2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Venturiation]

I’d have thought Lewis would have been a lot more active in the sun over winter - especially given a big new design change.

The car was finished in December

[KimiRai]

From ALPINE (!!) who didn't want to give him a multi-year deal. Alonso moved up, Hamilton is moving down (judging by recent history and the fact Ferrari haven't won for 15 years) or at best sideways. If W15 (and by extension W16) were showing great promise, would he really be leaving now? And it's not like he will be going up against an easier teammate at Ferrari. Whatever way you slice it, it's not a good reflection on Merc's future cars.

Alonso moved up with hindsight. At the time most people initially thought he moved down.

[AR3-GP]

Is this a fever dream?

[AR3-GP]

He is leaving this season

at this rate give it a few hours they'll try to tell us Lewis drove for Ferrari last year

[Cs98]

From ALPINE (!!) who didn't want to give him a multi-year deal. Alonso moved up, Hamilton is moving down (judging by recent history and the fact Ferrari haven't won for 15 years) or at best sideways. If W15 (and by extension W16) were showing great promise, would he really be leaving now? And it's not like he will be going up against an easier teammate at Ferrari. Whatever way you slice it, it's not a good reflection on Merc's future cars.

Alonso moved up with hindsight. At the time most people initially thought he moved down.

Not really, it was patently obvious Alpine was going nowhere whilst AMR were investing heavily, and crucially, Alpine were offering him a sh*t contract. Alonso's move made sense on so many levels and he was not in a position to pick and choose between top teams. Hamilton had a straight choice between Merc and Ferrari, and chose to ditch the team he built so much with for a final stint in red. Again, I can't believe this says nothing about W15/W16 when we know he had an option to stay for 25 with Merc.

[JPower]

Sooooo...if you're Toto, who's your next driver?

[organic]

Sooooo...if you're Toto, who's your next driver?

Russell is at most 1 tenth behind Lewis on race/quali pace and will only improve as he gains experience and backing from the team. Don't see why not go all in behind George and bring in a Bottas-like second driver?

George will have been at the team for 3 years by the time Lewis leaves. He'll be ready to lead the team IMO

Ocon, Gasly, Albon all possible IMO

[AtlasZX]

Isn't Kimi Antonelli on the Mercedes radar?

[Sidiamal]

If you lose Lewis Hamilton might as well try to find the second by putting Kimi Antonelli in the car in his rookie season in '25 if he impresses in F2.

[organic]

Isn't Kimi Antonelli on the Mercedes radar?

He's in the Mercedes junior team but he's skipping F3 this year and going into F2. He's rapid but extremely raw and Merc haven't taken a risk on this sort of driver in the past (had option on Verstappen but didn't want to put him straight into Merc). Expectation is that he'll only compete for F2 title in 2025 so it'd be a bit early for him

[chrisc90]

They might bring Bottas back

[DGP123]

There’s nothing remotely special about Albon, Gasly or Ocon. They’ve all been tried and tested, and only excel at mid tier teams, when the pressure is off.

IMO, they need to be bold and go for Antonelli. He’s massively hyped, as Max was, and he was fast tracked. If you’re good enough, you are old enough. No point playing safe now Mercedes aren’t at the front of F1

[organic]

Confirmed now that the internal meeting inside brackley announced departure of Hamilton from 2025 (not 2024 as gazetta is reporting)

I'm reading that Hamilton was not present.. so perhaps not a friendly departure in the end

[SSScoffee]

There’s nothing remotely special about Albon, Gasly or Ocon. They’ve all been tried and tested, and only excel at mid tier teams, when the pressure is off.

IMO, they need to be bold and go for Antonelli. He’s massively hyped, as Max was, and he was fast tracked. If you’re good enough, you are old enough. No point playing safe now Mercedes aren’t at the front of F1

I agree, there is no one fast enough for a Mercedes spot. But only if he performs well in F2

[Luscion]