Community Stories

2024 F1 Thread

DrmexicoII
Posts
643
Likes
978
Evitzee Evitzee
Max: $70 million after bonuses, Lewis $55 million but no bonuses, that irked him. Ferrari will get him close to Max pay wise. As always, money has a lot to do with it.

You really think so? Lewis is rich beyond his dreams. He's a born racer, I think he's gone to Ferrari because he thinks their car will be more competitive, in either 25 or 26, or both. He's lost faith that Mercedes can get him winning races and ultimately championships again. Everything else - the Ferrari lure, the money, the lack of ambassador thing - it's all "nice to haves". There's no way he's going there for money alone. In my opinion anyway.
 
arturo7
Posts
1,076
Likes
1,625
Were I Toto, I would tell Sir Lewis to clean out his locker, turn in the keys, and take a hike.

How well will the team work with him knowing he'll take IP to a competitor next year?
 
texasmade
Posts
2,586
Likes
2,870
arturo7 arturo7
Were I Toto, I would tell Sir Lewis to clean out his locker, turn in the keys, and take a hike.

How well will the team work with him knowing he'll take IP to a competitor next year?
You would be a fool then unless you want to be a midfield team for the next several years.
 
arturo7
Posts
1,076
Likes
1,625
texasmade texasmade
You would be a fool then unless you want to be a midfield team for the next several years.

Well, the driver matters but the car matters more. YMMV
 
Foo2rama
Posts
18,098
Likes
27,413
rob#1 rob#1
Every F1 driver wants to drive for the Scuderia at some stage of their career, it’s a bit like every petrol head should at some stage own an Alfa Romeo.

Interested to see what will happen to the only person last year to win a race apart from a Red Bull driver. More than likely he’ll end up at Audi as they say they are leaving Dakar which they won this year - but they’re not entering until the regs change in 2026 so where will he go in the interim?
DrmexicoII DrmexicoII
You really think so? Lewis is rich beyond his dreams. He's a born racer, I think he's gone to Ferrari because he thinks their car will be more competitive, in either 25 or 26, or both. He's lost faith that Mercedes can get him winning races and ultimately championships again. Everything else - the Ferrari lure, the money, the lack of ambassador thing - it's all "nice to haves". There's no way he's going there for money alone. In my opinion anyway.

I agree. It should also be noted that the head engineer that agreed with Lewis on car design who was shot down 2 years running went to Ferrari. Notice Lewis made this choice after the car had been fixed in layout and specs.

he is chasing the better car with a worst case of ending up at The Scudaria a dream for any driver. Honestly that is the consolation prize.

Audi aka Sauber is hilariously not in the cards in 2 years as I’ve seen some people speculate.
 
Evitzee
Posts
7,558
Likes
13,954
DrmexicoII DrmexicoII
You really think so? Lewis is rich beyond his dreams. He's a born racer, I think he's gone to Ferrari because he thinks their car will be more competitive, in either 25 or 26, or both. He's lost faith that Mercedes can get him winning races and ultimately championships again. Everything else - the Ferrari lure, the money, the lack of ambassador thing - it's all "nice to haves". There's no way he's going there for money alone. In my opinion anyway.
Yes, I really think so, it's been reported on in various places. The sports world has many examples where the top athletes want to be best paid, it doesn't matter if they are already fabulously rich, it's all about pride and bragging rights. EGO. Hamilton is not immune to this human trait, he's bent out of shape because he is no longer world champion and not the best paid anymore. He probably won't win another championship but he may be able to catch Max in the dollar department with Ferrari.
 
texasmade
Posts
2,586
Likes
2,870
arturo7 arturo7
Well, the driver matters but the car matters more. YMMV
Top engineers want to work with a top driver. Throwing out a top tier driver in a hissy fit isn't going to be a good look with your engineering staff. On top of that, there's no one that can step in this season to replace him.
 
DrmexicoII
Posts
643
Likes
978
Evitzee Evitzee
Yes, I really think so, it's been reported on in various places. The sports world has many examples where the top athletes want to be best paid, it doesn't matter if they are already fabulously rich, it's all about pride and bragging rights. EGO. Hamilton is not immune to this human trait, he's bent out of shape because he is no longer world champion and not the best paid anymore. He probably won't win another championship but he may be able to catch Max in the dollar department with Ferrari.

I do believe that he'll know his value and want to be paid what he's worth. But I don't think that's a primary motivation. If Merc had a championship winning car he wouldn't have moved, in my opinion.

He's done it before when moving from Mclaren to Merc. He was convinced they'd build a championship winning car. Don't that move was motivated by money either, although I'm sure he was handsomely rewarded (as were Merc with 8 constructor titles).
 
gostang9
Posts
2,675
Likes
7,487
iChristos iChristos
Totally agree, they are doing a better job than Bernie but they don't need to put 30 races and 15 in city made tracks, I think that what we all want is Silverstone, Spa, Suzuka and not Sotchi, Las Vegas & Madrid.
Agreed on Silverstone, Spa and Suzuka... but what was wrong with the racing in Vegas? The race was excellent, and doing it on F12023 (PS5) it doesn't race like a typical street circuit...
 
vbrad26
Posts
4,599
Likes
23,471
Evitzee Evitzee
Yes, I really think so, it's been reported on in various places. The sports world has many examples where the top athletes want to be best paid, it doesn't matter if they are already fabulously rich, it's all about pride and bragging rights. EGO. Hamilton is not immune to this human trait, he's bent out of shape because he is no longer world champion and not the best paid anymore. He probably won't win another championship but he may be able to catch Max in the dollar department with Ferrari.

Supposedly $100m
https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/258567/hamilton-to-become-the-best-paid-ferrari-driver-ever.html
 
texasmade
Posts
2,586
Likes
2,870
Evitzee Evitzee
It's ALWAYS about the money, always.
Probably also contract length. Rumor is Mercedes only offered a 1+1 team option with no ambassador role post F1 while Ferrari offered a 2+1 with a post F1 ambassador role.
 
Albe100
Posts
572
Likes
616
arturo7 arturo7
Were I Toto, I would tell Sir Lewis to clean out his locker, turn in the keys, and take a hike.

How well will the team work with him knowing he'll take IP to a competitor next year?

Why? He's given his fair share to the team as well, it's a bilateral relationship, both sides benefited from one another. You can't blame a driver for wanting to find a new challenge. I'm sure money was some type of factor, just as much as I'm sure Ferrari promised him to work on a potential winning car. He moved from McLaren to Merc, and there was a similar reaction to the move, that he was crazy. You can't discount the allure of the prancing hose, no matter what anyone says.

At his level, I believe there is enough mutual respect between the two parties that the integrity of the cars isn't question. He will be racing only one year prior to the new rule changes.

I'm a Ferrari fan, not a LH fan, but this move makes sense for Ferrari as well.
Edited:
 
Albe100
Posts
572
Likes
616
Nobody is talking about Horner's story? I really hope they aren't true. It would be bad for the sport and I know he's quite hated by a lot of LH and Merc fans, but you can't deny he is a great team principal. What he and Newey have managed to do is quite impressive (Max being a big factor as well).
 
vbrad26
Posts
4,599
Likes
23,471
Just saw a blurb about that. Don't know the details though...
 
texasmade
Posts
2,586
Likes
2,870
Only thing we know so far is that RB hired an independent investigator to look into the allegations. It's been reported that it was inappropriate behavior from Horner to a female employee.

To me, this seems rather serious since RB never bothered with doing anything to Marko for all his comments he made but Horner is actually being investigated by RB (the parent company).
 
Albe100
Posts
572
Likes
616
I read two different rumours. One was an inappropriate photo to a female staff member and the other was his abusive management of the team.

His management style is a bit of a surprise if true, he's been there for a long time and for that to only come out now....

If it is indeed the photo, then he was an idiot for doing it. It may or may not have been wanted by the other party, but either way you have everything to lose.
 
DrmexicoII
Posts
643
Likes
978
I can't stand Horner but I don't like these sort of rumours - it's a no win situation. Either it's salacious rumour in which case a husband and father is having his name dragged through the mud, or it's true and there's a victim whose privacy must be respected (assuming they want it to be). Either way it's pretty horrible all round.
 
arturo7
Posts
1,076
Likes
1,625
Albe100 Albe100
Why? He's given his fair share to the team as well, it's a bilateral relationship, both sides benefited from one another. You can't blame a driver for wanting to find a new challenge. I'm sure money was some type of factor, just as much as I'm sure Ferrari promised him to work on a potential winning car. He moved from McLaren to Merc, and there was a similar reaction to the move, that he was crazy. You can't discount the allure of the prancing hose, no matter what anyone says.

At his level, I believe there is enough mutual respect between the two parties that the integrity of the cars isn't question. He will be racing only one year prior to the new rule changes.

I'm a Ferrari fan, not a LH fan, but this move makes sense for Ferrari as well.

Look at it this way, a key employee, with access to your R&D and trade secrets, tells everyone he is quitting in one year and going to a competitor? I would not want that guy hanging around.
 
691 More Posts...
Sign up or log in to reply...

Similar threads

vbrad26

2026 F1 Thread

vbrad26 Open Discussion
arturo7
arturo7
Posts
12
Views
140
vbrad26

2025 F1 Thread

vbrad26 Open Discussion
P
Paul m
Posts
356
Views
15K
Trev

Omega Forums - Updates Thread, Late 2024

Trev Forum News & Member Support
aermotor
aermotor
Posts
29
Views
3K
vbrad26

2023 Formula 1 Thread

vbrad26 Open Discussion
texasmade
texasmade
Posts
1K
Views
56K
Dan S

A thread for backpackers

Dan S Open Discussion
KAP
KAP
Posts
251
Views
32K