Lewis Hamilton finds himself in a potentially more uncomfortable position at Mercedes this season than was previously anticipated.
It has come to light that the seven-time world champion and his future team, Ferrari, intended to keep their 2025 partnership confidential throughout the season.
“It was a move by Toto Wolff against Hamilton and Ferrari,” Ivan Capelli, a former Formula 1 driver, claimed. “It burned an announcement that was supposed to be made during the season,” he explained to La Gazzetta dello Sport.
This assertion is particularly striking given Ferrari head Frederic Vasseur’s visible annoyance with the relentless Hamilton inquiries last week in Bahrain.
“We have to slowly put the subject of Hamilton to bed, please,” he implored journalists. “We should now concentrate fully on the upcoming season.
“I’ll be happy to talk about Hamilton when the 2025 season approaches.”
Hamilton has also suggested that Wolff, who will continue to be his boss throughout 2024, might have been the one to leak the Ferrari move after hearing it from the driver himself.
“I didn’t speak to anybody,” he stated in a BBC podcast. “I didn’t even tell my parents until the day of it being announced. So, no one knew.”
With the news now public, perhaps ahead of time, the relationship between Hamilton, Wolff, and the rest of the Mercedes team this year could be strained.
And the situation may worsen if Mercedes is indeed falling behind not only Red Bull but also Ferrari and possibly even Aston Martin with its 2024 car.
“From my point of view, the tests were a bit sobering, at least from what we saw,” Ralf Schumacher, a former F1 driver, commented.
Wolff, however, now has ample time to evaluate who will take over from Hamilton in 2025. “If (George) Russell can’t become the new number 1, it will be an even bigger problem because then Toto will have to find another number 1,” Schumacher observed.
“And they don’t just fall out of the tree in Formula 1. Carlos Sainz, maybe, but without wanting to be unfair, I don’t think you can really compare him with Max or Lewis.
“I see the biggest potential problems at Mercedes this year,” Schumacher added in his talk with Bild newspaper. “The two (Hamilton and Russell) don’t get on at all. And Hamilton no longer has the team’s full protection.
“The king’s status is gone. Russell will want to use this to his advantage. But I’m worried that Lewis decided to leave. It suggests that not everything is set for success at the moment.
“It could also get particularly exciting within the team if the rumours are true and two engineers could move to Ferrari with him.”
Schumacher believes Hamilton, therefore, needs to focus more this year to transition to Ferrari in top condition. “What he wears on Thursdays shouldn’t be his priority,” he advised.
The good news for Hamilton, according to Schumacher, is that Ferrari’s direction seems promising under Vasseur’s leadership.
“They are increasingly becoming more international again,” he observed. “Hamilton recognized this. The fact that Mercedes apparently had no interest in hiring him as a long-term brand ambassador probably hit him hard.
“He has lost faith that Mercedes will turn things around. And apparently it hurt his ego that Verstappen earned more than him now.”
This year is also pivotal for Charles Leclerc, who has the chance to solidify his standing at Ferrari ahead of Hamilton’s arrival next year.
“He (Leclerc) needs to perform more consistently throughout a season, which he says so himself,” Capelli mentioned. “If he wins the title, which I realise is an almost impossible scenario this year, that could change a lot in terms of relations with Hamilton.”
