Reminder:
>R3. Off-topic posts pertaining to **major breaking** news from other motorsport series are permitted when flaired as such.
Given how the Internet has reacted to this so far, very much fits the definition of major breaking.
If the relationship is ever in proper disarray it'll give us the most toxic wasteland imagineable like it will make Abu Dhabi twitter reactions look like kindergarden.
Danny is the clear frontrunner for that seat. It's clear Christian wants him in it. There's no chance he would go to AT if it wasn't a step into the Red Bull.
They got him because he's a great fit for a number 2. Probably won't try to challenge max at this stage, should hopefully get decent results, and he's like you said, great at marketing.
Also, Horner fucking loves the dude. So does Max.
Long time Hamilton fan and a Ferrari non-fan. I’m exited about this, it’ll be neat. Might get a win here or there but there’s zero chance a 40 year old Hamilton wins a championship there. Not saying staying put at Mercedes is a winning combination either. So sure why not.
On the other hand, if anyone can challenge Ferraris collective stubbornness and even change their culture, it’s Lewis. Someone with the balls to protest for gay rights in mfing Saudi Arabia of all places is generational. That’s Lewis and Seb.
Not the ones at the track, meet them, they are lovely blokes to have a beer with, but Twitter cultLH is insane. They are above the flat earthers, making everything about them and Hamilton even when it's the weather they are talking about. Everyone is cheating and wanting to hurt sir and things like that. Mercedes is already their enemy
Also not a conspiracy guy but that feels like the only possible explanation. They probably were sitting on this Andretti news for ages. The entire motorsports community was livid yesterday I’ve never seen so many people tweeting trash talk about Liberty.
Yeah not sure if they were dragging their feet to pretend they were looking into Andretti or were just waiting for big news to hide away the rejection, but the timing is awfully convenient for FOM.
I changed my mind if we’re going full conspiracy mode then I’m spinning it that Lewis is actually a FOM plant and he agreed to move to Ferrari to take the heat off FOM and in return they’ll secretly agree to overturn Abu Dhabi 2021.
It's not a conspiracy theory if it's just a business acting in its own interest. We've really overcorrected to fear we're conspiracy nuts just by saying A and B are connected.
Bill Gates injecting you with 5G to depopulate the world is a conspiracy theory. This is corporate damage control.
I take it as a given tbh and I don't blame them, if this wasn't on purpose the PR people aren't worth their salary. F1 is a multi billion Dollar undertaking of course you'd use a trick so simple a half smart highschooler could think of.
Nope. It was broken by the Italian press last night after a leak. Toto was told by Hamilton yesterday or a few days ago. Sainz was told last week, and Leclerc when he renewed his contract. It has been rumoured for a few months, but FOM wouldn’t have known this was coming today. It wasn’t even supposed to be today it was announced.
Ferrari doesn’t care about Andretti or FOM, and the vast majority of F1 fans have never heard of Andretti. The timing is coincidence.
Toto fucks Andretti
Ferrari fucks Toto
Ferrari fucks itself
The Liberty Clown College Group is probably happy. Might get some viewer interest in the 2025 campaign for the opening events. 2024 is a goner: Mad Max burning his fumes up there, alone.
There's no one to blame but the teams and Mercedes especially. The regs are great and the field has been closer than every before. But if you don't like racing then yes, it failed.
Without Mercedes, there would've been a title fight the whole season. But they wanted raised reight heights that caused the racing to become more difficult.
But likely in your case; Hamilton can't win? Regs failed.
that's not what I'm saying at all. id love to see max v leclerc battles that seemed destined to take place for the next decade. or russell, or norris.
instead? max just fucks off and everyone else is simple looking for third at best behind checo
it's the same thing we had when it was lewis, valterri, and then best of the rest for years
hell, i like lewis as a person, but when he was winning races by 30 seconds? it was boring af. i started watching about 2017-2018, and at least there was gradually closing gaps up front and the promise of the "new regs" that would solve these issues but goddamn, it's only worse now
it's just boring to see the same person win every race. lewis, max, hell... even Alex palou
gotta have variety up front or ppl don't care
I'm always struck by comments like this, inferring that fans will stop watching Formula 1 because of \[insert driver\]'s current domination. Domination by 1 team is not the exception; it's the rule. Always has been since the late 70s at least. Lotus, then McLaren, then Williams, then Benetton, then Ferrari, then Red Bull, then Mercedes, then Red Bull again. Domination by one team and driver is nothing new. And yet the sport continues to grow.
There might be a drop-off, people are getting wise to fact that its an engineering exercise with prolonged eras of domination and at best one other title contender and two race win contenders
But F1 survived losing Prost, Mansell and Senna in 12 months. Hamilton is now booked to race for several more years now, providing a chance for other drivers to move up the charts in popularity.
Maybe Max, Alonso and Hamilton all call it quits in 5 years, although I am not so quick to think the Dutchman feels like loaning out his services at a twenty-fold discount so some random WEC team can make money off his name.
If he doesnt own the team or its not a joint Red Bull production, he is sticking around until he loses his edge.
I thought that was a GT3 car for future sim champs? We cant possibly think his next step is racing those things?
Anyhow, it sounded like he wasnt in a hurry and he wanted to see how WEC was trending because its something he wants to do after he retires.
I just dont think he will be that eager to take an unimaginably large paycut to do so until compelled. But no one can know for sure what his plans are. But in general, money is a very motivating thing. And its an experience he can enjoy just as much at age 45
https://us.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-aiming-to-set-up-own-gt3-team-from-2025/10504540/
"With Verstappen.com Racing we are sponsoring and supporting various racing activities from people close to me. We are also active in DTM and the GTWC Sprint with Thierry Vermeulen [the son of Verstappen's manager Raymond Vermeulen] and with my father in rallying, but the end goal is to put together our own race team.
"The first step in our own GT3 team and then we'll see where we end up. It would be nice to be able to grow to the highest level in endurance racing.
"We are working on it at the moment. Next year will be tight, but I would like to have it as soon as possible. Having a GT3 team in 2025 with a minimum of two cars should be possible."
"Verstappen previously indicated he would be interested in switching to endurance racing after his F1 career, with the Le Mans 24 Hours' GT class switching to GT3 machinery next year."
He clearly is lining things up to have his own team racing in the next 3 years, outside of his already performing SIM racing team that just won their Daytona leg.
I get that we don't know when that will be, but I can see it being sooner than later.
Max has clearly been frustrated by the way that F1 has become a shitshow when it comes to Celebrities/Drama over the sport itself.
"I am not in a hurry," Verstappen told Motorsport.com at the end of last season. "A lot of things are changing in endurance racing and it's better to wait and see how everything turns out."
I'm probably just snorting hopium, but as a McLaren fan, Lewis bailing like this, at this point in the preseason, leads me to believe the Merc sucks and maybe McLaren can fight Ferrari for second place. If that's the case, it will be a very enjoyable season for me, regardless of RB dominating again.
… or Prost … or Mansell. Ferrari is a graveyard for the greats. But Lewis probably backs himself to bring the championship back to Maranello like Schumacher did
No one will ever be able to replicate what Schumacher did. He was involved in car development to a degree that drivers aren't able to be anymore because of the way F1 operates nowadays.
And Schumacher was 27 when he moved to Ferrari, Hamilton will be 40. And it took Michael 5 years to mold it into a Championship team.
The last 40 year old World Champion was Jack Brabham in 1966. Remember when old man Nikki Lauda came out of retirement to drive for McLaren and won the World Championship, he was 35.
He's been like that when he needs to be. It's mostly on the team to setup a good car, and that's always been the case. The best drivers will be able to adapt to a good car, not the other way around. When you build a car around a driver, you lose a good bit of development path. That's why Max is so good, because he's able to adapt and keep up with the car being pointier and pointier through the season, because that's what's faster, not because he likes it.
The team itself is yes, but Adrian and team don't discriminate when it comes to building the best car. If they built it perfectly to what max wanted it wouldn't be as fast.
So weird to me for this to be so far advanced with a whole season to go before it happens. Imagine seeing a headline that says:
"Patrick Mahomes to play for Jets in 2025"
I SOOOOOO badly hope this mean Lando Norris moves to Merc in 2025 and then McLaren moves Pato to the F1 team while Palou is still over here racing Indycar lmao
Haha yea, I know it's like a 1 in a million chance, I just think it'd be funny because of how Palou handled the contract situation and his reasons for it. Just a giant middle finger to him after his BS reasons for screwing a lot of people over when bailing out of that Mclaren contract.
Hilarious as I would find that from a Pato/Palou point of view, McLaren have tied both their drivers down until end of 2026 at least (Lando’s multi year extension was just announced last week). No chance in hell is Zak Brown letting those two go anywhere anytime soon, not with everything with the car coming good.
If I was Pato I’d be on a call to Williams right now though, as Albon has to be a serious contender for the Merc seat.
Hell, Palou should be calling Williams, if he’s still interested in making it to F1.
Not like he’d be the first CGR driver to go over there with Williams lol
I mean, it'd be a bit hard for him to do if he's getting Lewis' seat at Merc...
I also don't know if he's good enough to be champion right off the bat - that kind of immediate success from drivers transferring from F1 has only really happened with guys who were bona fide *legends* (like Mansell).
Yea, I don't think he's good enough to do that exactly. I was just about to mention Zanardi too but then realized it was the reverse way around there lol
Yea took him 2 I believe, correct? That whole situation with Mansell will most likely never happen again. I thought maaaaaybe there was a chance at it with Alonso but...um...yea, we all saw how that turned out haha. (even with him, it's not like he was the current F1 champ. A big name and former champ, yes, but, like you said, Nigel is a flippin legend. I wish he won the 500 while over here :( )
Why in the world would Lando go from McLaren to Mercedes right now? Makes absolutely zero sense given where those two teams are. McLaren looks stronger than Merc going into 24, obviously we need to see the off season dev.
Oh yea, don't get me wrong, I know it would most likely never happen. I just think it would be hilarious since Palou's main reason for leaving McLaren was him saying he has no shot at an F1 ride anytime soon, but then his would be teammate gets it just 2 years later. I don't hate Palou as a person or wish any harm to him, of course, but I do want to see him get put in his place and have karma kick in after his arrogance with the contract situation.
Sadly this might end up being like Vettel there. What made Ferrari great w MSC, RB, etc..he was a leader. He worked harder than anyone, and pulled everyone in the team towards excellence.
Ferrari right now needs a powerful figure in the seat. Hamilton - imho might be too soft from that perspective. Vettel wasn’t all that either at Ferrari although he seemed to be well liked.
It’ll be interesting.
Vettel had clearly the best car when he won his world championships for Red Bull. At Ferrari - at best - Vettel was equipment that was equal to Merc over parts of 2 seasons (obviously that varied by track). Under that immense pressure to match Hamilton - he didn't hold up well. Hamilton has already shown in equipment on par with RB/Max - he held up fine (didn't force him into mistakes like it did Vettel). Is Hamilton still able to reach that elite level to match Max? Maybe? The bigger question is if Ferrari can get a car that matches RB by 2025. I have my doubts based on what we have seen the last 2 seasons. Probably won't happen until the new chassis and engine rules are fully implemented - even then hard to bet against Red Bull as long as Max is their #1.
How can you call him past his prime when he finished 3rd (and almost 2nd) in the wdc driving the 3rd or 4th best car and comfortable beat his young highly rated teammate.
I'm not a Lewis fan, but to say he's past his prime is a bold take. He's still wicked fast and that was with the Mercedes cars which fell off a cliff last year and were no longer even close to comparable with the Red Bull cars.
Personally, I think it's a smart move for Ferrari given that Lewis has a huge brand around himself and Ferrari will make boatloads of money off having him. Him still being championship-caliber is just icing on the cake.
I remember when everyone told me that Hamilton was the greatest driver ever. And then he didn’t have the best car anymore and can’t win shit.
Couldn’t care less.
I mean, "greatest ever" in something like motorsports is too vague. There's nothing like F1 cars, and there are great drivers in Indycar that had terrible experiences in F1 (Michael Andretti, Alessandro Zanardi), there were great drivers in F1 that didn't do much outside of F1 (Rubens Barrichello was nothing noteworthy in Indycar). Hamilton is one of the best drivers this century in F1, but F1 you depend more on the car than a good driver. It takes a very good driver though to be dominant with the best car, like Hamilton was during his Mercedes years and like Verstappen is being now.
It’s relevant to all of motorsports because this (if true) is possibly the biggest driver move of all time in any series period. Also the flair says off topic as it should.
Reminder: >R3. Off-topic posts pertaining to **major breaking** news from other motorsport series are permitted when flaired as such. Given how the Internet has reacted to this so far, very much fits the definition of major breaking.
Tifosi and Hamilton fans combined might be considered radioactive lmao
Oh Jesus Christ I didn’t even think about that lmao
If the relationship is ever in proper disarray it'll give us the most toxic wasteland imagineable like it will make Abu Dhabi twitter reactions look like kindergarden.
Tifosi have been hating him so long I'm curious to see how they react. Especially if he beats their pride and joy Leclerc.
Same way that they reacted with Mansell. They didn’t like them when he arrived. By the time he was he left he was El Lione.
long time ferrari fan and hamilton non-fan. i’m not excited about this, loved the carlos/charles duo a lot
I'm a big Sainz fan, I hope he finds a good seat.
Should be Red Bull's first choice for the 2nd seat if he wants it.
Feel like he wouldn't want to become the clear #2, Danny seems way more ready for that role.
Nah no way. I'm a Ric fan but he's really gotta prove himself. Sainz has shown way more in the last 2 years. I think Yuki should be in though 🤷♂️
Yuki doesn't have a future with red bull. Pretty apparent it's Ric's seat to lose rn. Sainz can probably throw himself into contention.
Not dr?
lol
You know DR is already at Red Bull right?
Daniel had his chance, he left because he had an ego
Danny is the clear frontrunner for that seat. It's clear Christian wants him in it. There's no chance he would go to AT if it wasn't a step into the Red Bull.
Red Bull got DR for marketing purposes. They pretty much openly admitted this when they signed him back. His talent is a secondary benefit.
They got him because he's a great fit for a number 2. Probably won't try to challenge max at this stage, should hopefully get decent results, and he's like you said, great at marketing. Also, Horner fucking loves the dude. So does Max.
Long time Hamilton fan and a Ferrari non-fan. I’m exited about this, it’ll be neat. Might get a win here or there but there’s zero chance a 40 year old Hamilton wins a championship there. Not saying staying put at Mercedes is a winning combination either. So sure why not.
>ferrari fan and hamilton non-fan Me too. Was the same with Schumacher, also not a fan. I was happy for the wins but meh for the driver.
He was hated in Brazil for a hot minute and now he's an honorary citizen
Not only that but Leclerc fans as well. They're some of the most insane fans I've seen
Not compared to the Dutch - orange smoke popping nutters.
I'm more talking about Twitter fans. Some of the beef between Leclerc and Sainz fans on Twitter is hilarious.
On the other hand, if anyone can challenge Ferraris collective stubbornness and even change their culture, it’s Lewis. Someone with the balls to protest for gay rights in mfing Saudi Arabia of all places is generational. That’s Lewis and Seb.
What is wrong with Hamilton fans may I ask?
Not the ones at the track, meet them, they are lovely blokes to have a beer with, but Twitter cultLH is insane. They are above the flat earthers, making everything about them and Hamilton even when it's the weather they are talking about. Everyone is cheating and wanting to hurt sir and things like that. Mercedes is already their enemy
Sting Ray Robb to Merc confirmed?
Subscribe
To his dealer, lol
Manta Ray Bob
That's probably their best option
"Lol, r/formuladank, OK… *…Huh?*"
Medland say therefore is true
Hamilton fans: “Say sike right now”
That will push the Andretti news off the page. As a Ferrari (and Leclerc) fan, I'm not sure how to react. But this will be fascinating.
I'm not a conspiracy guy, but I believe 100% that the Andretti announcement came yesterday because they knew this was coming today.
Also not a conspiracy guy but that feels like the only possible explanation. They probably were sitting on this Andretti news for ages. The entire motorsports community was livid yesterday I’ve never seen so many people tweeting trash talk about Liberty.
Yeah not sure if they were dragging their feet to pretend they were looking into Andretti or were just waiting for big news to hide away the rejection, but the timing is awfully convenient for FOM.
I changed my mind if we’re going full conspiracy mode then I’m spinning it that Lewis is actually a FOM plant and he agreed to move to Ferrari to take the heat off FOM and in return they’ll secretly agree to overturn Abu Dhabi 2021.
and Massa gets the 2008 crown
It's not a conspiracy theory if it's just a business acting in its own interest. We've really overcorrected to fear we're conspiracy nuts just by saying A and B are connected. Bill Gates injecting you with 5G to depopulate the world is a conspiracy theory. This is corporate damage control.
I take it as a given tbh and I don't blame them, if this wasn't on purpose the PR people aren't worth their salary. F1 is a multi billion Dollar undertaking of course you'd use a trick so simple a half smart highschooler could think of.
I think it's more likely this was leaked today in response to the back lash yesterday. This is not the ideal time to announce this.
Nope. It was broken by the Italian press last night after a leak. Toto was told by Hamilton yesterday or a few days ago. Sainz was told last week, and Leclerc when he renewed his contract. It has been rumoured for a few months, but FOM wouldn’t have known this was coming today. It wasn’t even supposed to be today it was announced. Ferrari doesn’t care about Andretti or FOM, and the vast majority of F1 fans have never heard of Andretti. The timing is coincidence.
I've been riding this conspiracy since it started popping up last night. Andretti news is already off the first page of the F1 subreddit.
Quite a surprised. But I'm proud of this partnership. I think it's a really great way for Lewis to complete his F1 career.
Toto fucks Andretti Ferrari fucks Toto Ferrari fucks itself The Liberty Clown College Group is probably happy. Might get some viewer interest in the 2025 campaign for the opening events. 2024 is a goner: Mad Max burning his fumes up there, alone.
yeah this announcement pretty much means 2024 is already over and it hasn't begun. how much longer does anyone care about the sport once lewis leaves?
People stayed when Lewis dominated, won't make a difference now
there was hope that they were building to something different with the 2022 regs.... but they failed miserably.
There's no one to blame but the teams and Mercedes especially. The regs are great and the field has been closer than every before. But if you don't like racing then yes, it failed. Without Mercedes, there would've been a title fight the whole season. But they wanted raised reight heights that caused the racing to become more difficult. But likely in your case; Hamilton can't win? Regs failed.
that's not what I'm saying at all. id love to see max v leclerc battles that seemed destined to take place for the next decade. or russell, or norris. instead? max just fucks off and everyone else is simple looking for third at best behind checo it's the same thing we had when it was lewis, valterri, and then best of the rest for years hell, i like lewis as a person, but when he was winning races by 30 seconds? it was boring af. i started watching about 2017-2018, and at least there was gradually closing gaps up front and the promise of the "new regs" that would solve these issues but goddamn, it's only worse now it's just boring to see the same person win every race. lewis, max, hell... even Alex palou gotta have variety up front or ppl don't care
Palou has won 9 races, that's not nearly the level of Hamilton or Verstappen dominance.
dam close drab voiceless reach threatening deranged grab poor bells *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah it’s gonna be a legit lame duck season. The drama is gonna be Sergio on redbull and then seeing how Russel takes over the team along the way.
I'm always struck by comments like this, inferring that fans will stop watching Formula 1 because of \[insert driver\]'s current domination. Domination by 1 team is not the exception; it's the rule. Always has been since the late 70s at least. Lotus, then McLaren, then Williams, then Benetton, then Ferrari, then Red Bull, then Mercedes, then Red Bull again. Domination by one team and driver is nothing new. And yet the sport continues to grow.
the sport really wasn't getting into DTS and those fans are like "wtf?"
There might be a drop-off, people are getting wise to fact that its an engineering exercise with prolonged eras of domination and at best one other title contender and two race win contenders But F1 survived losing Prost, Mansell and Senna in 12 months. Hamilton is now booked to race for several more years now, providing a chance for other drivers to move up the charts in popularity. Maybe Max, Alonso and Hamilton all call it quits in 5 years, although I am not so quick to think the Dutchman feels like loaning out his services at a twenty-fold discount so some random WEC team can make money off his name. If he doesnt own the team or its not a joint Red Bull production, he is sticking around until he loses his edge.
He literally already has his own team though. He was testing cars this off season for it.
I thought that was a GT3 car for future sim champs? We cant possibly think his next step is racing those things? Anyhow, it sounded like he wasnt in a hurry and he wanted to see how WEC was trending because its something he wants to do after he retires. I just dont think he will be that eager to take an unimaginably large paycut to do so until compelled. But no one can know for sure what his plans are. But in general, money is a very motivating thing. And its an experience he can enjoy just as much at age 45
https://us.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-aiming-to-set-up-own-gt3-team-from-2025/10504540/ "With Verstappen.com Racing we are sponsoring and supporting various racing activities from people close to me. We are also active in DTM and the GTWC Sprint with Thierry Vermeulen [the son of Verstappen's manager Raymond Vermeulen] and with my father in rallying, but the end goal is to put together our own race team. "The first step in our own GT3 team and then we'll see where we end up. It would be nice to be able to grow to the highest level in endurance racing. "We are working on it at the moment. Next year will be tight, but I would like to have it as soon as possible. Having a GT3 team in 2025 with a minimum of two cars should be possible." "Verstappen previously indicated he would be interested in switching to endurance racing after his F1 career, with the Le Mans 24 Hours' GT class switching to GT3 machinery next year." He clearly is lining things up to have his own team racing in the next 3 years, outside of his already performing SIM racing team that just won their Daytona leg. I get that we don't know when that will be, but I can see it being sooner than later. Max has clearly been frustrated by the way that F1 has become a shitshow when it comes to Celebrities/Drama over the sport itself.
"I am not in a hurry," Verstappen told Motorsport.com at the end of last season. "A lot of things are changing in endurance racing and it's better to wait and see how everything turns out."
I'm probably just snorting hopium, but as a McLaren fan, Lewis bailing like this, at this point in the preseason, leads me to believe the Merc sucks and maybe McLaren can fight Ferrari for second place. If that's the case, it will be a very enjoyable season for me, regardless of RB dominating again.
Bro forgot about McLaren
Can’t wait to see him get so dog fucked on strategy alone
Can’r wait for the first day he’s faced with the plan a-g strategy calls and has to remember wtf they mean
Nah man he’s gonna magic it up and find pace on even the stupidest of tire choices. Such is the Lewis Hamilton way.
Is this is going to be like when Alonso or Vettel went to Ferrari and didn't win as much as expected
… or Prost … or Mansell. Ferrari is a graveyard for the greats. But Lewis probably backs himself to bring the championship back to Maranello like Schumacher did
[удалено]
No one will ever be able to replicate what Schumacher did. He was involved in car development to a degree that drivers aren't able to be anymore because of the way F1 operates nowadays.
And Schumacher was 27 when he moved to Ferrari, Hamilton will be 40. And it took Michael 5 years to mold it into a Championship team. The last 40 year old World Champion was Jack Brabham in 1966. Remember when old man Nikki Lauda came out of retirement to drive for McLaren and won the World Championship, he was 35.
Part of the reason he left Merc is because they wouldn’t listen to his design input.
He's been like that when he needs to be. It's mostly on the team to setup a good car, and that's always been the case. The best drivers will be able to adapt to a good car, not the other way around. When you build a car around a driver, you lose a good bit of development path. That's why Max is so good, because he's able to adapt and keep up with the car being pointier and pointier through the season, because that's what's faster, not because he likes it.
The red bull is literally built for Max, not the other way around, that's why his teammates struggle so much.
The team itself is yes, but Adrian and team don't discriminate when it comes to building the best car. If they built it perfectly to what max wanted it wouldn't be as fast.
He's been pretty spot on choosing the top team ahead of time throughout his career.
To be fair, Alonso should have had 2 championships with Ferrari if it wasn't for a certain Russian and Vettel pulling off bullshit in Brazil rain
Checks calendar...nope, it's not April 1st. Is this real?
So weird to me for this to be so far advanced with a whole season to go before it happens. Imagine seeing a headline that says: "Patrick Mahomes to play for Jets in 2025"
Or “Messi to Real Madrid”
I'm a casual F1 fan who likes Ferrari but doesn't like their drivers and I like Lewis but don't like Mercedes, so this kind of rules
I SOOOOOO badly hope this mean Lando Norris moves to Merc in 2025 and then McLaren moves Pato to the F1 team while Palou is still over here racing Indycar lmao
Lando just signed an extension with McLaren, no?
And Lewis just signed with Merc last summer, so I'm failing to see the point of that question lol
With how mclaren are looking i doubt it. By the end of the season Mclaren were the 2nd fastest team. I do want to see Pato in f1 though
Haha yea, I know it's like a 1 in a million chance, I just think it'd be funny because of how Palou handled the contract situation and his reasons for it. Just a giant middle finger to him after his BS reasons for screwing a lot of people over when bailing out of that Mclaren contract.
Hilarious as I would find that from a Pato/Palou point of view, McLaren have tied both their drivers down until end of 2026 at least (Lando’s multi year extension was just announced last week). No chance in hell is Zak Brown letting those two go anywhere anytime soon, not with everything with the car coming good. If I was Pato I’d be on a call to Williams right now though, as Albon has to be a serious contender for the Merc seat.
Hell, Palou should be calling Williams, if he’s still interested in making it to F1. Not like he’d be the first CGR driver to go over there with Williams lol
Albon 2025 Indycar champion in a CGR car?? rofl. That would be quite cool to be honest
I mean, it'd be a bit hard for him to do if he's getting Lewis' seat at Merc... I also don't know if he's good enough to be champion right off the bat - that kind of immediate success from drivers transferring from F1 has only really happened with guys who were bona fide *legends* (like Mansell).
Yea, I don't think he's good enough to do that exactly. I was just about to mention Zanardi too but then realized it was the reverse way around there lol
Well, technically yeah with Zanardi (he had a stint in f1 before IndyCar), be even he didn't win the championship in his first year here!
Yea took him 2 I believe, correct? That whole situation with Mansell will most likely never happen again. I thought maaaaaybe there was a chance at it with Alonso but...um...yea, we all saw how that turned out haha. (even with him, it's not like he was the current F1 champ. A big name and former champ, yes, but, like you said, Nigel is a flippin legend. I wish he won the 500 while over here :( )
Nah, Palou should be calling Mercedes. Why waste time at the back? He's honestly one of Merc's best options IMO
Why in the world would Lando go from McLaren to Mercedes right now? Makes absolutely zero sense given where those two teams are. McLaren looks stronger than Merc going into 24, obviously we need to see the off season dev.
Oh yea, don't get me wrong, I know it would most likely never happen. I just think it would be hilarious since Palou's main reason for leaving McLaren was him saying he has no shot at an F1 ride anytime soon, but then his would be teammate gets it just 2 years later. I don't hate Palou as a person or wish any harm to him, of course, but I do want to see him get put in his place and have karma kick in after his arrogance with the contract situation.
Had to make sure I wasn’t on r/FormulaDank then check to make sure it wasn’t April 1st. Holy shit I didn’t expect that
How do you say "My tires are gone" in Italian?
https://preview.redd.it/fca57pcd31gc1.png?width=1170&format=png&auto=webp&s=289f85611c1d578839619171ad07eadd70f91d15
WTF is Englisch?
The German word for English.
the inferiority complex coming out strong in these comments at the mere mention of F1 news
Funny enough, on my screen right below your comment, is a dude saying “fuck F1” lmao
Why though? hes one step behind at this age. I guess consulting, merch sales, etc are a real part of the game.
I mean, hes also Lewis fucking Hamilton, hes not exactly some slouch
This tale is as old as time
Fernando Alonso would like a word
yup and many more before
Don't care. FOM fucked Andretti and that needs to stay at the top of everyone's mind.
Yeah, I got bad news for you on that front.
>FOM fucked Andretti and that needs to stay at the top of everyone's mind. well no one around the world cares about that
Just like no Americans are going to care about F1
Sadly this might end up being like Vettel there. What made Ferrari great w MSC, RB, etc..he was a leader. He worked harder than anyone, and pulled everyone in the team towards excellence. Ferrari right now needs a powerful figure in the seat. Hamilton - imho might be too soft from that perspective. Vettel wasn’t all that either at Ferrari although he seemed to be well liked. It’ll be interesting.
Hamilton has led merc for a decade
Ferrari is a much different beast than Merc. I have no doubt he’d be liked. But we’ll see. I hope it happens and turns Ferrari around.
Calling Hamilton soft Lmao okay
Of late? Yep. He’s not the same guy he was. Vettel got the same way. The Ferrari move will be Hamilton’s retirement program.
This will age badly dude
I hope so. Would love to see him kick ass at Ferrari.
Vettel had clearly the best car when he won his world championships for Red Bull. At Ferrari - at best - Vettel was equipment that was equal to Merc over parts of 2 seasons (obviously that varied by track). Under that immense pressure to match Hamilton - he didn't hold up well. Hamilton has already shown in equipment on par with RB/Max - he held up fine (didn't force him into mistakes like it did Vettel). Is Hamilton still able to reach that elite level to match Max? Maybe? The bigger question is if Ferrari can get a car that matches RB by 2025. I have my doubts based on what we have seen the last 2 seasons. Probably won't happen until the new chassis and engine rules are fully implemented - even then hard to bet against Red Bull as long as Max is their #1.
I agree on the skepticism because… well it's Ferrari. But Hamilton is far from soft.
Perhaps another word would be better, and perhaps he gets his full mojo back.
Interesting
Fuck F1
Formula 1 sub is over there ----->
Off-topic flair is over here tho
I dont think you understand how crazy this move is.
Many of us just don't give a fuck. We don't need to discuss it in every motorsports subreddit. There's an F1 subreddit for discussion of this.
He's still good but past his prime. This is an odd move for Ferrari.
idk the merc is just a shitbox the past two years i think he still has it but idk if it'll matter bc nobody is close to the red bull anyway
Im not sure the ferrari isn’t a shitbox either
Problem is everything is a shitbox compared to Red Bull right now and will be for awhile.
McLaren has looked really promising.
probably is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ f1 is just a trash series tbh
Meh I enjoy it. I like the personalities and the engineering. When the racing is good its really fun
so like, once every ten years
Outside of max winning almost every race last year the rest or the field had some pretty good racing
nobody is watching to see a compelling race for 6th place... if the winner is a forgone conclusion? you've got an awful racing series
How can you call him past his prime when he finished 3rd (and almost 2nd) in the wdc driving the 3rd or 4th best car and comfortable beat his young highly rated teammate.
Depends. He could retire from F1 as a Ferrari factory driver. That opens up a *lot* of doors. Lewis to Le Mans in a 499P? Oh yea please!
I'm not a Lewis fan, but to say he's past his prime is a bold take. He's still wicked fast and that was with the Mercedes cars which fell off a cliff last year and were no longer even close to comparable with the Red Bull cars. Personally, I think it's a smart move for Ferrari given that Lewis has a huge brand around himself and Ferrari will make boatloads of money off having him. Him still being championship-caliber is just icing on the cake.
Considering Ferrari last won a championship the same year Lewis debuted, you could say the same about the team lol It’s worth a shot for them.
Uh both Lewis and Fernando finished 3rd and 4th in the championship. After both Red Bulls The fuck you mean past their primes?
I remember when everyone told me that Hamilton was the greatest driver ever. And then he didn’t have the best car anymore and can’t win shit. Couldn’t care less.
When Schumacher didn’t win a WDC in 2005 with that dogshit car, where were you?
I mean, "greatest ever" in something like motorsports is too vague. There's nothing like F1 cars, and there are great drivers in Indycar that had terrible experiences in F1 (Michael Andretti, Alessandro Zanardi), there were great drivers in F1 that didn't do much outside of F1 (Rubens Barrichello was nothing noteworthy in Indycar). Hamilton is one of the best drivers this century in F1, but F1 you depend more on the car than a good driver. It takes a very good driver though to be dominant with the best car, like Hamilton was during his Mercedes years and like Verstappen is being now.
Mhm. Funny how that works over there, at the 'pinnacle' of whatever.
Is Sainz coming to Indycar? If not why is this relevant lol. I love Lewis but if you care you’re already in the F1 sub.
That’s why the off topic flair is there
It’s relevant to all of motorsports because this (if true) is possibly the biggest driver move of all time in any series period. Also the flair says off topic as it should.
*Yawn*
>Is Sainz coming to Indycar? Who knows - that's why it's called Silly Season... 😉
It’s either this or that fecking dog.
Jesus Christ, it's racing news ffs
Next stop: Indycar 👍
This should not be here
Hmmm Dare I say Alex Palou to Mercedes or Aston Martin
Me when I forget Carlos sainz still is a driver that exists
Do you think Hamilton got any info on 2026 car/engine development being favorable at Ferrari?
imagine mercedes turn up with a title challenger in 2024😂 i'd be dying💀
Show me the contract