Does Anyone think that Piastri or Antonelli need to replace Hami?

Both are/will be under contract and will not be going anywhere. Oscar is set until 2028. Mercedes and Mclaren are in better shape as teams as well. The problem at Ferrari is the car and team operation. Luster at Ferrari is weak.

 

Why would anyone want to come to Ferrari right now?

 

Piastri won't have any reason to leave Mclaren just yet.

Antonelli needs to improve still.

I'll repeat myself again but only one driver will make a true difference and that's Max. And to get him you have to show there's actual scope that Ferrari will pull their finger out and show willingness to improve. Without that, Max has zero interest. He's not there to race for Ferrari. He wants to WIN for Ferrari.

 

Agreed, what they need is Max pulling a Schumacher.
But then all key people need to be in place to, like it was back then.
Maranello polictics are rarely favorable though.

 

Ferrari had a chance with Newey to turn things around in Maranello and even then Ferrari cocked that up as well.

 

As my Italian friend said, I think the organizational structure is not right, too many silos too many primadonnas, and not enough dialogue. Not sure Fred is the right guy to be managing the team at this time. I think you need a real hard head who knows, understands and has great intuition.

 

Newey was going to marry all 3 F1 depts at Maranello....a total revamp of how things are currently done in Maranello in building an F1 car but Ferrari and the powers that be want to keep things as they are in Maranello. In other words, they are closed to any new adaptations ANYONE brings to Ferrari F1.

Newey is doing this at AMRF1 and I'm waiting to see how the 2026 car is going to turn out. Hopefully Alonso has a very good chance at the title for 2026.

 

I think 2025 Ferrari needs to be replaced with 2000-2004 Ferrari, not whatever embarrassing farce they’ve been showing up to the table with.

 

In the macro sense….cars don’t drive themselves. Max has proved he can drive anything and win. His input to the team makes the car better for his driving style.

Hamilton is also a great driver who is not as fast as he once was. He also is driving a car that while competitive is consistently slower than the McLarens in 2025.

Whether or not the Ferraris could be driven faster is up for debate.

 

There are many egos and vested interests in different departments at Ferrari, some of them "untouchable".
Ferrari is a medieval organisation, and the unions also play their role in protecting certain individuals.
So far Vasseur has been just scratching the surface of the Ferrari structure, without rocking the boat.

 

This. It takes more than a star driver or a star car designer to propel a team to a championship. It's not up to just one person. Ferrari has had several star drivers over the last couple of decades since their last championship and none of them won. Why? Because the rest of the organization is such a mess. I'm sure there are individuals within Ferrari that are dedicated and driven to succeed, but as a whole it's a borderline clown show every weekend.

Ferrari feels more like a fashion brand these days, with the execs focused on other priorities than racing or making the most exciting road cars.

 

Leclerc is one of the fastest if not the fastest driver for a single lap. What you see him do in Q, is about as fast as the car will go.

Did not look promising n the last weekend, but only 6 events left before everything changes again

 

No driver who wants to win a championship will look at Ferrari these days. If either of those drivers had gone to Maranello instead of Hammy, they would not be race winners and would be considered mid drivers at best.

 

Charles would thrive at Mercedes IMO. Lewis can go to Project Runway.

 

Unfortunately right now Ferrari and Hamdashion are a match made in Maranello. He can’t drive the current cars and they can’t make a good one anyway.

 

It seems like nostalgia is the only reason Hamilton went, and I'm sure he's now wondering what came over him.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

He went to Maranello to tick that box for his, so-called, "legacy" , but the marriage turned sour very quickly.

Shall we say that Hamilton moving to Ferrari, both sides got more than they bargained for.

 

Easy, $$$$

 

Lives a dream and they wanted to sign and pay him. Should he refuse lol No not at all. A top team asks you to come drive for them. Most if not all drivers take the deal. Thats a Ferrari problem not an LH problem. They did not have to offer him anything.
Here is the decision maker lol

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He’s the problem.

 

+44

 

There is a tax avoidance issue attached to that deal.

 

He's so rich, I don't think that really factored into it much. He could easily retire to live his current lifestyle purely from the passive income of his investments.

The thing he needs to avoid is reputational damage by being seen not to be worth much on the driver's market - so accepting a low salary would affect the overall value of his personal brand.

I think it was mainly a nostalgia thing, which isn't going well. Really, the team support for both drivers has been poor on track - Charles was getting really bad information or bad omissions of information from the pit wall too, so it's not just limited to a Hamilton problem... the team just isn't performing well.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Never underestimate greed. It went like this:
1. $$$$
2. Ego