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LewisnHamilton regret his 2025 Ferrari F1 move, warned of Ferrari ‘MESS’ as Newey delivers MAJOR announcement
Ferrari’s strong start to the 2024 Formula 1 season relative to Mercedes appeared to vindicate Lewis Hamilton’s decision to head to Maranello.
Ferrari’s subsequent slide to fourth best with a car suffering from porpoising problems, combined with Mercedes finally cracking F1’s ground effect regulations, means the opposite narrative now prevails.
So should the man who has won two of the last three grands prix regret his 2025 decision?
First and foremost, Hamilton gives short shrift to the opinions of the chattering classes. As he said in China back in April: “I don’t feel like I need my decision vindicating”. And every time he’s asked the question, he gives a similar answer about it being the right decision.
But he’s also a human being and the dramatic change in trajectories of Ferrari and Mercedes will not have gone unnoticed, so it would be unusual for there not to be at least a moment where he’s contemplated the possibility of Mercedes being a title threat in 2025 and Ferrari struggling. However, it’s doubtful that will have occupied much of his time.
The relative performance of Ferrari and Mercedes must have played a part in the decision when it was made, but Hamilton will have considered the move from all angles before he signed up.
He will have understood the risk he might move to a team that will be less competitive than had he stayed at Mercedes in 2025. What happens on track over this season doesn’t change that and it would be absurd for his contentment with the Ferrari deal to rise and fall with the immediate competitive tides.
The big, longer-term, picture will always have been critical for Hamilton. Team principal Fred Vasseur’s Ferrari rebuild was an important factor and the general trend since the start of his regime is positive. Likewise, there’s every chance Hamilton felt a change of team and a fresh challenge was necessary at this stage of his career. A few difficult weekends for Ferrari don’t change either of those factors.
There’s no doubt he will follow Ferrari’s progress after the August break with interest. The upgrade package introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix promoted increased bouncing that mitigated the impact of the new parts.
While they worked well below the threshold at which the porpoising was set off, it kicked off a stretch of the season where Ferrari was firmly fourth-best.
There was a small tweak for the Hungary/Belgium double-header designed to mitigate the problem, but the full floor upgrade needed to eliminate it won’t follow until after the summer break.
This could be a sliding-doors moment for Ferrari. The change could fix the problem, keep the positives of the Spain upgrade and launch itself back into the thick of the fight. Or it won’t work and the team will face ongoing issues.
The main concern is that Ferrari’s problem wasn’t necessarily created by the Spain package. As Carlos Sainz has explained, the porpoising was evident even before that but it wasn’t serious enough to cause significant problems. The more aggressive floor upgrade increased the porpoising’s severity to a point where it became costly.
Therefore, to get the situation completely under control, it’s possible that Ferrari might have to take more than one step back. Sainz has also hinted that he feels his feedback wasn’t listened to, in response to a question asked by The Race in Hungary last month.
Asked whether he felt it was necessary for Ferrari to go through the problems with its Spain upgrade to fully understand the bouncing situation, Sainz replied: “I have my own theory about it. Obviously, I have been complaining about bouncing before the upgrades.”
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Mick Schumacher, the son of seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher, is in the running for a potential return to F1. The young racer has emerged as a late contender for a seat at Kick Sauber, which will become Audi in 2026. Led by Mattia Binotto, the team announced Mick as a candidate for their drivers’ lineup in 2025.
Speaking in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Binotto dived into details about the young driver. “We are definitely evaluating him [Mick Schumacher],” he said.
The statement is being seen as the 25-year-old’s last chance to return to the sport.
Mick has previous association with Mattia Binotto through the Ferrari Driver Academy.
Speaking about their connection, Binotto added, “I met him and spoke to him. I have known him for a long time, having been part of the Ferrari Driver Academy. I know his strengths and advantages. He is one of the names we have in mind.”
Mick, who drove for Haas during his last stint in Formula 1, was a reserve for Mercedes in the last two seasons. The driver was also in contention for a seat at Alpine after Esteban Ocon left the team for Haas. He even raced for the French manufacturer in the World Endurance Championship. However, the squad decided to go with rookie driver Jack Doohan, instead.
Audi Chief Binotto now has the young racer on the radar as he hopes to bring him back to the sport.
He discussed how the team was in no rush to make a hasty decision, especially now that most teams have already decided their line-ups. “There are two essential options: on the one hand, experience to set us on the growth path. On the other is a young, talented driver who can accompany us on the path to the top,” Binotto said.
With Sauber preparing for a full acquisition by Audi in 2026, the German carmaker looks focused on assembling a competitive team. Should Mick join Sauber, he would team up with Nico Hulkenberg, who leaves Haas at the end of the 2024 season. The 37-year-old German racer is taking one of the two seats next year.
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Carlos Sainz teased one day revealing his true thoughts on Mattia Binotto claiming he would not have signed Lewis Hamilton if still Ferrari boss.
Ahead of the F1 2024 campaign, Hamilton activated an exit clause in his Mercedes contract to engineer a blockbuster F1 2025 move to Ferrari, signing a multi-year deal. That came at the expense of Sainz, who has since agreed terms with Williams.
Carlos Sainz reacts after Binotto’s Lewis Hamilton Ferrari bombshell
At Ferrari, Hamilton reunites with his former junior series boss Fred Vasseur, who took over the reins at Maranello in 2023, after the exit of former team principal Mattia Binotto.
And Binotto has confirmed that if he were still calling the shots, Hamilton would not have got his Ferrari dream move.
Asked by Corriere della Sera if he would have signed Hamilton to Ferrari, Binotto replied: “No. But he did very well to go to Ferrari, I agree with his decision.”
Explaining his reasoning, Binotto said that Hamilton’s future Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc – a part of their line-up since 2019 and a Ferrari Driver Academy graduate – should be their centrepiece for an F1 title challenge.
“Because Ferrari had set their sights on other drivers. And if the talent is Leclerc, he is the one who somehow I think should be taken to the target,” claimed Binotto.
And Sainz, speaking at the 2024 Marca Sports Weekend, was asked for his reaction to that.
“Binotto says he wouldn’t have signed Lewis?” Sainz replied.
Gathering up his thoughts, Sainz teased that he would one day share them, but this was not the time.
“I don’t get involved in that,” he said, “I’ll keep my opinion to myself and I’ll tell you my opinion over dinner one day.”
As for the Hamilton and Leclerc partnership, Sainz believes it will be a successful one for Ferrari.
“He and Leclerc are two great drivers, I’m sure they’ll have a good time,” he said.
Sainz will be joining a Williams team striving to work its way up the F1 pecking order, with F1 2026 – the year that new chassis and power unit regulations arrive – very much the goal in mind rather than next season.
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Amidst the chaos in the Cup Series playoffs, one driver has been consistently getting the results while flying under the radar. Christopher Bell has been somewhat of a dark horse in the ongoing campaign, even though he’s currently second in the championship, having secured three wins in the season so far. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has shown great consistency over the last few weeks, finishing no lower than seventh in the last four races.
Despite the attention going towards the traditional favorites such as Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin, a prominent NASCAR Insider isn’t ruling out Christopher Bell as a genuine title contender if he does make it to Phoenix Raceway later this year.
He might not be in the headlines, but Christopher Bell has every reason to be optimistic about his championship hopes going into the last four races of the season. The 29-year-old has shown tremendous consistency over the last few months, having finished inside the top ten in 9 out of the last 11 races. As a result, the No. 20 Toyota Camry driver finds himself just behind Kyle Larson in the standings going into the Round of Eight. Even though Victory Lane has eluded the Oklahoma native, Bell is playing the long game, hoping to remain in contention, going into the Championship 4 race.
Highlighting his expectations from Christopher Bell, NBC Sports play-by-play announcer Leigh Diffey said on the Door Bumper Clear podcast, “I don’t think enough people give enough credit to Christopher Bell. To me, he’s that quiet achiever and I love the fact that how honest he was at Kansas where he made the mistake at the end of Stage 1 and Stage 2 when he hit the wall, said that’s totally on me. I just think he’s the only guy who’s made the Championship 4 the last two years in succession, and I just think the time is now for him.
