This on the internet...is presented as more than a rumor but a signed deal. Hamilton SIGNS Multi-Million Deal to Return to Mercedes Before Singapore! F1
The internet is full of fake news these days: - Porsche is buying Racing Bull - Geely will be the 12th team under the Lotus brand - BMW will be back in F1before long - Toyota will buy HAAS within a couple of years. - A consortium led by Christian Horner will buy Alpine F1 etc, etc ...
lol that garbage channel also says Pastri - who I will remind you is currently leading the drivers championship - is leaving McLaren to go to Ferrari. Let’s get better sources before spreading nonsense like this.
Toto won't let it happen....not for $100 or $80 million a year. Nor would Toto do the whole "Mission 44" (I believe the name has changed) issue. Hamilton is "yesterday's" news on the track. Gotta look for fresh new meat.
Is it legal for Ferrari to just use their reserve drivers for the rest of the season? Do they ever have Claiming Races for drivers who don't deliver?
As long as Ferrari honors the contract they can do whatever they want? I would grant Lewis bereavement leave to mourn Roscoe and take him out of the car for Singapore. Give Bearman a shot and see if it wakes Sir's complacent ass up?
For a clause like this to trigger he would have to be underperforming significantly more than he is. Call it a 50% deficit in points to Charles as a decent ballpark. Lewis finishes within 1-2 places behind Charles most races these days which of course for a driver with his reputation and pay is significantly below par but not to the point of prematurely sacking. Whats worse is forcing it through will come with a significant pay off to Lewis and whoever replaces him (it won't be Max) will at best perform the same as Lewis. so Ferrari loses 10s of millions, loses a marketing asset for zero gain. Ferrari made their bed.
I have the feeling that Toto Wolff is quite happy he got rid of Hamilton, and would never have him back. Toto didn't need to sack him; Hamilton was lured by the seat at Ferrari and plenty of money.
Toto sent a signal with the contract stipulation they were going to move on in 2 yrs or less. It was less. Just business and good at that. FA and LH need to move on.
There is a pretty good article in this months Motorsport, about Hamilton and Ferrari. It goes on to talk about how different the car set up has been and how much engine braking the Ferrari uses vs. what Mercedes used - which then makes the axles work differently and what Hamilton was used to vs. what Ferrari does... How the car has been set up more to Leclerc 's wanting a very sharp front end with a very Oversteer rear. Also noted that the 26 car is being developed more for Hamilton based on his preference from Mercedes.. as they recruited a key designer from them... It acknowledged that Hamilton has been depressed by the lack of consistency and pace, and that He underestimated how hard it would be to work at Ferrari. However it also goes on to say that Hamilton has been very focused at Maranello on the 26 car since about Canada, and basically using the rest of the season to get the "team" organized to how he worked at Mercedes... they also went into his on air relationship with Adami and how its seems tense etc, but that they are working out the communication that Hamilton needs through the race. Bonington used to talk to Hamilton throughout the race but only when he knew Hamilton could absorb comments.... it was a interesting read... not sure how accurate... but the picture is that regardless of how bad 25 is - 26 is the deal breaker... if he's as slow in 26 - its over. It also noted his working with Elkan and sr. leadership on being more Mercedes like in terms of management and set up of the team. The article then goes on to note how different Ferrari is and how they are structured compared to other F1 teams.... politics Vasseur etc...
I would hazard that there is no gain to Ferrari from having Hamilton in terms of PR and Marketing... Ferrari is far better known than Hamilton ever would be. I also doubt any replacement is in the works... the dog being put down... maybe but that just seems like Internet fodder. Having just lost our own pet to old age, its hard for sure... but life goes on.
It sounds like instead of Hamilton becoming more like Ferrari, Hamilton wants Ferrari to become more like Mercedes. Got it.
Alex Albon recently talked about how he first hand saw Max was able to get faster lap times with a front biased car and that he also had to adapt to that because it simply was faster. He talked about how the Williams felt like a more stable car and that he liked it better than the Red Bull, but it was slower. So he and started to setup the car and encourage development of the car to be more front biased and it resulted in faster lap times. So if Hamilton is going back to his ultra safe rear biased cars at the sacrifice to Leclerc's preference, I think Ferrari could have a very difficult season.
