Sports
Following Engineer’s Mercedes Exit, Lewis Hamilton May Bring McLaren Teammate to Fred Vasseur’s Revamped
Ferrari is on a mission to return to the top of Formula 1. And to aid in this dream, the Scuderia Team Principal Frederic Vasseur wants to leave no stone unturned. Already, the Frenchman has roped in Lewis Hamilton, the 7-time World Champion, from Mercedes. But his quest for making the best squad in F1 has not ended here. As of now, Ferrari has not decided who will be its new Technical Director since Enrico Cardile will be exiting from the team in 2025.
Fred Vasseur wanted Red Bull’s aero-wizard, Adrian Newey, to succeed Cardile. However, Ferrari’s headquarters are situated in Maranello, Italy, and Adrian Newey might not want to move there from his home in the UK. This leaves Enrico Cardile’s spot empty as of now, but for how long? Vasseur’s focus has already shifted to the other heavyweight Mercedes officials to convince them to switch to Ferrari. The 56-year-old has been successful in hiring Loic Serra, the current Silver Arrows engineer who will lead the Chassis Performance Engineering team from October this year.
Thus, Lewis Hamilton will reunite with Loic Serra in 2025 when the Briton debuts for Ferrari. But even then, they need other able engineers at the top spots to take care of the operations at the Scuderia. For this, longtime Ferrari recruit Diego Tondi has been promoted to the role of the Head of Aerodynamics. While no official confirmation of this change has come yet, Tondi has already updated his LinkedIn profile to reveal his new position.
But as Fred Vasseur has set out to completely restructure Ferrari, he still needs a Technical Director. As per the Italian Motorsport, the new TD is some “Mister X” who is not Italian in origin. This indicates that Mercedes’ Mike Elliot might join Lewis Hamilton and Loic Serra as the new Technical Director of the Scuderia. Elliot has submitted his resignation to Toto Wolff and is currently serving a gardening period.
The 50-year-old engineer is a longtime associate of Lewis, as the two were together at McLaren, which makes him just the ideal person to take the reigns at Ferrari when Hamilton moves there. But what did Lewis Hamilton say about playing a role in convincing Mike Elliot to quit Mercedes?
Lewis Hamilton clarifies about his role in Mike Elliot’s Mercedes exit
Losing Lewis Hamilton might cost Mercedes dearly, but losing him in addition to some reliable engineers will be disastrous. That might be the case now for Toto Wolff‘s army. Since the Briton, who has been with Ferrari for 12 years now, is leaving the squad, several people might follow suit and join wherever Lewis is going. Did Mike Elliot leave Mercedes for this reason? Well, Lewis Hamilton says he has had no hand in persuading Elliot to leave the Silver Arrows.
The Stevenage native said, “It’s important for people to know that I wasn’t part of Mike’s departure. I’ve known Mike since I was at McLaren. I had a great relationship with Mike. It’s always difficult for someone in his position. It often falls on them, but it’s collective. It’s not just one person. Unfortunately, there are people that maybe from the outside would be like: ‘It’s one person’s fault.’”
Well, even though Lewis Hamilton has claimed to have no part in Mike Elliot quitting Mercedes, he didn’t deny the possibility of the British engineer going to Ferrari now.
First Hamilton, then Loic Serra, and now possibly Elliot–Ferrari keeps scoring the best and the bravest from Mercedes. Do you think the new joinings will help Frederic Vasseur and Ferrari get back to their dominating best? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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The Italian will replace seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton in 2025, with Hamilton making a blockbuster move to Ferrari for next season and beyond.
The confirmation of Antonelli’s Mercedes promotion ended months of speculation over who would step into the Brit’s seat, with Red Bull star Max Verstappen strongly linked with the soon-to-be-vacant spot.
Recently, Antonelli was given the chance to impress in the Mercedes during FP1 at the Italian Grand Prix. However, his debut didn’t go according to plan, as he spun off at Parabolica and caused a red flag which halted proceedings.Speaking on the Formula for Success Podcast, Eddie Jordan discussed the youngster’s disastrous display and criticized his future team for placing too much pressure on his shoulders.”I thought the pressure of Mercedes would be too much for Kimi and his debut, and that’s the way it was, he spun out and caused a lot of damage to the car,” the 76-year-old said.
“I still believe that there’s a place for Kimi but it’s not in Mercedes, that’s the point I’m trying to make.”I don’t care how quick he is, he should be placed somewhere that will give Toto [Wolff] and his team the chance to learn for a year and come up that way.”Currently, Antonelli is competing in F2 but has endured a mixed season with Prema Racing, alongside future Haas driver Oliver Bearman.The 18-year-old is a long way off top spot as things stand, but has shown glimpses of his talent by winning the sprint race in Silverstone, before following that up with his maiden feature race victory in Budapest two weeks later.
NASCAR driver Chase Elliott recently looked back at a wholesome moment in his racing career, where he competed against his father and former Cup Series champion, Bill Elliott. Bill and Chase Elliott are the third father-son duo to have won a Cup Series championship, alongside Richard and Lee Petty, and Ned and Dale Jarrett.
Chase Elliott competes full-time in the Cup Series, piloting the #9 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. In his decade-long career, Elliott has achieved 19 Cup Series victories and claimed the 2020 Cup Series championship. He also won the Xfinity Series title in 2014 and was named the Cup Series regular-season champion in 2022, further cementing his place among NASCAR’s elite.
In a recent interview with Llumar Racing, Elliott answered a few questions from his fans via a ‘Quick Questions’ session. A curious fan inquired whether Elliott would want to race his father ‘Awesome Bill from Dawsonville’. The fan asked (via Llumar Racing on X):
“If you could race your dad in one race, which one would it be and why?”
Responding to the question, the #9 driver said:
“I actually got to race my dad at Nashville Fairgrounds a couple years ago. And, it wasn’t a NASCAR race, but I thought it was pretty cool. I thought the venue was great, I thought the crowd was awesome.
Everybody was super into it, so that one kind of checked the box for me, I thought it was a lot of fun. Given our age difference, I thought it was a really good event, so I enjoyed that,” Chase Elliot said [00:41].
The race Elliott mentions racing his father in was the final race of the Camping World Superstar Racing Experience Series’ first season in 2021 (also known as SRX Racing), where Chase Elliott bested his father among other NASCAR legends such as Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, and Michael Waltrip.
Bristol Motor Speedway announced the winners of the speedway’s 2024 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Scholarship.
The winners are Trea’zur Cassidy of Piney Flats and Hannah Kelsheimer of Lima, Ohio.
The students will be honored during pre-race ceremonies before the Food City 300 Xfinity Series race on Sept. 20. They will each receive a check for $2,088.
Cassidy is a senior at Science Hill High School interested in pursuing a career in journalism, advertising, or film production. She is involved in several school programs, serves as “Toppy,” the school’s mascot, and participates in the theatre program.
“My interest in communications relies on the passion I have to serve and help people,” Cassidy said. “I love working with people, whether it’s throwing kids birthday parties or serving the elderly. I enjoy building relationships with people from all walks of life.”
Kelsheimer is a University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) student majoring in motorsports marketing. She wants to pursue a career in motorsports by working in social media or as a digital content creator for drivers, tracks, or sponsors. She currently manages social media accounts for the UNOH Motorsports Team.
“I thoroughly enjoy crafting content in the world of motorsports and seeing the positive reactions from fans online that brings good publicity to our race teams,” Kelsheimer said. “I also enjoy event planning and traveling to different tracks to see all the sponsor booths and displays so I can be inspired with new ideas. I would love to work for a NASCAR or IndyCar team or track and work in the areas of marketing, branding, messaging, and content.”
The scholarship was created by Bristol Motor Speedway in 2017 in honor of Earnhardt Jr.’s retirement. Winning students are awarded a one-time payment of $2,088 to help with college costs.
To be eligible, students must be seniors at one of 21 designated high schools, students at one of eight designated colleges and universities in the region, or students at UNOH, the speedway’s official partnering institution.
The 21 designated high schools are Abingdon High School, Chuckey-Doak High School, Cloudland High School, Daniel Boone High School, David Crockett High School, Dobyns-Bennett High School, Elizabethton High School, Greeneville High School, Hampton High School, Happy Valley High School, Holston High School, John S. Battle High School, North Greene High School, Patrick Henry High School, Tennessee High School, Science Hill High School, South Greene High School, Sullivan East High School, Virginia High School, West Greene High School, and West Ridge High School.
The nine designated colleges and universities are East Tennessee State University, Emory & Henry College, King University, Milligan University, Northeast State Technical Community College, Tennessee College of Applied Technology Elizabethton, Tusculum University, the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, and the University of Northwestern Ohio.
Earnhardt Jr. will compete in this year’s Food City 300, which will be broadcast on The CW at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20.
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