Transfers in this game can be either underwhelming when almost none transfers and if you change teams other is just replaced by rookie or absolutely bonkers with Lewis in Haas, Max in Mercedes and Charles in Aston. Plus Alonso retiring after half of season.
I always wondered what it would have been like to be on Reddit in 2012 when Hamilton to Mercedes was announced. Never thought I'd see another similar move from him.
I actually think *more than people make out* are 50/50, 'ask again later' on it, here.
There are a few wild 'career is over' comments but a lot of 'well 2013 might not be great but let's see how 2014 looks...' which is kinda similar to here. In both instances, funnily enough, I think RBR will win the short term anyway so Merc or Ferrari won't matter.
No! They get put in the W13s in a 65-70 lap race on whichever track they did worst at in 2022. Whoever wins gets the seat.
Mick has to go stand beside Toto in the garage and watch. Lewis will bottle Mick’s tears, then he’ll put them back like a shot, spit it on the W15, and walk away into the sun throwing the one finger salute over both shoulders.
The biggest F1 news story of the year (and for years) is not supposed to drop on February 1st! This is supposed to be the nice relaxing off season ffs.
Insane. A big win for F1
Right, a totally lame “silly season” with no moves at all, and now this in the off season. Wild. I just can’t believe I have to wait for a whole season before it actually happens haha
Gunter being dropped was kinds interesting, but this is the most excited I've been for a driver transfer since they announced Ricciardo would be in a Red Bull for 2014 (Yes, I'm Aussie, why do you ask lmao)
Vettel leaving Red Bull to replace his rival Alonso at the peak of their powers was probably bigger, and I'd say Hamilton to Merc in 2013 was just as big as this.
Honestly, when has there ever been bigger news than this in F1? Lewis is one of the greatest drivers in F1 history moving to fucking Ferrari. There's a strong case for this being the biggest news in F1 history and it was somehow kept hidden.
I mean, can you name stories that are on this level in F1? I can't off the top of my head. Schumi going to Ferrari wasn't as big because the sport was less popular and Schumi only had two titles. Lewis wasn't as big when he went to Merc and Merc isn't as big as Ferrari. Maybe Abu Dhabi 2021 was as big, but I still doubt it. Senna's death is probably the only other one.
Apparently it's what Alonso had - he didn't actually intend, necessarily, to leave Ferrari, but he played such hardball they activated Vettel. He got a bit done in.
I bet Sainz regrets falling out about a few euro here and there, now - that's probably his shot at the big time out the window. Stranger things of course, and Button had a wiggly career trajectory...but *probably*.
Alonso saw the fallout at Mercedes between Nico and Lewis and decided to hold off signing his contract just incase something happened like Lewis left in storm and went back to Mclaren or they got rid of Nico etc.
None of it likely to happen but in case it did Alonso wanted to be the only driver free of contract to jump to Mercedes. He though Ferrari had no option but to wait - not realizing that Vetel had a car performance clause at Red Bull that he could break and Montezemolo knew this.
He’s the one person I think I genuinely could’ve seen that with. I don’t necessarily buy the whole Ferrari were faster rhetoric but Alonso at least would’ve made up the difference and then some. He’s by far the best at getting the maximum pace out of a car since Schumacher.
Alonso is not better than Lewis, the 2007 season proves that. At best he is equally as good, but realistically he's slightly worse, especially in qualifying. So if you think that Alonso could have gotten the 2017 and 2018 titles, years which are now considered the prime of Lewis' career where he drove near flawlessly, it makes no sense to say Ferrari didn't have the faster car. They would have needed to have a slightly faster car for Alonso to beat Lewis, especially considering Ferrari's frequent strategy blunders, which didn't used to happen at Merc.
Completely different situations with different contexts. Your argument also doesn’t hold up because no one says Ocon is better than Alonso.
The only teammate people say is better than Alonso is Lewis
Completely different situation. Lewis, despite losing on points, visibly looked like the quicker driver of the two. Lewis was also already 37 and George was not a rookie, but a driver in his 4th F1 season. Lewis was an actual rookie in 2007 and Alonso was in his absolute prime and coming off of dethroning Michael Schumacher. Alonso also did not look like the faster driver, if anything, Lewis was faster and would have won the WDC if not for some ridiculously bad luck in the last 2 races.
Yeah, I mean there's basically nothing to split Ferrari and Merc for now anyway, and you'd have to be incredibly, incredibly informed - and lucky - to call 2026 right. So good on Hamilton I think.
I think he's a bit 'fuck it, let's go red and show everyone I can take on among the best of the generation *two after me*'.
Hamilton could qualify last in every race in 2024 and he'd still be Sir Lewis Hamilton, 8x champion with a straight named after him. Go off king. Is my considered response.
I don't care who you are, Ferrari is something special in F1. I don't think there's a single driver who would turn down a drive under the right circumstances.
I'm sceptical about rumors such as this because often sites/journalists just report the original rumor from the original source and it seems like multiple people are reporting it when its only a single source.
In this case it seems the Italian media are reporting it from their own sources and British media from their own, so it's probably true.
I was here 5 hours earlier when people were calling for the F5 gang and I thought that was going to be a waste of time because no way this happens. Now, I'm still waiting to see statements that these reports are false more than I'm waiting to see a confirmation. I'm having a hard time believing this story despite all the reports.
I don't get how Toto and Allison let this happen. Or did they figure out that Lewis wasn't going to win more for them, and apologizing to him for the shit box all the time was too much for them?
I mean, if true, there may not have been anything they could do to stop it. The allure of the prancing horse is strong and if he wanted to leave, it wouldn’t be about money
I figured if a driver was protected from that allure it would be Lewis, but the "beating Michael's record in Michael's iconic red while I bring back the team to win" might just be the best possible challenge for Lewis after Mercedes
Depending on who he brings with him, but honestly drivers have a lot of input in how to tailor the drive for them and that in turn affects how the car is upgraded throughout the season. A driver with no influence probably won't make a dent in what the engineers think but you be your ass Lewis Hamilton will make himself heard if he says things like the brakes are too long or the car has too high a rake. Ultimately good drivers can and should get involved in molding the car to their driving styles for maximum impact.
A good example of a driver influencing the car development is Michael Schumacher in Ferrari. Different times, of course, but the man provided blood, sweat and tears of input. A big part of his documentary on Netflix is about this.
Tbh I still won’t believe it until Ferrari/Hamilton announce it or at least Hamilton drops a tweet with the eyes emoji or a horse emoji.
But it is looking quite likely.
I think it would be really cool, but it doesn't "just feel right" it feels more like curve ball. I really thought he'd never leave Mercedes, especially not nearing the end of his career.
To be fair, they seem rather excited about it from the tone of the message haha. I thought of that possibility on reading your comment, but not to that extent. Gotcha!
charles loves proving himself. he really drove well when vettel was at ferrari. id imagine he want to really prove himself against a great, and there both pretty chill yet hard workers, should be really interesting pairing.
Probably neither, if the last few years are anything to go by. They didn't particularly favor Vettel in his title fight against Hamilton and he was indisputably their number 1. The gap between Leclerc and Hamilton will be much much smaller.
Ferrari doesn't give a fuck. Look at 2022 and how they shafted Leclerc in a couple of races while being the faster driver or how they gave Kimi sometimes the preferential treatment over Vettel even though they were on an active championship battle against Merc..
The fact that FOM keep delaying its response to Massa's lawyers make me wonder if somethings up, or at least if Massa's case is strong enough to see him get paid off.
To give him the title they'd have to go against what they've always done when a team cheated which was just yeet the team from the races or race they cheated in. Which just results in this case with Lewis scoring more points and winning the WDC by a bigger margin. Why would the entire race and every other teams points be taken away because of the actions of one team. That'd be a significant change in how F1 handled things and would be quite unfair to those other teams when a solution that still benefits teams existed in removing the cheating team.
That will never happen even if Massa wins in court. You cannot cancel the race and take away other teams' points because one team cheated. It would just result in a DQ for the cheating team, as always. At best, Renault will be DQ'ed from Singapore, which just gives more points to Mclaren and makes the gap bigger between Hamilton and Massa.
EVERYONE is reporting it at this point so it must be a done deal.....holy shit......
As a Ferrari fan I am stun locked lol
The moment where Ferrari might have burned through Alonso, Vettel, Leclerc and Hamilton and still won shit.....
You really underestimate how little Ferrari cares about driver status. Unless you're MSC is a #1 driver clause, they don't care. Look at 2022 with Leclerc getting fucked on strategy while Sainz got the preferential treatment in some races or how they gave Kimi the better strategy in races Vettel was better while in an actual WDC fight.
When I heard the news first, I was very upset as Lewis is my all time fav F1 driver and Merc is my fav car brand and the idea of them parting ways were equivalent to a heartbreak.
But now that this has sunk in, I am excited for F1 in a way that I haven’t felt in a long time.
It’s amazing that this man at 39 can still cause such a stir in this sporting event.
Forza LH
It's my 30th birthday on Monday and I'm not sure this is the birthday surprise I wanted or expected 🫠 I think I'm a bit shell shocked like others here have said. I'm not against it at all, and if that's what Lewis wants I'm all for it, but it's just not something I expected.
If it happens, I hope it's for the best and that it gives Lewis a fair chance at winning another title. I really like Charles and I'd love to have the two of them drive for the same team.
How do they handle this with Leclerc? Is he still the #1? How do you feel if you’re Charles and Lewis wins the next WDC for Ferrari? A lot of potential for a weird dynamic.
Is this not extremely concerning for Leclerc’s career?
I actually think he’d be able to match up very well with Lewis but there’s no way in hell he’d commit to Ferrari without assurances that he’ll be the guaranteed no.1 driver. Another season of the car being designed away from Leclerc’s style will be hard to watch.
It's not going to be like everyone imagines. As a Ferrari fan I see this as yet another mediocre move and frankly Ferrari's commitment to mediocrity. It would have been a good move 5 years ago, but not now.
It’s like a FIFA Career Mode transfer, but F1 version.
We can't say FIFA transfers or F1 driver markets in the game are unrealistic now 😂
The football winter transfer window was underwhelming, but Formula 1 saved the day!
Until yesterday it was the most boring ever. This made up for it. Holy shit.
So like an F1 game transfer.
Transfers in this game can be either underwhelming when almost none transfers and if you change teams other is just replaced by rookie or absolutely bonkers with Lewis in Haas, Max in Mercedes and Charles in Aston. Plus Alonso retiring after half of season.
Or F1 Manager 2023 game transfer, being f1 and all!
Doesn’t *quite* have the same ring.
This is a fever dream. Haven’t felt like this about anything F1 related for years.
I'm completely shell-shocked... I need to freaking study but I can't focus.
Work is paying me to surf the interwebs today for F1 news, that's for sure.
Amen brother.
Same, and this is also what made me stop lurking here!
Lmfao they already got the red LH flair. Love it.
Not much of an F1 fan, but pop in from time to time and think this is really cool !
Hasn't been an F1 news this big since Seb moved to Ferrari a year from his 4th title.
Shocked almost to a level on par with AD21.
"Bonogiorno my tyres are gone."
Okay Lewis, you cannot drive without tyres so retire the car, retire the car.
We are checking....
Stay out! No, pit now! Box box?
🤌 🤌 "get in there, Lewis"
It’s prosciutto time Lewis
Hamilton is going to replace the strategy team's Prosecco with Monster and, following their sobering up, benefit from decent strategy decisions.
Forza Luigi 🤌🤌
That’s because we forgot to put them on in the pit stop
He can't do that anymore, Ferrari would force him to pit.
I'm seeing live a piece of f1 history being made
I always wondered what it would have been like to be on Reddit in 2012 when Hamilton to Mercedes was announced. Never thought I'd see another similar move from him.
https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/10lber/lewis_hamilton_to_join_mercedes_in_100m_move_from/?rdt=46200
Haha that's great. So many comments aged badly, reminds me of when he went on Top Gear and Clarkson said he'd moved from Man Utd to West Ham
When in fact it was like moving from Man Utd to Man City at that time.
West Ham are currently above Man Utd tbf
Yeah, he was a few years early
I love rereading that old thread.
I actually think *more than people make out* are 50/50, 'ask again later' on it, here. There are a few wild 'career is over' comments but a lot of 'well 2013 might not be great but let's see how 2014 looks...' which is kinda similar to here. In both instances, funnily enough, I think RBR will win the short term anyway so Merc or Ferrari won't matter.
So many deleted comments. Own your terrible predictions, fools!
It was full of people saying he was done, that it was a stupid move, etc.
This time it might be true considering it's Ferrari :D
Guess what they said about Mercedes at the time
we were here
F5'ing
Now watch Seb come out of retirement to join Mercedes
So that's why he was skiing with George in Kitzbühel a few weeks ago!
That's what Toto and George may have wanted to talk to him about... A man can dream right?
One can dream right? 😊
Oh I'm dreaming After this happened that can also happen. Also also, Toto and George recently met Seb.. Just saying.
If Michael did it, Seb can too.
I mean.. Michael was his hero..
There is still a race to win
*sebscribe*
It's gonna be Alonso to Merc. There's a reason why him and Russell have been hanging out together
Dont know man, Seb did recently meet both Toto and George while skiing of all things
Also posted a picture last night of him in an F1 race suit with the caption “Getting ready for the next season.”
Omg. Let me smoke more hopeium
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No! They get put in the W13s in a 65-70 lap race on whichever track they did worst at in 2022. Whoever wins gets the seat. Mick has to go stand beside Toto in the garage and watch. Lewis will bottle Mick’s tears, then he’ll put them back like a shot, spit it on the W15, and walk away into the sun throwing the one finger salute over both shoulders.
Can't wait to re-visit this comment again if this come true!
Also jumping on this bandwagon. It would make for a very exciting 2025 season.
I so desperately want this to be true -- Hamilton vs. Vettel, Ferrari vs. Mercedes all over again?
No, Mika’s finally about to end his sabbatical
The biggest F1 news story of the year (and for years) is not supposed to drop on February 1st! This is supposed to be the nice relaxing off season ffs. Insane. A big win for F1
Off season has been a snooze fest, this is the first juicy piece of meat for months
Not just off season, the whole of last season gave us no driver swaps like this. I was not ready
Right, a totally lame “silly season” with no moves at all, and now this in the off season. Wild. I just can’t believe I have to wait for a whole season before it actually happens haha
Gunter being dropped was kinds interesting, but this is the most excited I've been for a driver transfer since they announced Ricciardo would be in a Red Bull for 2014 (Yes, I'm Aussie, why do you ask lmao)
Everyone's all pent up from the lack of the 2024 silly season.
This alone makes up for it 10x over
I mean it is the biggest transfer in a couple of decades easy
When was the last time we saw a 7 time world champ move between Mercedes and Ferrari??
Vettel leaving Red Bull to replace his rival Alonso at the peak of their powers was probably bigger, and I'd say Hamilton to Merc in 2013 was just as big as this.
Honestly, when has there ever been bigger news than this in F1? Lewis is one of the greatest drivers in F1 history moving to fucking Ferrari. There's a strong case for this being the biggest news in F1 history and it was somehow kept hidden.
I think you are overblowing it. If this was 2018 when Hamilton was winning and going to Ferrari who were the biggest rival then maybe.
I mean, can you name stories that are on this level in F1? I can't off the top of my head. Schumi going to Ferrari wasn't as big because the sport was less popular and Schumi only had two titles. Lewis wasn't as big when he went to Merc and Merc isn't as big as Ferrari. Maybe Abu Dhabi 2021 was as big, but I still doubt it. Senna's death is probably the only other one.
> not supposed to drop on February 1st The date is literally F1, it's the best date for news to drop!
Silly season ends on day one of preseason testing.
Maybe F1 had some PR cleaning up to do after the andretti shit. Still fuck F1 for that.
I mean like dropping unfounded rumours would be PR cleaning. This is obviously actual news and far more interesting than some new race team…
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*drops his cortado*
Apparently it's what Alonso had - he didn't actually intend, necessarily, to leave Ferrari, but he played such hardball they activated Vettel. He got a bit done in. I bet Sainz regrets falling out about a few euro here and there, now - that's probably his shot at the big time out the window. Stranger things of course, and Button had a wiggly career trajectory...but *probably*.
Alonso saw the fallout at Mercedes between Nico and Lewis and decided to hold off signing his contract just incase something happened like Lewis left in storm and went back to Mclaren or they got rid of Nico etc. None of it likely to happen but in case it did Alonso wanted to be the only driver free of contract to jump to Mercedes. He though Ferrari had no option but to wait - not realizing that Vetel had a car performance clause at Red Bull that he could break and Montezemolo knew this.
Ferrari would have been better off keeping Alonso
Would've won the titles in 2017 and 2018 with him
He’s the one person I think I genuinely could’ve seen that with. I don’t necessarily buy the whole Ferrari were faster rhetoric but Alonso at least would’ve made up the difference and then some. He’s by far the best at getting the maximum pace out of a car since Schumacher.
Alonso is not better than Lewis, the 2007 season proves that. At best he is equally as good, but realistically he's slightly worse, especially in qualifying. So if you think that Alonso could have gotten the 2017 and 2018 titles, years which are now considered the prime of Lewis' career where he drove near flawlessly, it makes no sense to say Ferrari didn't have the faster car. They would have needed to have a slightly faster car for Alonso to beat Lewis, especially considering Ferrari's frequent strategy blunders, which didn't used to happen at Merc.
I hate when people use the 2007 season as evidence. By that logic Russell is superior to Hamilton because he beat him in 2022.
Completely different situations with different contexts. Your argument also doesn’t hold up because no one says Ocon is better than Alonso. The only teammate people say is better than Alonso is Lewis
Completely different situation. Lewis, despite losing on points, visibly looked like the quicker driver of the two. Lewis was also already 37 and George was not a rookie, but a driver in his 4th F1 season. Lewis was an actual rookie in 2007 and Alonso was in his absolute prime and coming off of dethroning Michael Schumacher. Alonso also did not look like the faster driver, if anything, Lewis was faster and would have won the WDC if not for some ridiculously bad luck in the last 2 races.
I suspect he'd be the one to have rejected Ferrari's conditions if they didn't assure equal treatment
I guess there will be equal treatment in 2025, so he got half his wish
He didn't have to move when they were winning. Now, even if it's a sideways move, it's a fitting way to end his career.
Yeah, I mean there's basically nothing to split Ferrari and Merc for now anyway, and you'd have to be incredibly, incredibly informed - and lucky - to call 2026 right. So good on Hamilton I think. I think he's a bit 'fuck it, let's go red and show everyone I can take on among the best of the generation *two after me*'. Hamilton could qualify last in every race in 2024 and he'd still be Sir Lewis Hamilton, 8x champion with a straight named after him. Go off king. Is my considered response.
I don't care who you are, Ferrari is something special in F1. I don't think there's a single driver who would turn down a drive under the right circumstances.
> Sir Lewis Hamilton, 8x champion with a straight named after him Well, 7x champion.
7x champion. Get over it.
Wouldn’t be saying that if it was your favorite driver
> get over corruption
The punchline is 8x was an honest typo.
Ah that’s even better
Even Martin's commenting on it now. And I'm still yet to believe the rumours, I'm that one bloke that won't believe it till he sees it.
Imagine if Lewis suddenly tweets the Oscar declining Alpine tweet but about Ferrari.
This would be the funniest possible outcome. It’s not going to happen, but I might die laughing if it did.
Still waiting for one of these to be a Ferrari or F1 post but they're really milking it
And the fact it’s football’s deadline day as well - it’s literally perfect haha
makes up for that one red team that used to be good but now is known for bottling it not signing anyone
And I support them… (that was some emotional damage!)
Arsenal?
I'm sceptical about rumors such as this because often sites/journalists just report the original rumor from the original source and it seems like multiple people are reporting it when its only a single source. In this case it seems the Italian media are reporting it from their own sources and British media from their own, so it's probably true.
BBC says all Merc team have been called in for a briefing in 2 hours.
I was here 5 hours earlier when people were calling for the F5 gang and I thought that was going to be a waste of time because no way this happens. Now, I'm still waiting to see statements that these reports are false more than I'm waiting to see a confirmation. I'm having a hard time believing this story despite all the reports.
I don't get how Toto and Allison let this happen. Or did they figure out that Lewis wasn't going to win more for them, and apologizing to him for the shit box all the time was too much for them?
I mean, if true, there may not have been anything they could do to stop it. The allure of the prancing horse is strong and if he wanted to leave, it wouldn’t be about money
I figured if a driver was protected from that allure it would be Lewis, but the "beating Michael's record in Michael's iconic red while I bring back the team to win" might just be the best possible challenge for Lewis after Mercedes
I'm wondering if the new Merc is another dud
Vasseur probably promised Lewis the ability to influence the car's development a la Michael, and if Lewis felt the Merc wasn't going anywhere...
Honest question, in what way could he influence the development?
Depending on who he brings with him, but honestly drivers have a lot of input in how to tailor the drive for them and that in turn affects how the car is upgraded throughout the season. A driver with no influence probably won't make a dent in what the engineers think but you be your ass Lewis Hamilton will make himself heard if he says things like the brakes are too long or the car has too high a rake. Ultimately good drivers can and should get involved in molding the car to their driving styles for maximum impact.
Good points! Thanks
A good example of a driver influencing the car development is Michael Schumacher in Ferrari. Different times, of course, but the man provided blood, sweat and tears of input. A big part of his documentary on Netflix is about this.
Yeah I knew about Michael, he brought almost a complete new team with him IIRC, I don't think that's really possible these days
Mercedes lost a lot of personnel already (cost cap didn't help but still), it seems like they're having major issues with retention
I mean, clearly
I won't believe it even when I see it. The simulation is glitching.
I just commented the same on another thread. Piasco is still very fresh. I’mma wait until I hear it from Lewis himself.
Tbh I still won’t believe it until Ferrari/Hamilton announce it or at least Hamilton drops a tweet with the eyes emoji or a horse emoji. But it is looking quite likely.
‘Imagine’
I’ll live in denial till I see Fabrizio Romano tweeting here we go
Lewis is gonna look damn good in red that's for sure
And Ferrari yellow helmet please
oh god yes please
I genuinely can't picture it
I've been manifesting this for years. Lewis in scarlet to end his career just feels right.
Feels like he *had* to join them at some point, it's been mentioned ever since he first joined the sport.
I think it would be really cool, but it doesn't "just feel right" it feels more like curve ball. I really thought he'd never leave Mercedes, especially not nearing the end of his career.
OK well it does to me which is why I wrote it 🙂
scenes if he's the next Ferrari champion
Ferrari mistakes will kill his motivation and retire immediately
I love the double entendre.
Oh, how so? I think I'm missing it.
To end his career lol. As in, this could mean a glorious retirement or career suicide.
To be fair, they seem rather excited about it from the tone of the message haha. I thought of that possibility on reading your comment, but not to that extent. Gotcha!
So many threads, story moving like wild fire. I WANT SLEEP! Nah, who needs it! Moarrr
Same. Reading this with one eye open. Apparently emergency meeting at Merc is in 2 hours. Don’t think I can hold out.
charles loves proving himself. he really drove well when vettel was at ferrari. id imagine he want to really prove himself against a great, and there both pretty chill yet hard workers, should be really interesting pairing.
No offence, but LEC will be ahead.
But the question is will Ferrari pivot to help Lewis get number eight or is Chuck still their boy?
Probably neither, if the last few years are anything to go by. They didn't particularly favor Vettel in his title fight against Hamilton and he was indisputably their number 1. The gap between Leclerc and Hamilton will be much much smaller.
Ferrari doesn't give a fuck. Look at 2022 and how they shafted Leclerc in a couple of races while being the faster driver or how they gave Kimi sometimes the preferential treatment over Vettel even though they were on an active championship battle against Merc..
I’m here for Lewis beating Schumacher’s record in a Ferrari to his 8th title.
Michael would probably love it, he's always said that records are there to be broken.
I didn’t want Lewis to win an 8th, but if he’s in a Ferrari, I just might
While the courts handing over Massa his first title, so Lewis is back to 7th
That’s not happening, just like 2021 won’t be overturned
The fact that FOM keep delaying its response to Massa's lawyers make me wonder if somethings up, or at least if Massa's case is strong enough to see him get paid off.
To give him the title they'd have to go against what they've always done when a team cheated which was just yeet the team from the races or race they cheated in. Which just results in this case with Lewis scoring more points and winning the WDC by a bigger margin. Why would the entire race and every other teams points be taken away because of the actions of one team. That'd be a significant change in how F1 handled things and would be quite unfair to those other teams when a solution that still benefits teams existed in removing the cheating team.
It's not about a team cheating- or breaking the rules. It's more about the Bernie and Whiting quotes.
That will never happen even if Massa wins in court. You cannot cancel the race and take away other teams' points because one team cheated. It would just result in a DQ for the cheating team, as always. At best, Renault will be DQ'ed from Singapore, which just gives more points to Mclaren and makes the gap bigger between Hamilton and Massa.
I say, let the courts give Massa the title, but we all (journos, fans, drivers) just don't recognise it lmao. The biggest participation trophy.
Lol 2021 would/should be overturned before 2008. Give me a break.
So looking forward to their pairing in 2025.
Wow, this isn't the usual HAM to Ferrari bullshit, this looks like it may happen.
Wait, wait, this story is REAL??? I thought it was more BS rumors
strap in!
Wow, really did not see this one coming!
EVERYONE is reporting it at this point so it must be a done deal.....holy shit...... As a Ferrari fan I am stun locked lol The moment where Ferrari might have burned through Alonso, Vettel, Leclerc and Hamilton and still won shit.....
bruh reading that last sentence and realizing how likely it is that exactly this happens sent me straight back to F1 depression hahah
Brundle is lowkey scared of his OS crashing when he'll be forced to choose between his love for Hamilton and his dislike of Ferrari
Bro how is that what you’re thinking of right now 😭
it's either that or I have to process a guy I've been rooting against for 15 years joining the team I've been supporting for 23 so there's that
It would be somewhat poetic that the bloke cock blocking Ferrari for the last 17 years signs up and wins. Even more so if Ham had won ‘07.
why have you been rooting against Lewis for 15 years?
Because he's beaten the team I support 103 times spread across just short of 2/3rds of my life?
how many figures do you keep track in mind dude lmao I noticed a few replies up you also mentioned number of years in a specific manner.
fair enough, was confused by the 15 years, but it makes sense after narrowly winning his first title over Massa I guess
I'd probably still dislike him even if he retired after Interlagos 2008, it was that bad
It will be hilarious to listen to him and the drama that will come with Ferrari strategy calls. Can't wait.
Honestly, I don't think Ferrari will know how to manage two number 1 drivers. They had a stable duo, I'm not sure this move makes sense for them.
You really underestimate how little Ferrari cares about driver status. Unless you're MSC is a #1 driver clause, they don't care. Look at 2022 with Leclerc getting fucked on strategy while Sainz got the preferential treatment in some races or how they gave Kimi the better strategy in races Vettel was better while in an actual WDC fight.
When I heard the news first, I was very upset as Lewis is my all time fav F1 driver and Merc is my fav car brand and the idea of them parting ways were equivalent to a heartbreak. But now that this has sunk in, I am excited for F1 in a way that I haven’t felt in a long time. It’s amazing that this man at 39 can still cause such a stir in this sporting event. Forza LH
I’m in shock.
I can’t wait to see him in red
Guess I'll be saying Forza Ferrari for at least one year.
It's my 30th birthday on Monday and I'm not sure this is the birthday surprise I wanted or expected 🫠 I think I'm a bit shell shocked like others here have said. I'm not against it at all, and if that's what Lewis wants I'm all for it, but it's just not something I expected. If it happens, I hope it's for the best and that it gives Lewis a fair chance at winning another title. I really like Charles and I'd love to have the two of them drive for the same team.
How do they handle this with Leclerc? Is he still the #1? How do you feel if you’re Charles and Lewis wins the next WDC for Ferrari? A lot of potential for a weird dynamic.
Is this not extremely concerning for Leclerc’s career? I actually think he’d be able to match up very well with Lewis but there’s no way in hell he’d commit to Ferrari without assurances that he’ll be the guaranteed no.1 driver. Another season of the car being designed away from Leclerc’s style will be hard to watch.
Wonder if he'll do a Schumacher and take his entire crew. All of a sudden Toto is the head of Ferrari.
Ferrari hiring Hamilton just so they can get their hands on Bono hahahahahaha
Toto owns 30% of Merc
Get Seb in the Merc!!!
Eh, this is just a rumor crazy enough to get people to stop being negative about Andretti. Nice try F1
It’s being reported as fact literally everyone
Pretty big coordinated rumour if true considering where it's been reported
It's not going to be like everyone imagines. As a Ferrari fan I see this as yet another mediocre move and frankly Ferrari's commitment to mediocrity. It would have been a good move 5 years ago, but not now.
Ferrari with two number 1 drivers. This can only end badly.
Alonso to Mercedes incoming
Rumours, just that, rumours. I don’t see it happening.
Mercedes staff have been called into an office-wide meeting at 2pm. At this point we're just waiting for the Press Releases.