Silly season 2024-2025

[Cs98]

Uhmm... Why did I wake up to an absolute STORM of news about Lewis joining Ferrari in 2025??? Insane!!

At first I thought cmon, the same old new.. but I've read that this is done apparently and to be announced any day now??

Wow, so excited for this!!

lol they released it the same day the Andretti rejection news came out to tame the backlash.

Andretti has been using the media as a crutch through this entire process, trying to bring the decision into the court of public opinion. So F1 using media tactics to bury that piece of news seems more than apt.

[organic]

Marko: “I can only say that Christian Horner told me in January about a text message he received from people around Hamilton. It seemed authorized by the driver, especially because there was talk of a condition that Hamilton set: he only wanted to drive for Red Bull if he got the same material as Max Verstappen. For me at least there was no doubt that the request from the Hamilton side was serious.”

https://f1-insider.com/formel-1-red-bul ... 023-60980/

Seems that this was likely not bullshit in the end

Also suggests Lewis has been engineering this move for the last year

[selvam_e2002]

There is a good chance Sainz to AM in 2025, so that Stroll JR will be happy and Alonso to Mercedes for 1+1 year contract then retire from sports
or
Vettel to Mercedes. it is feasible.

[Bill_Kar]

I'm seeing everywhere about an announcement at 7pm UK time, but nothing's been confirmed. I suppose it won't go through, we are only 50 minutes away, surely it would have been confirmed by now?

[peewon]

There is a good chance Sainz to AM in 2025, so that Stroll JR will be happy and Alonso to Mercedes for 1+1 year contract then retire from sports
or
Vettel to Mercedes. it is feasible.

There is slim to no chance of Alonso to Mercedes. It took more than 13-15 years for Alonso to even drive a Mercedes powered car. The Mercedes management weren't too happy with their share of the $100 million fine in the spygate saga.
It has always been a sore spot for them. Unless something has drastically changed.

[taperoo2k]

It's official Lewis is leaving at the end of 2024 to join Ferrari. Triggered a release clause in his contract.
https://x.com/jeppe_olesen/status/17531 ... 38341?s=20

[Zynerji]

Ocon is a terrible fit at Merc. Albon or Ricciardo would be better.

The real question is if they garden leave Hamilton for 2024, but they may not care at a certain point because they can sequester him from 2026 development.

I still think Hamilton wins WDC in 2024 and retires as the GOAT.

[Redragon]

There is a good chance Sainz to AM in 2025, so that Stroll JR will be happy and Alonso to Mercedes for 1+1 year contract then retire from sports
or
Vettel to Mercedes. it is feasible.

There is slim to no chance of Alonso to Mercedes. It took more than 13-15 years for Alonso to even drive a Mercedes powered car. The Mercedes management weren't too happy with their share of the $100 million fine in the spygate saga.
It has always been a sore spot for them. Unless something has drastically changed.

They cheated and got caught. They knew what would be the consequences, it is not Alonso fault. Brawn tried to sign Alonso in 2009 that he turned down and that car had a Mercedes engine

[UlleGulle]

One interesting question the guys at P1 raised was the timing. Why now? Why not wait until at least after the tests?

Well, obviously, Ferrari had another option, but that option was time limited. At first I thought it was Sainz playing hardball, but to do that, he would need to have another good option. With Red Bull being off the table, Mercedes highly unlikely to voluntarily swap either Hamilton or Russel for Sainz, and McLaren having locked in their talent, what would that option be?

Lawrence Stroll kicking out his son to have two drivers from the same market? Audi wanting him to truddle around at the back for a year? Possible but not likely.

Someone else is lurking in the shadows here. That might be Alonso, actually.

[organic]

My view is that Lewis couldn't wait til after testing as the get-out clause probably has an expiry date. So needed to happen before 2024 season began

[KimiRai]

There is a good chance Sainz to AM in 2025, so that Stroll JR will be happy and Alonso to Mercedes for 1+1 year contract then retire from sports
or
Vettel to Mercedes. it is feasible.

Someone else is lurking in the shadows here. That might be Alonso, actually.

There is virtually zero chance with Alonso due to many reasons. Imho, the most important one so far is that it's likely he genuinely believes that Aston is more likely to offer him a great car than Merc.

[AR3-GP]

My view is that Lewis couldn't wait til after testing as the get-out clause probably has an expiry date. So needed to happen before 2024 season began

That's a great point about the exit clauses. How would they find anyone to replace him unless he gave advanced notice.

[ENGINE TUNER]

There is a good chance Sainz to AM in 2025, so that Stroll JR will be happy and Alonso to Mercedes for 1+1 year contract then retire from sports
or
Vettel to Mercedes. it is feasible.

There is slim to no chance of Alonso to Mercedes. It took more than 13-15 years for Alonso to even drive a Mercedes powered car. The Mercedes management weren't too happy with their share of the $100 million fine in the spygate saga.
It has always been a sore spot for them. Unless something has drastically changed.

They cheated and got caught. They knew what would be the consequences, it is not Alonso fault. Brawn tried to sign Alonso in 2009 that he turned down and that car had a Mercedes engine

Alonso(and pdlr) was found with Ferrari technical info in his emails,with Ferrari tire pressurs and fuel stop laps. The car technical dossier never made it into McLaren because it was never meant for McLaren, it was meant for Stepney and Coughlan to take to Toyota or Honda.

McLaren didn't cheat, Alonso did, but McLaren paid the price. Get your facts correct.

[UlleGulle]

There is a good chance Sainz to AM in 2025, so that Stroll JR will be happy and Alonso to Mercedes for 1+1 year contract then retire from sports
or
Vettel to Mercedes. it is feasible.

Someone else is lurking in the shadows here. That might be Alonso, actually.

There is virtually zero chance with Alonso due to many reasons. Imho, the most important one so far is that it's likely he genuinely believes that Aston is more likely to offer him a great car than Merc.

I was referring to Ferrari having another option. And that option might be Alonso.

But it might just be the first of Februari being his last option to exit Merc.

[Cs98]

My view is that Lewis couldn't wait til after testing as the get-out clause probably has an expiry date. So needed to happen before 2024 season began

That 2025 clause would be quite useless if it only works before the 2024 contract even starts, doubt that would be the case. My guess is this has to do with Ferrari needing to do it early to sort out the Sainz situation. If they delayed this any longer they run the risk of Sainz walking and not having a Hamilton deal to show for it. Hamilton probably saw it as his last chance to fulfill the Ferrari dream, and viewed it as a toss-up who is best placed to put him in a winning position between Ferrari and Merc.