Let's see how you guys feel about this.
I voted no. I don't think it's a good decision for Ferrari to break a good partnership to make room for Hamilton. That's destabilising the team, when it is on its way to recovery under Frederic Vasseur. The drivers are not the problem at the Scuderia, IMO, and "you don't change horses in the middle of a river!". It seems obvious that the solution is to boost the technical team to deliver a car capable to win the title.
I voted no as well. History has dictated that bringing in multiple WDC title drivers into the Scuderia doesn't equate to winning with the Scuderia. The problem isn't these WDC title holders or talented F1 drivers. The problem is the Scuderia itself.
If I may ... For those who vote "yes", i'd really like to hear why you think this will help Ferrari win more races. Or, like the board of directors, are you just excited about more merchandising opportunities for the brand? Seriously ... it seems to me (as others have said) that our recent problems have been more technical (problems with the car), or pit stop strategy & execution, rather than driver-related. How does an aging driver, arguably well past his peak performance, help this situation? Does Leclerc need more "pushing"? Is Hamilton the best choice to do it? Honest questions ...
Voted yes, as a fan of both Ferrari and Hamilton and also a fan of some drama. Besides the cruical but lets face it dry technical part, who doesn't love to hear bitchy radio transmissions (thinking first of Max but there are MANY offenders including Lewis of course), teammate battles, new and unknown team dynamics, and seeing how a decorated but aging jockey performs on a different steed? Who knows if it will help or hurt Ferrari's chances at a WC, but the sheer spectacle of it undeniable. edit: so yeah I'm not so concerned with how many races Ferrari wins. I want to see healthy and entertaining competition, period. It's the same way I coach my son's soccer team (9-11 year old): how you play is much more important than whether you win.
Is Ferrari not also doing that? Legit question, I don't follow all of their hirings/firings. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors, but it didn't seem like LeC and Sainz had an especially good relationship. Esp with Sainz finishing ahead of LeC in points. Mixing it up, with one of the sport's most successful drivers ever, could be a shock to LeC maybe more than to the team as a whole. Roll of the dice of course, but hey at least they should sell more Lewis than Sainz merch
Ferrari has to deliver a winning car-->engine, aero and suspension geometry that's good with tires of all compounds. Next, Ferrari needs a good tire strategist like Mercedes and RedBull has....they're aren't perfect but they're close to it (Mercedes and RedBull). At times, Sainz and Leclerc called their own strats over team radio....as Vettel did as well. Pit stops need to be consistent at sub 2.2sec and below with Ferrari. Not to mention double stacking. Alot of things need to come into fruition at Ferrari as these issues have popped up for over a decade and hopefully Vasseur will fix these issues.....otherwise his head will be on the chopping block like many other team principals at Ferrari F1.
Voted no as in my experience from going to multiple F1 races every season since the 90's, Hamilton has the worst collection of unbearable followers and fans in the sport who will now be pretending to support Ferrari and will make us real Tifosi look bad. Hamilton better not also start to try to get the Ferrari's painted black or covered in rainbows, or some other personal agenda crap like he has done at Merc..
Not in my case !! I respect Hamilton, but I think he will be miscast at Ferrari. Also, I thought the duo Leclerc - Sainz had some traction.
I voted yes. I'm not a huge Hamilton fan, but it's undeniable he's still among the best drivers on the grid. As someone with so many years experience in F1, I imagine he'd give good car development feedback. It'll certainly shake things up at Ferrari, and things haven't been going well for some time. I wonder if Hamilton will bring any technical staff over from Mercedes with him. If nothing else, it'll be interesting to see how he does relative to LeClerc in the same equipment. It'll be an exciting season. All the best, Andrew.
No. We don't need him. He has shown no capability to pull a mediocre team out. I would have gone back for Fernando Alonso
In my vast experience of going to races all over the world, the majority of his fans are only watching the sport because Hamilton is in it and more importantly because he was winning! They mostly discovered Hamilton through his celebrity and fame. They tend have little or no interest in cars or motorsports outside of the Hamilton cult. They tend to be a very toxic fully biased bunch that have little true understandings of what they are even watching and have little care of anything outside of Hamilton. A good example is that when Hamilton came on the scene i noticed a huge difference within 2 years in the general make up of the crowds attending Silverstone. A lot of the respectful traditional motorsport fan base had been replaced by "English football" fans ( Soccer fans). These new fans displayed a much more mob mentality and would cheer when drivers not named Hamilton crashed and boo'd when drivers not called Hamilton won! The only race i have ever seen trouble at has been Silverstone, only since Hamilton started racing! From a young age i went to Silverstone every year, since Hamilton's been on the scene i have only been around 4 or 5 times and its only because groups of friends were going. Thankfully i have been able to continue to go to many races elsewhere that don't have hordes of the Hamilton cult spoiling the weekends.
Pit stop time is one area Ferrari consistently crushed Merc. Don't know about average time vs RB and McLaren but Ferrari did nab a number of shortest stops in 2023: https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12538/12790340/dhl-fastest-pit-stop-award-2023 You've certianly been to many more F1 races than I have, and I don't condone cheering crashes or booing a race winner that I don't particularly care for, but you have to admit "bad actors" aren't limited to some Hamilton fans. I'm thinking Max getting booed at the USGP by some Checo fans, or some Max fans being drunken louts. Do you think Lewis approves of this kind of behavior by his fans? I don't get the feeling that he does. Being a "fair weather fan" is an accusation I've heard quite often growing up near Philadelphia, mostly lobbed at the Dallas Cowboys. But based on their continued massive popularity despite not winning the Super Bowl in something like 30 years that rings a bit hollow... With Lewis not winning any races in 2+ year you have to at least admit his current fan base sees something to cheer for other than recent wins!
Let me add some observations i have made about Hamilton over the years. From when Lewis was around 7 year old he started karting, funded by his father who worked 2 jobs to allow his son the great privilege of doing a sport he loved, even though the family could not really afford it. His father continued funding and supporting him, making huge personal sacrifices for himself and other family members every step of the way until Lewis finally reached F1. But within a few years of Lewis being in F1 he removed his father from being his advisor and even banned him without any good reason from being in the pit garage and even from attending his races. To this day, 18 or so years later his father will still only attend a few races a season. From around age 13 Lewis was brought into the Mclarens young drivers program by team boss Ron Dennis who funded and supported his racing. Dennis and Mclaren continued this support with huge expense right up to Lewis entering F1 at the age of 22, where Ron Dennis positioned him straight into a very competitive Mclaren as a rookie. At the age of 23 he won his first championship as Mclaren continued to enjoy a very competitive car. The following years McLaren's performance slowly dwindled, but instead of Lewis repaying Mclaren with loyalty and trying to get the team back to the top, he jumped ship to Mercedes at the first good opportunity.. Lewis then enjoyed without much doing or effort of his own the most dominate cars/ team period in the history of the sport at Mercedes . But again, when Mercedes unbelievable period of domination dwindled, instead of staying with the team to try and rebuild and fix the problems, Lewis once again jumps ship to Ferrari, in hope to find a team that will give him a competitive / dominate car.. Loyalty and integrity are not words that i would ever link with Sir Lewis Hamilton. He is in it only for himself, and don't ever be fooled otherwise.
He will cry a river when things don't go his way. Vettle bowed out when Lec took center stage. Ferrari put a shot across lec bow that they don't trust him to bring home wdc or constructors. This will be a crash fest easily with toxic hammy rosberg V2.0.
But that is part of his story, Sir Lewis will bring the drama, no doubt. I feel bad about this as Ferrari had a solid, young duo to build upon. Sir Lewis could be featured on AARP Magazine as it is likely that his best days at the wheel are behind him. For folk who like watching him crash out Red Bulls, well he can do that with Ferrari too.
