I feel you.... I'm going to have a problem wearing Red... I respect the Tifosi, but can't stand them. Hamilton is knows something, also imagine him winning a WDC there. Btw I heard he's racking 100 tickets a year.
I dont totally agree. Im guessing they didnt make the gains expected. What I think is more likely is that he wanted a chance to drive for Ferrari and that window was going to close.
Hamilton isn't Alonso who can carry an underdog to win championships. Mercedes is a great team. We all know even Schumacher's brother could have won the championship with the Mercedes team in the 2016-2020 season. Mercedes was just head and tail above the competition in that era. Hamilton an average driver at best was at the right time at the right place.
@@Bananananananannananananna Vasseur is poaching people left and right. By 2026, he may make Ferrari a credible title contender again. Or he might even surprise us as early as 2025.
@adamb2619 funny way to say harassing the race director into breaking the rules. It would have looked worse if Mercedes pit, Max doesn't and the race doesn't restart.
Telling one of the best drivers of all time they can’t even be an ambassador with the company after all that time and winning, was probably the last straw for him to do that..
True, the F1 team wanted it to happen but all you need to do is read what corporate Mercedes got up to. They were the ones denied Lewis the ambassador role and now he could do that for ferrari instead.
@@Spinetap - I'm non-Aryan and I seriously doubt your "they." Dieter Zetsche as boss of corporate Mercedes was very pro Hamilton. If you read the history of Ola Källenius (current head of Mercedes) since he joined, he's doubted the money paid to Hamilton and not because of his colour. I also beleive Källenius's wife is an environmentalist and she is committed to changing Mercedes. You can't have an ambassador who is a petrolhead when your ideal lineup is going to be electric.
They could be very mad. They spent in average $450 million a season to get those. He's not as good as he was in the early days and as soon as they put George in the car and couldn't spend thier way out of problems with the $145m budget cap,, well 44 got a bit exposed didn't he?
@@dakshbbecause Lewis didnt win all 8 of them and thats whos being discussed right now? He is _technically_ correct. Although to be fair, lewis won 7 for them, if you really want to nitpick. But you cant win 7 without first winning 6, so like i said, technically correct.
Typo. I meant to be a part of the team. Especially the ones that grew up watching Ferrari through its Schumacher dominant years. I feel like Hamilton just wants to have had the experience, good or bad, before he retires. Just to have had it done during is career. He's always been a very interesting character and driver. I remember his debut. Right away I knew he was going to change the sport. It was a special time to be watching him back then and it's still special. He always keeps it fresh. I really don't care how it goes for him but obviously would be nice to see him fighting for the championship again.
Well if you think about it, he and Lewis came to Mercedes around the same time so it makes sense, and it’s not like there isn’t ties there. Lewis and Toto’s wife raced together actually. I think assuming Lewis does retire after a stint at Ferrari, the doors will still be open for Lewis to act as a representative of Mercedes, and maybe even act as a sort of consultant.
How in any way is it trustworthy when he signed a two year contract and is leaving after one? Lewis is only after the money so he can lecture us plebs about diversity and the environment from his.priavte jet.
@@therealquaid1694just because he’s making bank doesn’t mean he can’t lecture us, he had to go through a lot to make it where he’s at. So every successful person can’t lecture now ? Bruh you are reaching bad.
I think Luis would’ve stayed with Mercedes forever if they had made him a brand ambassador upon his retirement like he requested as part of his most recent contract negotiations. I guess in the mind of Mercedes he wasn’t valuable in that role. Pretty sure when that didn’t happen, his mind was made up to leave.
Either way, it'll be interesting to see how they stack up. Charles will have the edge in qualifying at least, almost certainly. In the races I'm not sure, and am looking forward to seeing.
leclerc and hamilton will be the same with rosberg and hamilton... it will get a complete mess... both are alphas... leclerc is the faster one in one round... i think leclerc will be hamiltons hardest teammate he ever had @@jcoxdj
Lewis in win-win situation, if Leclerc beats him then that's expected (Lewis will be 40+), if he doesn't then Lewis will be cemented as the GOAT because he challenged a top driver as his teammate in his 40s.
Fair play to him, I’m sure Toto was thinking. Getting a seat at Ferrari is a big deal for every driver on the grid, despite how the Ferrari F1 team is doing in that moment.
One thing... We know he's going to catch a ton of shit from his haters and other idgits that now want to see him fail even more. Drivers switch teams all the time. Ferrari wanted Lewis for a while and they tried more then once. It happens.
Lewis is a great driver, to be sure, but performance suffered after the budget cap was introduced, and as soon as equalizing regulations were devised... that is telling. Team wins 8 championships, then loses to the guy who couldn't catch them a year ago? Wtf?
Breakfast with Toto and then paintballing with the rest of the team so they could take their collective anger out pre-season. Fred Vaseur is a wily ol' fox.
Toto, why didn’t you try and stop Lewis from leaving for Ferrari? “He’s too expensive for a driver who hasn’t won in two years and is at the end of his career. He’s Ferrari’s problem in 2025.”
Hasn't won in two years because the car stinks...F1 toto and co sabotaging no coincidence that when Lewis steps into breaking the records of all these legendary drivers & being the only driver who's not white thats got a shot now his car would suddenly go from being great to being totally unreliable just like that. Toto and mercedes should be ashamed let down the greatest driver that ever lived
Hamilton is still a very skilled and experienced driver, any team would kill for get a driver like that for developing your cars for the future, its up to ferrari to take advantage of his skills
@@ezedijital7222 mercedes absolutely isn’t sabotaging Lewis. There’s no logic (or proof) of that. Lewis is getting old and everyone has a shelf life. He’s had a great (and very lucky) career. It’s over.
Deep down, TotO said inside " yes ", not interested in Hamilton getting his eight, his Mercedes ambassadorship and also protecting Schumacher's legacy, remember the Mercedes bosses had no interest in challenging the championship steal in court
If I was Toto, I'd be thinking this is a good thing. Lewis is at the end of his career, earning big money, and someone like George is just as fast and cheaper.
It's not really about the money though, it's more about how many cars Mercedes can sell. Remember, F1 is just a big marketing product to sell their road cars. Since they aren't competitive anymore a reset with younger drivers could work in their favour for regs changes in 2026.
@@NODNABeats I've been watching F1 for decades and I've never bought a car because of F1. And I doubt that holds true for the vast majority of Mercedes owners. It was novel when BMW-Williams was around, but it was not the reason I had a BMW. And a lot of teams over history don't even make cars: Arrows, Minardi, Jordan, to name a few. If anything, assuming it's under the corporate umbrella, they probably write it off come tax time and use it as a test bed for upcoming road-car technology. The new C63 S with its hybrid and electric turbo setup probably applies some of the knowledge gained in the hybrid era.
Lewis has said many times that his dream growing up was to drive for Ferrari. He had the opportunity and now he's gonna finish his carrer driving for his dream team.
The gap between them has been obvious for a while and Mercedes seems stuck on going forward so I can understand Lewis but not sure Ferrari is the right step. I don't think Russell will help Mercedes that much
How soon we forget it was George who took a turd car and put it on the podium while 44 could not. Merc can't hide 44s diminished skillset behind the piles of money like they used to. Early Lewis was an amazing talent but realistically he and Schumacher should only have 3 or 4 ships apiece.
I think Toto felt relieved after after Hamilton told him. Finally he doesn’t have to walk on eggshells being so careful not to hurt Lewis feelings. He can now freely express his admiration for Max Verstappen. 😂
@@atmerc7258 As someone else has already said in this comment section, George can be just as good and is way cheaper with a bright future. I still believe that in a championship-worthy car Hamilton would be better than Russel RIGHT NOW (considering that Russel has not reached his peak). This is where he has been for a huge part of his career, its where he thrives.But in a midfield car ham cant make the difference.
Repeatedly didn't give him what he wanted at Merc. Gave him a questionable car, then didn't listen to his feedback; Add the engineers who agreed with him and already jumped ship and this is not a shocker. That's not even including how close Vasseur and Hamilton are...
Well, 2021 sealed his fate. He was cheated out of a victory and championship while Toto crowd surfed and partied with Verstappen. Toto ain’t right. How often did he join LH on the podium last year? Yeah, screw Toto.
Well. There's also the fact that Mercedes were only willing to give Lewis a 1 year contract. Honestly by doing that, they instigated this shift from him. Ferrari gave him a multi year deal. Why Mercedes couldn't do the same after they won 7 Constructors Championships with him is beyond me.
To be fair to lewis, it wasnt formally announced it was leaked likely as a result of that breakfast. It's not like lewis told toto the day before a ferrari press release was due to go out
Toto is FOS! He was the initiator by starting to squeeze Hamilton out with a F’d up car for 2.5 years, down playing his suggestions for improving the car, only offering him a 1+1 contract with an opt-out clause for either side, when Hamilton wanted at least a 2 yr guaranteed contract. The disrespectful way he was refused the Ambassador role after 8 Constructor’s Championships and the large amounts of sponsorship money he brings in. Lewis actually thought he and Toto were genuine friends, there are too many ways now showing otherwise. ❤ Toto never thought Hamilton would use the opt-out clause, because he was foolish enough to believe Hamilton needed Mercedes more than Mercedes needed Hamilton any more. Toto believed he had done such a good job of Securing Hamilton’s loyalty through a Faux friendship, that even if he started to treat Hamilton less respectful and made Hamilton feel less needed, Lewis would remain loyal to him. Ain’t that some Austrian mentality for ya. 😢 I believe Hamilton was mentally and emotionally hurt by the treatment he was receiving, how could he not be? He thought of MERC like family. Well, when Hamilton was winning podiums last year and his team wasn’t even around, and Vasseur and Ferrari were there to congratulate him, I’m sure the “courting” of SLH began, if not before. Even though Toto was making room for the up and coming, he wanted to end things on his terms and SLH beat him to the punch. Sorry Toto, time for you to learn “ it’s not fun, when the rabbit got the gu*” Sorry, I wrote so much. Had some stuff to say. 😊
Toto on the other hand keeps trying to influence Max to leave RedBull saying that “a driver of his caliber should explore and show his talent elsewhere, that no driver should just be stuck with one team” yet it was convenient when Toto was winning and that wasn’t an issue or was he trying to lose his best driver…
This move makes literally no sense for Lewis. Ferrari is a wreck of a team right now. Way too many moves are made that make them look like a rookie team. Same thing should be said about Charles who won't be seen as the absolute nr.1 in the team anymore. He also makes way too many rookie mistakes. Ferrari is not in a better position then Merc and now Lewis has to build a team around him again. With his age, i don't think it makes sense. But it's his choice and i respect it, not like it matters, just saying.
@hectornecromancer5308 yeah they seem to be better now after 3 races. Still doesn't change the fact that Lewis to Ferrari makes no sense. Meanwhile Carlos proving exactly that...
Mercedes didn't want to give Hamilton anything other than just being a driver..... Ferrari gave him brand ambassadorship, put up 40+million to his charity and are paying him 100m a year etc...
Props to Lewis, he mqde Toto look like an absolute wanker.. for 2 years, going off on his own team, while making zero changes, putting both drivers against each other
I wonder if something that played into it was the fact that he felt Mercedes was never gonna let him get More championships than Michael Schumacher. That had to play in the back of his mind. It would play into mine for sure
@@ardonjr I not only watch F1 on television - every race, I go to live track races when I’m in the right country at the right time. The best part about ‘opinions’ is they can be one’s own
@bonsaiherman oh sure you do you. I'm just saying that stating Toto is classy is just odd. Or your definition of 'class' is way below average standards.
Worth noting that Lewis' unwavering loyalty only took 2 years without the best car to jump ship. He always talked down the advantage the car gave him, and now he doesn't have it he's so very desperate to get it back! 😂
you’re acting as if that’s something no driver would do. don’t confuse business for family. if you’re so pressed about lewis, i would love to see your face when you find out what football clubs do. don’t forget f1 is a business, just like any other sport. i don’t think it’s logical to be loyal to any one team in a sport where engineering and materials are the most important (and predictable) variables. data talks. money talks better. imagine, getting to spend over $400 million on a car’s development. then next season, you only get $145 million. red bull has a huge engineering infrastructure that they don’t have to sink money into. it’s only time until the other teams establish this too. your attitude is what makes this sport suck. lewis literally would constantly get teased in press conferences about how he has a better engine than the rest of the roster. it’s not like nobody knew about it. please stop ruining f1 with your smear bullshit. tell me how many drivers have never moved teams. would you like a faster car? or are you going to be loyal to your “family”? have you won 7 world championships?
@@ghislainedidntkillherself Woah there ! it seems that touched a nerve! OK, a few points. “F1 is a business, just like any other sport” makes no sense. Lots of sports aren’t businesses, in fact almost all of them aren’t. But yes, F1 is a business. And yes, drivers move around, they come, they go, that’s how it works. My point is Lewis has been very lucky to have the best car for a long time, and always talked down this advantage. And even since Mercedes “dethroning” he has been adamant that they are still the great team and can once again bring him the success he so desperately wants. But the reality is different, he really wants a Redbull seat but there aren’t any, and thinks Ferrari is now a better prospect. My point is not that he is changing, or that he wants to win, it’s that what he said about believing in Mercedes is Bullshit, he has no loyalty, something he has famously been known for.
@ghislainedidntkillherself no, only a very small percentage of elite level of sport are a business. The local football team, people playing tennis, golf and a myriad of other sports are pure amateur. Even motorsport at most levels, most classes are pure amateur, run by volunteers and passionate fans. 20 years racing on 3 continents, about 12 countries myself, trust me, most motorsports aren't business. But again, that wasn't the point.
If they wanted to keep him, they probably should've listened to his input instead of spending nearly two years trying to make a bad car design work. But if anybody has ever had to work with engineers, you'd know they act like children who are never wrong. Hamilton is sick of it and is going to follow his childhood dream before it's too late
I think you're giving too much credit to one driver. Do you know how many people work on the design of a F1 car? He might be able to give some useful feedback on the dynamics he expects or would like from the car, but a good car is great because of the engineers. Given two great cars, the one with the best driver wins.
Well they did, they did a total update from Manaco last year and further updates giving Lewis mostly what he wanted including strategies which resulted in 0 wins and less points than 2022.
If you work with veteran pilots,you'd know they are divas that must be always happy and do nothing wrong. Don't put your boyfriend on a pedestal. He knows jack about constructing a car.
2022, 2023, 2024 with a rubbish car. How long must he wait? He gave them 6 Championships, the most successful paring in F1 history. I say Lewis has earned his right to race where he wants.
Not a loss at all. He’s past his prime. Anyone who watches knows. And he was lucky to be in a top car for many years anyways. The guy he’s replacing? Yea. He’s beating him this year again.
You aren't the real deal, if you haven't won at Ferrari. It's the legacy. I really hope they can pull it all together and win. It would be the ultimate sporting achievement/ event. Good luck Mr Hamilton.
Smart move. Lewis has given Merc plenty of time to get the car sorted. Ferraris his only chance for a possible 8th and he’s running out of yrs. And it’s Ferrari. Anyone who says they don’t want to end their career in Red doesn’t know motor sports & Legacy. Ferrari has what RB etc dream of: Prestige.
Why do people act as if Toto didn't push Lewis out lol? He literally refused to sign him for more than 1 year because he wanted Kimi. Did he expect him to just retire early
merc were/are focused on getting new, young talent rn. plus lewis was only gonna get a one year contract from them while ferrari gave him the two year which he wanted
I think ppl who believe it failed due to the aesthetic change and menu upgrade are actually out of touch on this one. I grew up in the 90s mid 2000s and Ruby Tuesdays was definitely a staple like TGIFs but the problem is Ruby Tuesdays stayed dated far longer than it should have. By the time these changes came, I don’t think many ppl noticed because Ruby Tuesdays was an after thought to most of us who wrote it off as kinda that dark, damp looking place inside a mall. TGIFs and BBW all seemed more fun and hip. The pandemic definitely didn’t help, and henching themselves to malls really solidified its demise. Keeping the salad bar concept, also showed a lack of understanding to how the pandemic changed dining, no one wants to pick from an open salad bar if they can help it. But overall it failed because ppl just don’t eat out like they use to, it’s all Uber eats now, and take out wings for game nights with friends at home.
Lewis Delayed his signing with Mercedes in 2016 for an offer by Ferrari. It never came. Wolf went "unconfortable". All the F1 Great Champions had Driven for Ferrari. It is rewarding that one of the only Two Greatest of F1 Will drive for Ferrari.
Toto's not a moron and it's hard to keep a move like that completely quiet. Toto's probably glad he can dump this driver who's on the short end of his career for someone younger.
Wait a minute... Two grown ups having a conversation rather than a social media barf? This is old school. It's just like you would expect normal people to do.
Lewis made the correct move at the right time. Lewis built the Mercedes legacy, how many wins prior to Lewis? How many constructors championships did they obtain because of Lewis! They’ve got George in 2025 good luck with that!
""I dunno man you are the one with all the data, you decide, and when its the wrong call i get to complain over the boardradio and blame strats in the media" Engineer: Copy. We really miss Sainz here..
