Sebastian Vettel of Germany driving for Ferrari SF90 and Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving for Mercedes AMG F1 W10. September 21, 2019. The Singapore Grand Prix, a race in the Formula 1 World Championship, took place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore on Qualifying Day.
Reports suggest that Ferrari supports the idea of Lewis Hamilton not joining their Formula 1 team alone in 2025, in order to avoid the same mistake made when Sebastian Vettel made the switch. Vettel, after winning four consecutive titles with Red Bull from 2010, moved to Ferrari in 2015 with the goal of fulfilling a childhood dream and achieving success in the iconic red team. However, despite winning 14 races in five years, a combination of driver and team errors prevented Vettel from overcoming the dominance of Hamilton and Mercedes.
Hamilton, the next established F1 champion to attempt to bring Ferrari back to the top, has announced that he will join the team at the beginning of next season. While Vettel chose to trust the personnel already in place at Ferrari, Hamilton is rumored to be bringing several trusted Mercedes employees with him, according to Formu1a.uno. It has been reported that Hamilton has decided that he “will not arrive alone” at Ferrari.
Mercedes Performance Director Loic Serra had already agreed to transfer to Ferrari before Hamilton, and Head of Trackside Performance Riccardo Musconi is also linked to the move. Additionally, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has acknowledged that discussions about the future of Peter Bonnington, Hamilton’s long-serving race engineer, must take place.
Ferrari is said to be making efforts to accommodate Hamilton as he pursues an eighth F1 title. This includes offering opportunities for figures from Mercedes to join the team. Journalist Roberto Chinchero revealed on the F1 Nation podcast that Ferrari boss Frederic Vassuer had discussed the prospect of Hamilton joining the team. Vassuer believes that Hamilton’s addition would attract the best engineers to the Maranello-based squad as they aim to catch up with Red Bull.
Hamilton invoked a break clause in his recent Mercedes contract to finalize the deal with Ferrari. He will be partnering with Charles Leclerc in the team. As a result, the current Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz, will be without a drive, but he and his team are currently considering their options.
