect your loyal long-standing champion. They give a seven-time world champion a one-year contract with an option for a second year and not expect him to leave?
The 2024 season is going to be a miserable year for Hamilton at Mercedes. As they would not be generous with equipment and he would be excluded from certain competitive information. As such his 2024 car is going to be a dog.
Well l said it was coming last year
Have Ferrari offered him a 1 or 2 year contract?Quote:
Originally Posted by Nitrodaze
The contract was for several years, but had an opt out clause for Lewis.Quote:
Apparently, the Hamilton contract with Mercedes was a one year with an option for a second year. It really would not surprise me that he would decide if this is what l am getting then he would not take up the option after the actual one-year contract. Mercedes f*cked up and they have lost their man to Ferrari as a consequence.
I doubt very much that the team would do that. Bottom line is that they want to win and not giving Lewis the best would be shooting themselves in the foot. One - two finishes are way better than one - nowhere finishes.Quote:
The 2024 season is going to be a miserable year for Hamilton at Mercedes. As they would not be generous with equipment and he would be excluded from certain competitive information. As such his 2024 car is going to be a dog.
Maybe it was Lewis who wanted the option, so he could get out of the contract if a better opportunity arises?Quote:
Originally Posted by Nitrodaze
It's multi year. Reported as being 2+1.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zico
Yeah, I'm sure it was Hamilton that wanted the get-out clause in case he was still getting nowhere near the RB of Max.
The timing is weird though. Why not wait until nearer the end of the season ?
Apparently, it is said to be a Multi-Year deal. That could also mean two years. The difference is that the Mercedes two-year deal did not include the start of the new regulation year 2026.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zico
It is widely thought that the Mercedes contract was One year with an option for a second. George Russell was offered the same deal up to 2025 as well as Toto Wolff. There is clearly something happening at the end of 2025 at Mercedes. Whatever it is, Lewis was not happy with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Used to be Starter
It could also mean Mercedes have given the team to turn things around by 2025 or else the team would be sold. The embarrassment is costing the brand dearly.
Ferrari stock jumped up by 5 Billion euros immediately after the Hamilton announcement. While Mercedes stock dropped at the very same time. Whatever the deal is between Ferrari and Hamilton, it is nothing compared to what Hamilton's international credibility is worth.
Fair point, we would see how it pans out. If the 2024 car is good enough to win the 2024 championship, Hamilton would do his levelled best to win it. As would Russell of course.Quote:
Originally Posted by Used to be Starter
Good point. That makes sense to me actually.Quote:
Originally Posted by gm99
That was my thought too. At least drive the new car on the track and see what it is like. Two seasons with as much as a race win must have been hard to take. He finished third in the championship without winnig a single race. Mercedes messed up big time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Extented article on Hamilton-Ferrari move here
Everyone is guessing about the length of the contract at the moment.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zico
Good for Lewis , for snagging all this cash in the deal , but I don't think he and Chuck will get along , so I don't see a smooth ride at all .
They are too alike in my eyes .
If Ferrari stock is up that much because of this , it is now time to sell .
Wow, what a way to kick off the 2024 with "Silly Season 2024".
I'm not surprised. I had seen some hints from stories covering Sainz negotiations with Ferrari (but there is always misinformation and posturing). Sainz had to feel like he had been punched in the gut. His performance was just as good as Leclerc's, and if they ever got a car to challenge Red Bull, Ferrari would be in a good place to take the championship with relatively young drivers.
Of course, if they get a good car, Hamilton is going to win with it. It will be interesting to see the direction that Mercedes goes to fill his seat.
That may be one of the more interesting stories of 2024.Quote:
Originally Posted by F1nKS
Along with what the dynamics between Russell and Hamilton would look like on track this season. I am expecting some fireworks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Used to be Starter
It was Lewis that wanted it. No team wants an opt out clause like that for a driver. Stability is key to teams. I don't see Mercedes winning another title until 2027/8 at the earliest. Ferrari have the least modifications to do to their Engines under the 2026 rules. If the Mercedes engineers had listened to Lewis a year and a half ago he'd still be with the team and they'd probably have a RBR matching car now. Lewis left because he isin the twilight of his career and can't wait for Mercedes to catch up. Ferrari are in a very good/best position for 2026 of all teams on the grid.Quote:
Originally Posted by gm99
I still see it as a strange move unless Lewis just wants a shot at another title... soon. With the rules shake up coming in '26 the field could change considerable from the current.
As for teams listening to drivers, I really don't see it as a point myself. ALL the drivers want the fastest car, and ALL the teams want it as well. But other than input on what already exists, no driver on the grid is an Adrian Newey.
If after a year of failing to make a car faster you don't listen when a driver of Hamilton's calibre turns around to you and says there's fundamental issues with a car and it had gone in the wrong direction then, to be frank, you deservefail.
And clearly they were wrong considering they admitted it later.
Is Hamilton a Newey? No. That doesn't mean he can't tell with 30+ years of experience of driving different cars that there are fundamental design issues present and clearly he was right.
The fundamental issue is that the car isn't fast enough to win most of the time. Any driver with experience can point those kinds of things out. But if they can't identify in specific what is wrong, they are really of no use in leading the team in the right direction. For all we know all of the teams have missed in some of the fundamentals of this spec, and performance should be significantly higher than what RB is experiencing. But the reality is that performance is measured through the field of competitors, and that Merc just isn't on the very top.
In a new and much most complex formula the fact that some of the best engineers in the world can't get it right all the time proves to me that the driver input is nothing but a gauge of where the car sits in the field. Had the W13 and W14 dominated the races, I'd bet that the input from the drivers would be that development in that direction needed to continue.
After seeing the win for Carlos Sainz at Australia GP, the Ferrari management must be thinking about their decision of replacing him with Hamilton after this season.
I'm sure Carlos would like to make Vasseur regret the decision. But really, most likely it's based on marketing value as much as driver performance. Of course this can backfire if Lewis slows down a lot, but chances are that won't happen. And since Carlos and Lewis won't be in the same car at the same time, unless Carlos can beat Charles soundly over a year and Lewis can't.... and even then it's speculation.
If nothing else though, Carlos is going to drive up his value and opportunities if he keeps it up with good drives.
I seriously doubt that. They probably would ponder whether they let the right driver go for a very brief moment and move on. When it comes to winning titles, Sainz is unproven and Hamilton is a sure thing. Not having the car to make a mark in the last three years does not make Hamilton a lesser driver than the one who won seven world championship titles. If you know anything about F1, the thought would not cross your mind. Except those Hamilton haters amongst us of course.Quote:
Originally Posted by Matthew
I watched Antonelli win his second race in F2. He reminded me of the younger Hamilton. From the midfield, he carved his way to the lead of the race. Very intelligent driving from the young man. I saw why Mercedes are so excited about putting him in their car.
I think he would be brilliant in an F1 car.
This is going to be an interesting move. It appears Hamilton isn't able to utilise his natural speed under the current rule set. George is pasting him in qualifying this year even though Hamilton is ahead of him in points tally at this point of the season. Hamilton is coming back at George a little recently but his qualifying this year has been fairly poor overall. I do think George is one of the best qualifiers the sport has ever seen though.
How Hamilton will stack up against Leclerc is going to be fascinating. I think Leclerc will have to up his game significantly to be as consistent as Hamilton in the race but qualifying is the aspect of it I'm most curious about given Leclerc is also one of the grids best qualifiers.
Great move overall for the sport and looking forward to see how it pans out next year.
Mercedes would be silly not to employ the services of Sainz. He's a great driver, one of the hardest working and deserves a top seat.
The dynamics within Mercedes seemed to have changed considerably since he announced his departure to Ferrari. It was dire for a while but changed noticeably since the famous email accusing Mercedes of sabotaging Hamilton. I don't think Hamilton's performance has dipped. I think the resulting changes in circumstances have created a situation where his side of the garage is unable to give him the car setup he is comfortable with. IQuote:
Originally Posted by The Black Knight
I expected him to be strong in Canada but was a whopping 0.350 seconds behind Russell. Which is not believable on a track Hamilton had won six times. If Hamilton had started anywhere in the front row, Mercedes may have won that race with Hamilton. Same conditions as Silverstone but different outcome. Since the email, he seems happier and has won a race to show that.
I expect Leclerc to be faster in qualifying, but Hamilton would be ahead in the race. If Leclerc struggled to tame Sainz. I suspect he would struggle to tame Hamilton
The cat is out of the bag now. Wolff admits he has been contemplating dropping Hamilton for some time prior to Hamilton signing for Ferrari. All the suspicions were not conspiracy theories after all. They were real but politically correctly coated. Wolff was no longer in Hamilton's corner for quite some time it would seem. You can see how that would translate to a lack of support or commitment to the Hamilton side of the garage.
Wolff never said that. He said that he knew one day he’d have to have a conversation with Lewis when he thought it was time to call it a day and that his move to Ferrari saved him that conversation. He never stated that he wanted to drop Hamilton or have that conversation with him this year.
In a TV interview where he stated that he was let in on Hamiton's Ferrari move, he said it had crossed his mind in 2022 on whether to drop Hamilton. 2022 was a very depressing and massively under-performing year for Hamilton as he recovered from the disappointment of the 2021 title loss. So it is understandable that he would have considered it. But that year also coincided with the passing of Nikki Lauda, a staunch supporter and friend of Hamilton. His stock seemed to have dropped considerably to the Mercedes management without that support.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Black Knight
Let's face it, Toto has no experience of managing superstar drivers like Hamilton, he has never won an F1 race or championship to properly have the sorts of insights that Lauda would have. Most of us wondered how he would cope without Lauda. We have to remember that Hamilton stated he would finish his career with Mercedes during the Lauda years. How situations may changed enough for Hamilton to jump ship and head to Ferrari in search for an eigth title indicates how things may have gone south in the handling of Mercedes' most iconic and most successful champion in their entire racing history.
This season has been a demonstration of what it looks like when you have no supporting figure in your corner at a racing team. We see it happen to Hamilton and Perez as these men have to fight for dignity and performance every race weekend this season. It was appalling to watch.
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