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Mercedes confirmed ‘talks’ to bring F1 World Champion out of retirement to replace Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes confirmed ‘talks’ to bring F1 World Champion out of retirement to replace Lewis Hamilton. A former World Champion could make a shock return to Formula One to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.
Hamilton sent shockwaves through the world of F1 earlier this week when he confirmed that he will leave Mercedes at the end of the 2024 season to join Ferrari.
The 36-year-old signed a new two-year contract with the Silver Arrows in 2023, but has decided to activate an option that will allow him to leave a year early.
The seven-time world champion will end a 25-year association with Mercedes, which dates back to his time as a junior driver and when the company was an engine supplier for his first F1 team McLaren.
In a statement posted on his social media channels, Hamilton said: “The time is right to make a change and take on a new challenge.
“I still remember the feeling of taking a leap of faith into the unknown when I first joined Mercedes in 2013. I know some people didn’t understand it at the time but I was right to make the move then and it’s the feeling I have again now.
“I’m excited to see what I can bring to this new opportunity and what we can do together.”
Hamilton will race alongside Charles Leclerc for the Scuderia, with Carlos Sainz Jr making way for him. The Spaniard is one of several drivers linked with replacing Hamilton at Mercedes, but now it looks like an unlikely figure is also in the mix.
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel retired in 2022, but he is now being tipped to make as stunning return to the grid.
The German won four F1 World Driver’s Championships with Red Bull, but he called time on his career after enduring two disappointing seasons with the Aston Martin team.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed that he is still in regular contact with Vettel, prompting speculation that the negotiations are underway.
However, earlier this week Wolff played down the chances of an unexpected comeback. He told AMUS: “I think he [Vettel] made the decision to not race anymore. We are talking on a regular basis. We’ve also talked yesterday, but it wasn’t about driving for us in the future.”
Back in September, Vettel refused to rule out a return to F1. When asked if he might follow in the footsteps of fellow world champions Nigel Mansell, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen by coming out of retirement, he told Sky Sports: “I can’t say no, because that you don’t know.
Mercedes confirmed ‘talks’ to bring F1 World Champion out of retirement
“I think it’s something that if you asked all of them, probably some of them would have said ‘no’. And some of them I don’t know, but in the end all of them came back, so I can’t exclude it.”
Hamilton’s move is already one of the biggest stories in F1 history, but a shock comeback by Vettel would take it to a whole new level.
A shock name is in pole position to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes once he joins Ferrari.
On Thursday the news broke that Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari from the 2025 season onwards, bringing an end to his 11-year association with Mercedes.
Though the 39-year-old endured disappointing 2022 and 2023 seasons with Mercedes, the six Formula One World Driver’s Championships he won with them mean this is arguably the biggest driver transfer in the sport’s history.
Hamilton penned a new two-year contract with Mercedes in August, but at 7pm GMT on Thursday the team announced that the star has exercised his option to end their partnership a year early.
According to Italian outlet Formu1a.uno, Hamilton will earn around $100 million per year at Ferrari, a total made up of salary, sponsors, image rights, bonuses and more.
READ: Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell on the decision to move the Clash
Hamilton will partner Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, meaning that Carlos Sainz will leave the team once the 2024 season has concluded.
The Spaniard – son of famed rally driver Carlos Sainz Sr – brought Ferrari their only grand prix victory of the 2023 season.
After confirming the news of his departure to make way for Hamilton, Sainz wrote on X: “We still have a long season ahead of us and, like always, I will give my absolute best for the team and for the tifosi all around the world. News about my future will be announced in due course.”
That last line has sparked speculation about where he might end up, and it appears that Sainz is the favourite to replace Hamilton at Mercedes.
The bookies odds – provided by BonusCodeBets – have Sainz Jr at 6/4 to replace Hamilton, while Alex Albon has odds of 6/4 to leave Williams Racing for Mercedes.
Fernando Alonso is priced at 5/1, with Ferrari being one of the few teams the former World Champion has yet to drive for.
Daniel Ricciardo is 8/1 to take Hamilton’s spot. The Australian could potentially have a future as Max Verstappen’s Red Bull team mate, but being the main man at Mercedes could tempt him away from Red Bull.
27-year-old Alpine driver Esteban Ocon is 16/1, while 17-year-old sensation Kimi Antonelli is 25/1.
The full set of odds are:
6/4 – Carlos Sainz
2/1 – Alex Albon
5/1 – Fernando Alonso
8/1 – Daniel Ricciardo
16/1 – Esteban Ocon
25/1 – Andrea Kimi Antonelli
50/1 – Mick Schumacher
33/1 – Sergio Perez
100/1 – Pierre Gasly
100/1 – Frederik Vesti
100/1 – Zak O’Sullivan
100/1 – Ollie Bearman
100/1 – Sebastian Vettel
100/1 – Valtteri Bottas
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Dissatisfied Max Verstappen speaks of a ‘bad day’ and is disappointed with Lewis Hamilton
Dissatisfied Max Verstappen speaks of a ‘bad day’ and is disappointed with Lewis Hamilton
Max Verstappen did not get further than the seventh fastest time during the second training for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, after setting the fifth fastest time in the first session in Imola. Charles Leclerc was again the fastest.
Verstappen stated at the start of the second, Friday session that his RB20 already felt a lot better than in the first training. Yet he rode ‘only’ the seventh fastest time.
Two last attempts to set a fast time on the soft tire came to nothing. After Verstappen had already been affected by traffic during attempt one, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton then got in his way. Verstappen was clearly not happy with that and made this known in words and gestures. Hamilton immediately apologized and said to his engineer over the on-board radio that he would have liked to have received a warning that Verstappen was approaching him. Leclerc and Verstappen’s teammate Pérez also had a fight later in the session following a similar incident.
Verstappen: ‘So it happened again’
“That is not the first time that this has happened,” Verstappen said at the time with Hamilton. “You always try to remain calm, but it happened again. At the same time, I don’t want to talk about it too much because that wasn’t our problem today. We didn’t have the speed and we have to solve that. It was difficult to find the right balance, I didn’t feel comfortable in the car and it was very easy to ‘lose’ the car. Today was just bad. There are really things we need to improve to be competitive tomorrow.”
Ferrari driver Leclerc lapped in 1.15.906, making him just under two-tenths of a second faster than Oscar Piastri (McLaren). Behind this followed the surprising Yuki Tsunoda, Hamilton, George Russell, Carlos Sainz and only then Pérez. Verstappen was half a second slower than Leclerc in that fastest lap, Pérez added an extra tenth.
Racing simulation also did not go entirely according to Max Verstappen’s plan
In the final phase, the drivers all focused on the long run with a view to Sunday’s race. That race simulation also did not go entirely according to plan for Verstappen, who shot straight again. Although the lap times of almost all drivers fluctuated back and forth during those long runs.
“The long run was also very bad,” Verstappen was clear. “Do I have confidence that things will get better tomorrow? It can hardly be worse than today. It seems that others have taken a step forward and for us it was not a good day.”
Verstappen also searching during the opening session in Imola
Verstappen was also dissatisfied during the first free practice, earlier in the day. He expressed his dissatisfaction over the on-board radio. The three-time world champion did not get further than fifth place in the opening session.
Apart from the Racing Bulls, all teams brought quite a few updates to Imola, which were extensively tested during the first session of the weekend.
Although Verstappen drove the fastest times in the first and third sectors, he lost a lot of time in the middle part. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) was ultimately fastest for the Italian public: 1.16.990.
Sergio Perez and Verstappen more than two tenths slower than Leclerc
Mercedes driver George Russell conceded a tenth to Leclerc’s time at the beginning of the afternoon, followed shortly afterwards by his teammate Carlos Sainz. Red Bull drivers Sergio Pérez and Verstappen were more than two-tenths slower than Leclerc.
With about six minutes left on the clock, Verstappen was making an improvement, but he shot straight ahead. That happened again in the final minute, without serious consequences. He was therefore unable to complete an ideal lap at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. Red Bull has also introduced a major update in Imola, just like Ferrari and Mercedes. McLaren already did that two weeks ago in Miami. The winner there, Lando Norris, rode the eighth fastest time during the first training.
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“It’s Getting Hotter”: Chase Elliott Refuses to See Eye to Eye With Dale Jr and His Suggestion
“It’s Getting Hotter”: Chase Elliott Refuses to See Eye to Eye With Dale Jr
It’s no secret that Chase Elliott is one of the most dominant active drivers on short tracks. Throughout his career, the #9 Hendrick Motorsports driver has brought in more than a handful of top fives and even wins at tracks like Martinsville. That being said, NASCAR and Goodyear’s short-track tire package dilemma has seen that notion change. With the rise to rumors of a short track losing a date in favor of a venue like Mexico, Dale Earnhardt Jr shared the prospect that NASCAR is making way for more intermediate racing.
However, not every stakeholder believes this is the right direction to head in. Despite Chase Elliott’s drawbacks at short tracks lately, the HMS driver believes that the answer to NASCAR’s dilemma isn’t moving away from the problem.
Instead of increasing the focus on intermediate tracks, Elliott believes the sport shouldn’t over-saturate type of racetrack.
Alongside Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr has been one of the strongest advocates for short-track racing. But with the new packages failing to make good on their promises, Junior interpreted recent rumors of Richmond losing a day as NASCAR altogether shifting away from the format slowly. But Chase Elliott believes this gives rise to an alarming pattern.
The HMS driver believes that choosing to exploit the quality of certain tracks may end up backfiring in the long run. He shared with media ahead of the All-Star Race, “The races at the mile-and-a-half stuff has been really good. But I don’t think that’s always a reason to get more of them. I always feel like less is more. The Bristol Night race is the perfect example of less is more because you go there once a year, it’s super exciting, everybody loves a Bristol Night race, and it’s because it only happens one time a year, it makes it special.”
Adding to his argument, Elliott also highlighted how road-course racing seemed to lose its charm as of late. Compared to when there were only two events on the calendar, the frequent visits to road courses had diluted its exclusivity. Elliott shared, “I just think that that the more you do that and you lean in one direction and add more more more, you can easily make things that are exciting stale really quickly. So I think we just need to be careful not to do that.”
Going over better solutions, Elliott felt that making the Next-Gen car more suited to tackle the short-track dilemma would benefit the sport more. Not only would the calendar retain diversity in the type of tracks, but it would also allow each weekend to have its unique charm. The HMS driver concluded, “I would rather see a better product on the short-track stuff than take them away. I don’t think they’re taking them away, but I would hate to see a movement away from that, just because it’s an important part of our sport.”
It’s safe to say Chase Elliott is eager to protect short tracks from taking a hit on the Cup Series calendar. Speaking of which, the #9 HMS could prove his point further with his return to another glorious short track, this time in a late-model car.
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NASCAR War and Fame: Dale Earnhardt Jr Exposes the Consequences of Denny Hamlin
NASCAR War and Fame: Dale Earnhardt Jr Exposes the Consequences of Denny Hamlin
When Denny Hamlin created 23XI, he already had his plate full. Facing a 36-race Cup schedule and curating a weekly podcast was bound to take a toll on him. But Hamlin had a simple answer for the media when they were curious about why he does it all. He said, “It’s what I love to do.”
And even while managing three avenues: running a business, driving, and talking about motorsport, Hamlin fetches Cup wins every other weekend nowadays. The hectic life that he chooses to live as NASCAR’s foremost speaker is one not many can persevere and maintain. Dale Earnhardt Jr, another podcast owner like Hamlin, sheds light on this as he dissects Hamlin’s busy schedule.
Denny Hamlin’s upbringing was imbued with discipline and hard work. His parents went all-out to support his racing career, as they incurred debt and sold their classic cars so that he could get in a race car. But Dennis Lou, Hamlin’s father, was adamant about a work ethic. “I’m not going out there and working on your race car for you. If you want to do it, you go out there, you learn it — and then when you wreck it, you have to figure out how to get it back to the racetrack.”
That work ethic reflects on all the hectic projects that Hamlin diligently sees through. In a recent interview with Rubbin is Racing, Dale Earnhardt Jr emphasized as much while hailing his podcast rival. “Denny is up for it…Denny’s got a personality and he’s in it…racing, and this is his life…He has his hand in every cookie jar, right. He’s a driver, he’s a car owner, he’s in the podcasting…Certainly, his takes on his show get a ton of attention. He flexes that muscle on all those fronts.”
Hamlin may be sturdy enough to handle all these duties, but other veteran drivers are unwilling to go through that stress. Dale Earnhardt Jr shed light on this aspect: “So that can be really exhausting. And I think some drivers are like, ‘You know, I don’t feel like doing all that. I’m busy enough, I’m content.’”
Balancing racing life with family life and juggling podcast sessions and ownership duties requires you to have a steady mindset. And Denny Hamlin’s unique opinion of his life helps him. “I live in chaos. My life is chaos, and I thrive under chaos… The more (crap) that is stirred up around me, the more I come at it.”