2024 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[JPower]

I have to admit I feel a bit sad for Sainz…

Why not renew him after having such a great season and being the only non Red Bull driver to win last year! He may not be on Leclerc’s speed in qualifying but he proved quite clever and fast enough during the races! This the second time in his career a team is basically off loading him even though he’s been performing great!

He's not performing great, he is getting lucky, and the teams have access to the data and can see it. They also see the bill for his crash damage.

[SuperCNJ]

I'm keen to see how Lewis adapts to the Ferrari given that it's been designed around Charles who we know likes a car with a strong front end whereas Lewis is the polar opposite and prefers a strong rear end. How will he convince the team to change the car to his needs rather than Charles's? I personally think Lewis will find it challenging at Ferrari for this reason as Charles is arguably a stronger driver than George, yet George has been comparable to Lewis in a team that has Lewis's fingerprints all over it and a car Lewis is more familiar with (albeit a pretty poor one). But it's definitely a gutsy move by Lewis, if anything, it shows the confidence he still has in his ability even when compared to some of the very best of the younger generation of drivers.

[ENGINE TUNER]

I'm keen to see how Lewis adapts to the Ferrari given that it's been designed around Charles who we know likes a car with a strong front end whereas Lewis is the polar opposite and prefers a strong rear end. How will he convince the team to change the car to his needs rather than Charles's? I personally think Lewis will find it challenging at Ferrari for this reason as Charles is arguably a stronger driver than George, yet George has been comparable to Lewis in a team that has Lewis's fingerprints all over it and a car Lewis is more familiar with (albeit a pretty poor one). But it's definitely a gutsy move by Lewis, if anything, it shows the confidence he still has in his ability even when compared to some of the very best of the younger generation of drivers.

All drivers want a stable rear end, and Hamilton definitely loves to lean on a strong front end allowing him to late brake and trail brake and carry speed thru corners. Hamilton has also proven to be able to adapt to the machinery given to him and maximize speed although not always points.

[rifrafs2kees]

I'm keen to see how Lewis adapts to the Ferrari given that it's been designed around Charles who we know likes a car with a strong front end whereas Lewis is the polar opposite and prefers a strong rear end. How will he convince the team to change the car to his needs rather than Charles's? I personally think Lewis will find it challenging at Ferrari for this reason as Charles is arguably a stronger driver than George, yet George has been comparable to Lewis in a team that has Lewis's fingerprints all over it and a car Lewis is more familiar with (albeit a pretty poor one). But it's definitely a gutsy move by Lewis, if anything, it shows the confidence he still has in his ability even when compared to some of the very best of the younger generation of drivers.

I don't know where you get your info from...Jenson and many have said Hamilton likes a strong front end. Are you conflating his dislike for a poor rear end a la w13/w14 with a preference for understeer?

[MTL79]

What makes this signing potentially even better is that it could destabilize Mercedes a bit. That's an added bonus!

[AR3-GP]

It's quite amusing that Fred Vasseur, this friendly and unassuming looking guy, just gutted Merc like a fish. First he took Serra and colleagues, and then he took Rome (Hamilton). It is a proper disembowelment of the Mercedes F1 team...

I think Xyz22, you once said Ferrari was not serious for hiring Vasseur. We will have to revisit this.

[Vanja #66]

Vasseur's whole ideology publicly has been to build a team/car around a lead driver ?

Publicly no, he was always supporting both drivers and stated there is no need for a lead driver with those two. That's all from the (mostly Italian) media speculation.

[F1NAC]

Time to book Monza 2025 still cannot believe that we will see Hamilton racing in Monza in front of Tifosi in red

[Chuckjr]

I’m almost convinced this is not about a championship. I think this is about intangibles and dreams come true for Lewis personally as a driver and for post F1 fan base breadth. It’s a long after F1 business decision as much as it is a boyhood fantasy decision. Take the championship out of it and it makes complete sense. The bomb drop on Toto. The sudden announcement an entire year in advance. This is simply Lewis wanting to wear red to end his career. If he captures a real hope for a title, that’s just bonus round. But honestly, I don’t think a 41 year old Lewis is going to beat a 30 year old Shal. But maybe Lewis proves me wrong.

Sharing lead driver position will compromise Ferrari to RB in 2026 and like we saw at Macca in 2007, we will see at Ferrari 2026 IF they can beat RB. That’s a HUUUUGE if. I’m not sure it’s realistic to think that. If you take a moment to read the RB pages you will see they basically are going to bring what they brought this last year in competitiveness by how they are creatively structuring payments to engineers and setting up for the regs change. It’s pretty amazing what teams can do to pay engineers within loop holes of the budget limits.

Something tells me maybe Liberty Media may have had a hand in this? It certainly throws off the Andretti hounds and offers a non stop talking point the entire 2024 season. I mean they are going to bring this up NON STOP at every friggin race. They will exploit this story for every ounce it is worth and they have an entire year to milk it till dry and crusty.

[Sidiamal]

Bono might have sentimental value but I think Lewis is better off keeping Riccardo Adami around. He needs a veteran around to accommodate him who's already worked with another multi-world champion in the past. At any rate if Bono joins Ferrari it would be in a factory role, he was already on his way out of garage duties at Mercedes.

[CaribouBread]

I admit I might be getting a bit caught in the moment, but this strange thought just occurred to me. Adrian Newey has been relegated to working only on the road/track RB17 for this year, what if that scenario is just a fancy gardening leave? He gets courted all the time, what if Vasseur finally convinced him? Nobody thought Lewis to Scuderia was possible even though Lewis himself had said that its something he wanted, and Newey has mentioned something similar last year.
I'll go take my meds now

[organic]

Red wheel covers for 2024 car? yellow and white accents as usual for Charles/carlos

[Vanja #66]

I admit I might be getting a bit caught in the moment, but this strange thought just occurred to me. Adrian Newey has been relegated to working only on the road/track RB17 for this year, what if that scenario is just a fancy gardening leave? He gets courted all the time, what if Vasseur finally convinced him? Nobody thought Lewis to Scuderia was possible even though Lewis himself had said that its something he wanted, and Newey has mentioned something similar last year.
I'll go take my meds now

That's the point of this signing, it shook the F1 world to its core and now everything is possible. Who would miss a chance to be a part of the team that later made someone an 8-time F1 World Champ? It's a very strong and attractive story.

Red wheel covers for 2024 car? yellow and white accents as usual for Charles/carlos

Oh damn, I hope not... It could be a hint at livery change, there were some white and yellow lines in some recent ads and promos.

[MinMax]

Yeah... I don't see the positives of HAM joining Ferrari.
* It will be difficult for Ferrari to build around lead driver LEC(as they say). HAM is not going to settle for 2nd driver position.
* If LEC did not know about HAM move while signing the contract, it will leave a bitter feeling.
* Both will take points of each other in WDC. WCC might be good if car is good.
* Would be hard for HAM to deal with strategy calls/inefficiencies that Ferrari has displayed past couple of seasons with their pit operations
* HAM may find it difficult to portray the image of Ferrari driver that team expects him to(not be critical, outspoken etc...)

Sums up how I see it. The two drivers will be all nice and friendly for the first few races and if the car is any good, it'll soon become a shitshow.

But that's how it would go down in any team with a car that performs where they're about equal in performance.

[mendis]

I admit I might be getting a bit caught in the moment, but this strange thought just occurred to me. Adrian Newey has been relegated to working only on the road/track RB17 for this year, what if that scenario is just a fancy gardening leave? He gets courted all the time, what if Vasseur finally convinced him? Nobody thought Lewis to Scuderia was possible even though Lewis himself had said that its something he wanted, and Newey has mentioned something similar last year.
I'll go take my meds now

Newey is NOT a Red Bull employee. He is a contractor that works as per the contract and he owns a company that gets paid. So not sure if he can be on gardening leave as a consultant like in an "employee" sense.

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2022/10/ ... -cap-saga/

But it has been suggested that Newey isn’t exempt from the cap as he’s hired through his own company, rather than being a direct Red Bull employee.

“It probably has to do with Adrian Newey,” the report reads. “Newey is one of the top three earners in the team and the debate is over whether Newey is a Red Bull employee or a name on loan through his own company.

“Red Bull says ‘he is employed by us’ so he’s not included in the budget cap because he’s one of the three highest-paid names.

“The FIA said: ‘No, he was hired through his company, so he comes from outside, so he should be included in the budget cap’.”