mendis wrote: ↑04 Feb 2024, 11:06
Yes, and apparently Newey’s wife or daughter liked a tweet saying the same thing this week.
At the very least having Hamilton on board is a draw for other engineers. Football clubs attract great players by having great managers and vice versa. A marquee signing can bring other marquee signings.
Newey plus Hamilton = a record 8th and bringing Ferrari back to the front. It’s a story that might just resonate with Newey a swan song for two legends...
Newey hasn't won a title in his his first year in any team. It takes time to build tools, personnel, culture of his liking and then comes results. He has worked all his F1 life in UK and it would be a major cultural change to go to Italy and work with people who come from very different background.
It wasn't easy for a suave man manager like Brawn to produce success in an instant at Maranello and it wasn't easy either with Japanese at Honda and then at Brackley for Mercedes.
It would take good few years for Newey to build the atmosphere where he can then build winning cars. Lewis is 39 now and even if Newey miraculously starts at Maranello in 2025 by breaking his contract with Red Bull, it might probably take atleast 3 years to produce a winning car. Lewis would be 43 or 44. Will he hang in there that long, will he be quick enough to beat Charles getting into 30 and if Red Bull doesn't decline and has a competitive machine, will he be able to beat Max who would also be in his prime. Too many question marks even with Newey joining Ferrari. On top of all of that, it's Ferrari! Will they retain Fred for so long if they don't win? Will the Media wait that long for Newey to succeed?
Even without Newey, Ferrari has the opportunity of 2026 in front of them and if they come out with a winner, it would be a great intra team battle. Both drivers like a good pointy car and a bit of oversteer. With his unquestionable single lap speed, Charles would more often than not start from the front. So it would be fun to see if Lewis can overtake him or Charles manage to keep him behind and benefit from priority strategy. It would definitely be fun, but can they win a title, who knows.
I love Ferrari (MSC Ferrari) and I hope they win a WCC again.
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I don't buy any of this.
It's fairly obvious to anyone who has watched recent F1 that Red Bull is a step ahead of everyone else while there is a keen battle for 2nd or 3rd among the rest of the pack depending on how far off the pace Perez is. Newey knows of a key trick or a key optimisation that the rest of the field don't fully understand or appreciate. There is an aha moment for every team on the grid.
I simply do not believe it would take 3 years for Newey to teach Ferrari's or any other team's competent designers what the 'trick' or optimisation is. If Newey speaks you listen.
Lewis' age is also another red herring, I'm middle aged and I have more get up and go, far more knowledge and want to learn more than the so called next generation coming through. As long as Lewis stays motivated then he's going to be performing at WDC level that you can be certain of.
I don't want to work with idiots at this time in my life and I'm not for one moment calling the Merc team idiots but knowledge and experience gives you an incite that you wouldn't have as a younger person. It might actually be that Lewis is comparing the Merc of today with the Merc of his 6 WDCs with them and has come to the conclusion they're just not at the same level as they were back then and not going to be where they need to be anytime soon so it's time to move on. Simple as that.
I've never cheered for Ferrari in my entire F1 following lifetime, they were always the enemy. Come 2025 it's going to feel very strange...
my god. Give your head a wobble.
