Having lost the 2021 Formula One drivers’ title race on the last lap of the last Grand Prix of the year, Toto Wolff spent much of the winter not knowing whether his star driver Lewis Hamilton would return to the team. Clearly having something left to prove, Hamilton finally emerged battered and bruised almost two months to the day from his crushing defeat by Verstappen to announce on social media “I’m back.”

Had Hamilton known what was ahead of him, on reflection he made have made a different choice even taking temporary retirement as so many before him have done, before returning to F1 refreshed.

Hard on the heels of the pain of Abu Dhabi 2021, came the FIA’s biggest car design rule changes in living memory for the 2022 season. This happened previously in 2014 where Mercedes aced the new V6 turbo hybrids and went on to dominate Formula One winning eight consecutive constructor titles as no team has ever done before.

 

 

 

Mercedes F1 from hero to zero

Yet the 2022 big rules change was chassis and aerodynamics specific. To promote the cars racing more closely together on track without the one following destroying its tyres, the FIA brought back the ground effect rules which briefly dominated the sport in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Now 50% of the aerodynamic downforce was created underneath the car, removing many of those troublesome vortexes which the upper body aerodynamics produce, which spin into the path of the car behind ruining its downforce aero.

Mercedes delivered the most exciting prospect at the 2022 seasons car launches. Its W13 with bath tub side pods attracted a huge amount of attention, with Adrian Newey even admitting later he wondered if he’d missed a trick. Yet as history shows, Mercedes heave not been at the races the past three F1 seasons.

Against Lewis Hamilton’s recommendations, the team replaced Valtteri Bottas with George Russell who had been serving his F1 apprenticeship on loan with the Williams team. In each of the driver comparison metrics that year bar qualifying, the young gun in town took each of the intra team mate honours. Hamilton was characterised by complaining over the extreme nature of the Mercedes F1 car’s bouncing and in Baku was seen exhausted slowly extracting himself from the car at the end of the Grand Prix.

F1 champ reveals why Leclerc beats “struggling” Hamilton

 

 

 

Hamilton complaints grow louder

Mercedes recovered somewhat for 2023, yet Lewis was complaining early in the season the drivers position was too far forward when compared to other teams, something he’s bee explicit with the team apparently but the had “not listened.”

As expected heads rolled and the Mercedes technical director was replaced by his predecessor James Allison. Despite the team failing to win a single race for the first time since acquiring Brawn in 2010, Allison set about reversing some of the design directions which Elliot had baked into the car.

Come 2024 Mercedes fortunes improved even further, yet before a wheel of the W15 turned in anger the team’s star driver declared he was leaving for Ferrari in twelve months time. A number of publications ran articles at the time querying, “was Hamilton pushed?” TJ13 was no exception and this all just a handful of weeks following Mercedes’ big declaration that Hamilton had signed a multi-year deal.

There were signs at the big Mercedes reveal that their drivers had signed on the dotted line, that Hamilton was not happy. He declared to assembled media, “this will not be my last drivers contract,” something a little strange to state when supposedly celebrating an extension of time with his winning family.

Wolff more complaints against Cadillac F1 entry

 

 

 

Lewis’ new contract: A poker game

The year began with Hamilton’s management team leaking his demands for an ‘end of life’ F1 contract which included three years driving guaranteed, a role of ambassador to the Mercedes brand for ten years for a total of $250m. Further they wanted Hamilton’s win bonus of $15m guaranteed on top of his $27.5m a year salary which would bring him up to the Leven of remuneration Max Verstappen was receiving.

The deal was reportedly worth in excess of $500m when all was told This was leaked via Blackbook in February and set the tone for what was almost a season long negotiation between the parties. It finally emerged Mercedes had completely ignored Lewis Hamilton’s request, given him a one year deal and no future non-driving role within the team on offer.

Maybe Toto Wolff gambled there was no where else for Hamilton to go. Verstappen and Red bull were winning everything without much contribution from the Mexican, Ferrari and McLaren looked as though their partnerships were settled for the medium term and so there was just the retirement home for ex-F1 champs in Silverstone on the horizon for Lewis.

Yet a quick phone call to Ferrari set the balls in motion and in a matter of weeks group chairman John Elkann had brokered a three year big money deal which would satisfy Hamilton’s demands. In his game of blink first. Negotiations, did Toto Wolff ever think he would lose his star driver to Ferrari?

Hill sees Hamilton “HUGE gamble” by Ferrari

 

 

 

Hamilton steps out of Enzo’s house

It is certainly a PR coup for the iconic Scuderia and one in the eye for Mercedes. Yet faces will be saved or lost depending how Hamilton delivers on track and whether this can be a reset for a world champion clearly our of form, or whether jus further evidence of a driver in decline will emerge – who knows?

But today Lewis Hamilton’s dream of becoming a Ferrari driver came true. Whether he stayed in Enzo’s house or not is unknown, but Ferrari’s small promotional video begins with Lewis closing the door to the Fiorano based property before walking to the pit lane and climbing into a Ferrari SF-75.

Hamilton waved to the tifosi as he toured the three-kilometre course where Ferrari have tested their road and race cars for decades. He took to the track in cool and damp conditions on a set of full wet weather tyres at first before switching to slicks.

Ferrari are handing Lewis six days of familiarisation with his new race crew as he will test the previous cars allowed under the FIA regulations for the 1000km limit he is given for the season. The next five days will be in Barcelona in February.

Huge Hamilton rumour confirmed

 

 

 

Wolff’s mid games end

Toto Wolff’s game of “blink first” finally ended today for Hamilton. His future with Ferrari is ahead of him and given his last season at Mercedes was his worst ever in F1, surely this yer will be an improvement? Meanwhile Mercedes have replaced Lewis – perhaps a season too early – with rising academy star Kimi Antonelli.

Whether this was Wolff’s plan all along is difficult to know, yet he retained the option to dismiss Hamilton at the end of 2024 which would have been to promote the young g Italian, although many in the paddock have expressed the opinion that it may just be a year to soon for Mercedes next Max Verstappen.

Toto Wolff is now left wondering like the rest of us, how will Lewis fair at Ferrari. Should his form improve and he win races this year, it will reflect badly on Mercedes recent efforts and will almost certainly taint the final years together in F1 of the most successful driver/team partnership.

Jenson Button snubs Michael Schumacher

 

 

 

 

Hamilton steps out in Fiorano

Record World Champion Lewis Hamilton begins journey with Scuderia Ferrari as Hamilton wows fans with iconic Ferrari racing suit – Formula One record world champion Lewis Hamilton has taken the motorsport world by storm with a single image: his debut in Ferrari’s iconic red racing suit. After parting ways with Mercedes, the seven-time world champion shared a photo of himself in the legendary Scuderia Ferrari outfit, sending fans and social media followers into a frenzy.

The Briton posted the image on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), where it quickly gained massive traction. Within just 30 minutes, the photo had amassed over a million likes on Instagram, cementing Hamilton’s enduring popularity and the excitement surrounding his new venture.

The 40-year-old captioned the post with the simple but poignant phrase “First time in red”, signalling the start of a bold new chapter in his illustrious career…. READ MORE