2023-24 Formula 1 Off-Track Thread

  • Thread starter Jimlaad43
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Clark
That announcement has increased Ferrari’s stock market value by $10 billion today. Madness the effect Hamilton has had.
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None of the profits will go into fixing any of the issues Ferrari has.
 
Why announce something like this so early? This is the kind of news that we get during the summer silly season and at the end of the season. We haven't even gone through 2024 season yet and all the talk is now about 2025 already because of that!
 
Clark
That announcement has increased Ferrari’s stock market value by $10 billion today. Madness the effect Hamilton has had.
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They also announced that they had a record profit of 1 billion Euro. An increase of 34% compared to the year before.
 
Rossell2
I think this is even bigger a shock than when he moved to Mercedes from McLaren. He doesn't have anything left to really prove at this point but if he brings Ferrari back to the top it would be some serious cherry on top of the cake.
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I didn't consider that to be much of a surprise given how involved Mercedes were with Mclaren at the time he was with them.

AshenGraey
Why announce something like this so early? This is the kind of news that we get during the summer silly season and at the end of the season. We haven't even gone through 2024 season yet and all the talk is now about 2025 already because of that!
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Reminds me of when Alonso signed for Mclaren in 2007 before the 2006 season had started. He won the title in 2006 and then got beat by his younger team mate, Lewis Hamilton.
 
If I were Merc' I'd be trying to poach any one of the McLaren drivers !! ... As a McLaren fan I hope they have confiscated both their drivers phones :).
A lot are saying Sainz to Audi ... I think Merc should be eyeing up a driver swap, Sainz to Merc would be a strong team too !
 
MagpieRacer
Apparently Alonsos team have already made contact with Wolff.
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I can only handle so much. I'd prefer Alonso to stay at Aston tbh. Something about an underdog team performing as well as they did last year with his comeback was fun to watch. I guess he may feel that Merc can make a step forward above Aston in the long term.

TumeK5
Well, looks like anything's possible now, right?

How about Stroll for Mercedes, Ocon for Aston... :lol:
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Imagine, Stroll buys out the Merc seat for Stroll
 
Am I the only one who... isn't surprised? I'm really not that shocked that the most successful driver in Formula One, a driver still at the sharp end of the grid despite slightly falling stock, wants to move to the one of the last remaining top teams that he hasn't driven for whilst he still can.
 
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GTFan24
Jimmie Johnson in a Toyota and Lewis in a Ferrari


IMAGINE saying this to someone back in 2008
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That would've just been someone's cursed NASCAR 09 livery and F1 mod.
 
Liquid
Am I the only one who... isn't surprised? I'm really not that shocked that the most successful driver in Formula One, a driver still at the sharp end of the grid despite slightly falling stock, wants to move to the one of the last remaining top teams that he hasn't driven for whilst he still can.
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I admit I was a bit surprised, if only because Lewis basically had a lifetime gig with Mercedes. Like others have mentioned, once he retired from driving they likely would have given him a position as brand ambassador or somesuch and a hefty paycheck to match it. But I also realize that this is not the first time a successful racer has walked away from a sure thing to take a chance for the sake of their own personal legacy.

Who knows, maybe the prospect of getting him that 8th championship and a unique spot in the history books will be just the catalyst Ferrari needs to get out their doldrums and actually show proper form. If nothing else it's given Formula 1 the swift kick in the ass it needed to be interesting this year, I was fully expecting 2023 to be playing on repeat for the next couple years before this dropped.
 
Hamilton probably feels like he's less likely to be cheated out of stuff in a red car :mischievous:

Anyway, Verstappen to Mercedes in 2026.
 
toastet
Maybe Lando would've been a candidate for Merc but he prematurely signed at McL (probably scared by Oscar?).
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Possibly. But, I think Lando made the right decision. The team & his career is evolving together and they made great strides last year to the point RB was probably caught sleeping a couple times. Plus, Oscar is a great pairing imo with both drivers being young, so Zak Brown knows the team is in a good place to contend in the future with them. My 2 cents.
 
AshenGraey
Why announce something like this so early? This is the kind of news that we get during the summer silly season and at the end of the season. We haven't even gone through 2024 season yet and all the talk is now about 2025 already because of that!
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Because this season is most likely going to be a carbon copy of the last one and will bore everyone to death?
TumeK5
Well, looks like anything's possible now, right?

How about Stroll for Mercedes, Ocon for Aston... :lol:

Oh look, the poo-lover is back!
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Mick Schumacher redemption ark? He is under contract from Mercedes after all.
 
Not surprised by this in the slightest. He was always going to end up in red. They all do.

Max will be no different at some point in his time as well.
 
Zildog
Not surprised by this in the slightest. He was always going to end up in red. They all do.

Max will be no different at some point in his time as well.
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Max seems way too disenchanted by the gimmicks F1 keeps implementing (Coupled with his own GT team that he is putting together) so I don't see him wanting to do that no matter how precious Ferrari is.
 
Wonder how the atmosphere will be like at Mercedes in 2024 with Lewis leaving at the end of the year.
Its not like it happened after the summer break..

Also didn't Lewis sign a multi year contract last year, would be surprised if it was a single year contract going off how Toto was rambling each round that Lewis is ready to sign any day now.
RACECAR
no matter how precious Ferrari is.
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Frankly I am surprised that drivers still fawn over Ferrari.
They're not like what they use to be.
Heck Williams was the king for a while but now they're backmarkers.
McLaren was also up there for a while and they might just get back on top this year.
 


I know it's a photoshop job, but it still feels cursed as hell. This is a weird-ass timeline that we're experiencing...

Liquid
Am I the only one who... isn't surprised? I'm really not that shocked that the most successful driver in Formula One, a driver still at the sharp end of the grid despite slightly falling stock, wants to move to the one of the last remaining top teams that he hasn't driven for whilst he still can.
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I might be letting my cynicism win out here, but I think for me, the big head-scratcher is that, in their current form, moving to Ferrari seems to be a lateral move. Sure, Mercedes, relatively speaking, isn't doing super great currently, but I feel like, at absolute worst, they're on par with Ferrari in terms of pace. However, Ferrari as a team has historically had problems with stubbornness and general competency come race day, and have seemingly never been able to get a hold on it, despite having high-caliber drivers like Alonso and Vettel at their disposal. Lewis tends to be a lot more involved within his team compared to other drivers, and is not particularly afraid to give feedback, espescially after a poor result. I don't see that kind of personality being super popular in the historically stubborn Ferrari camp.

Now, I've seen some mentions of several former Mercedes staff have recently been poached by Ferrari, including their (soon to be former) Performance Director Loic Serra. Allegedly, Serra has agreed with Hamiltons recent feedback regarding the direction that Mercedes should've taken their last couple F1 cars, so it looks like Hamilton already has at least one key ally waiting for him at Ferrari.

With any luck, it'll be a repeat of how Schumi brought Ross Brawn and several other key personell with him when he moved from Bennetton to Ferrari, but there's a part of me that doesn't completley trust Ferrari to actually be fully supportive Hamilton long-term, and stop themselves from snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
 
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The permanent Best Fans award will now move from Silverstone to Monza.

The travelling Best Fans award will still change from race-to-race.
 
Absolutely insane news and I had to do a double check to see it's not April 1st when I read it this morning. Can we just skip 2024 and go straight to 2025 please? :lol:

I think Lewis will win a few races but difficult to see him get that 8th title if Max/RB still goes strong. I feel his personality doesn't really fit the Ferrari atmosphere unless he brings a load of Merc people on board. Also Ferrari is the most image conscious car brand out there and it's hard to imagine them letting Lewis have free rein with his fashion/jewelry/music stuff (let alone the BLM/rainbow helmets). I wish him well though and even if he doesn't win, it's still a romantic ending to his career. He has nothing left to prove and only everything to gain if he brought back the title to Scuderia.

Now, if I'm Toto it's hard not to look past Alonso. Maybe not the greatest long term move, but no one else on the grid has the combination of speed/racecraft/consistency and star power to replace Lewis. After a few years then maybe one of the Merc juniors can step up.
 
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