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Marking the most significant shake-up F1 has seen in over a decade, everyone waits with bated breath for Lewis Hamilton to begin his era in Ferrari red, after spending over a decade at Mercedes. The past few years with the team have been tough for Hamilton. Moreover, their final contract negotiations were far from smooth.
While Hamilton wanted a three-year deal, Mercedes initially offered only one. They eventually settled on a one-year contract with an option to extend, but the uncertainty lingered. Enter Ferrari with a multi-year offer that provided the long-term commitment Mercedes couldn’t match.
Hamilton, weighing his options, decided it was time to move on. The possibility of staying at Mercedes no longer seemed like the best choice. F1 pundit Will Buxton approved of Hamilton’s decision but looked wryly at Mercedes. Voicing his take on DRS: De Racing Show, he stated, “Mercedes wanted Antonelli. If they didn’t want Antonelli, they’d have given Lewis a two-year contract.”
Buxton further called the team out for losing a driver like Hamilton. “How do you give a seven-time world champion a 1 + 1 ? That’s literally inviting him to leave. It’s a bit of a slap in the face ya know…” With this, Buxton suggested that Hamilton was forced out of the Brackley-based camp.
However, Mercedes’ loss will now act as hope for Ferrari and Buxton didn’t let Team Principal Toto Wolff’s decision cloud the milestone. “The greatest driver in history moving to statistically the greatest team in history…what a moment, what a story.”
Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari is set to reshape the landscape of F1. He won six World titles with the Silver Arrows and led an era of dominance previously unseen in the sport’s history.
As the Mercedes chapter comes to a close, Andrew Shovlin, the team’s Trackside Engineering Director revealed what they will miss the most about Hamilton.
“I’ll miss him as a character because he’s good fun to work with,” he said. But Hamilton’s contributions went far deeper than just his personality. He played a crucial role in helping the team’s engineers improve the car. “He is very good at highlighting where the weaknesses are in the car,” Shovlin added.
As Hamilton embarks on his new journey, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseuer will undoubtedly hope to harness these same attributes to drive the Maranello-based team forward.
