- Fresh details indicate that Ferrari is offering Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton a £40 million
- The Italian team is bent on singing Hamilton as he races for an eighth World Championship title
- Hamilton’s contract ends at the end of the 2023 season
Fresh details indicate that Ferrari is offering Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton a £40 million ($49 million) deal to sign with the F1 team starting the 2024 season.
The Italian team is bent on singing Hamilton as he races for an eighth World Championship title.
Ferrari is ready to spend a fortune to sign the F1 superstar and give him the chance to surpass Michael Schumacher, who won five of his seven championships with the red team.
Schumacher has seven F1 titles but is now in a vegetative state following his skiing accident in 2013.
Now, Ferrari’s top management is actively discussing the lavish signing, and company president John Elkann is reportedly in talks with Hamilton.
Hamilton’s contract with Mercedes is expiring at the end of the 2023 season. However, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff earlier said that the 38-year-old’s heart was still with Mercedes.
WHAT PLANS DOES FERRARI HAVE FOR LEWIS HAMILTON?
Lewis Hamilton Ferrari. Photo/Sky SPorts
The Ferrari leadership is seriously exploring two possibilities in the Hamilton deal according to several reliable sources in the UK and Italy. The first and most popular choice is to pair the seasoned F1 driver with resident Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc starting in the upcoming season. If this happens, Leclerc’s fellow driver Carlos Sainz will move to another Formula One team.
A second scenario is to replace Hamilton with Leclerc meaning, the British driver will be paired up with Spanish driver Sainz at Ferrari.
IS MERCEDES SIGNING CHARLES LECLERC?
As Ferrari considers a lucrative deal to sign Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes is also eyeing Leclerc as a possible replacement for Hamilton. Confirmed reports indicate that Mercedes engaged Leclerc in talks in April.
Italian journalist Leo Turrini discloses that Leclerc is actively making his plan to exit Ferrari for Mercedes.
“Leclerc talking to Mercedes is an open secret. Everyone knows it, from the remote garage in Maranello to the Indian Ocean,” he told Quotidiano Nazionale.
Leclerc has spoken out about Ferrari’s terrible start to the season under new head coach Frederic Vasseur. He said that Ferrari is currently not good enough,
Mercedes driver and Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton. Photo/Sky Sports
especially after a disastrous Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
He finished sixth while Sainz made a seventh podium finish and things haven’t changed much in consecutive races.
IS LEWIS HAMILTON HAPPY AT MERCEDES?
The 2023 W14 Mercedes has frustrated Hamilton in his quest for an eighth title. With the W14, the Mercedes driver feels this isn’t the best car. Speaking following a disappointing season opener race, the Bahrain Grand Prix, he said the W14 is not the right car for the 2023 circuit.
Hamilton says the car lacks a downforce which improves the car’s thrust. His best podium finish yet is second at the Australian Grand Prix while, in all others, he has only managed a fifth podium finish.
He said that Mercedes engineers must add downforce to the car on the front to give it a proper thrust if he is to compete with Red Bull. If done correctly, Hamilton will be in a position to compete with his biggest rival Max Verstappen who is currently leading the grid.
Wolff already gave Hamilton the green light to further his dream with another F1 team. The Silver Arrows team principal is aware that Mercedes cars have an engineering flaw which started in 2022 with the W13.
Mercedes driver and Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton. Photo/Sky Sports
This car has purposing issues that hurdled performance and Hamilton conceded defeat at the season’s start. Verstappen won a second F1 title and he is well on course for his third title in the 2023 season.
A month ago, Hamilton opened up and spoke about his thoughts at times that push him to the edge and he feels like quitting.
He took to social media where he said that he takes in-depth digging to get the energy to keep moving. Hamilton doesn’t forget that he is on a mission chasing a dream and a title, both of which are not easy.
IS LEWIS HAMILTON READY TO JOIN FERRARI?
Hamilton had earlier expressed his desire to race for Ferrari. His family has always harboured a persistent desire to see him race for the Italian team. Hamilton’s father, Antony Hamilton expressed the same desire 16 years ago following his son’s outstanding F1 debut with McLaren.
Besides, Ferrari is ready to part with a tidy sum to have the Formula One legend join the team.
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