- Lewis Hamilton could do the unthinkable and switch Mercedes black for Ferrari red in 2024.
- If he signs with Ferrari, the team must show either Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz the door.
- Ferrari is believed to negotiate a swop with Mercedes: Hamilton for Leclerc.
Formula 1 is waiting with bated breath over Lewis Hamilton’s next career move.
Sources claim that the driver is in talks with Italian giants Ferrari over a shock move to the Scarlet Reds, with Ferrari president John Elkann reportedly telling his troops to fork out £40 million (R957m, estimate) per season to get the driver’s signature.
The jury is still out on whether Hamilton would ditch Mercedes-AMG – a team currently ahead of Ferrari in the 2023 championship – but the allure of an eighth F1 Drivers’ championship might be too big to pass up on.
If, by some miracle, Hamilton does decide to don the Ferrari overalls, the team would have to let one of its current drivers go. But who?
Lewis Hamilton
Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz joined Ferrari ahead of the 2021 season, replacing Sebastian Vettel. It was the first time since 2007 that the sport’s oldest team fielded two non-champions in its line-up. His first year in red wasn’t a walk in the park, but he upped his game in 2022, even winning his first Grand Prix!
But Sainz is not on teammate Charles Leclerc’s level. He is struggling to extract performance from the machinery at his disposal, and he is not in a position to challenge for the championship. Some may even suggest he’d never up his game to lead a team.
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If Ferrari does decide to replace Sainz with Hamilton, they could send him to one of the other teams affiliated with them – Alfa Romeo or Haas – given that the driver is under contract for 2024. If he goes to Alfa Romeo, he’d likely replace Valtteri Bottas and be with the team going into 2026 when it becomes Audi.
Sainz’s father, rally legend Carlos Sainz Sr, races for Audi in the Dakar Rally, so it’s not a far-fetched idea that the Four Rings would want both father and son signed to their books.
Also, imagine how explosive a Hamilton-Leclerc partnership could be!
Charles Leclerc (left) and Carlos Sainz
Charles Leclerc
Leclerc has been with Ferrari since 2019, improving with every passing season. It culminated in him starting the 2022 F1 season in a position to challenge for the F1 Drivers’ championship, but his season soon began fizzling out due to driver errors, strategic blunders on the team’s end, and poor reliability on the car.
It’s led to many pondering Leclerc’s dedication to Ferrari, with the driver openly disappointed in the team’s development direction.
However, there’s a kink in the thread.
Like Sainz, Leclerc is also under contract for 2024, but it is believed that Ferrari’s negotiators are in talks with Mercedes over a potential swop between Leclerc and Hamilton. Meaning, Leclerc could partner with George Russell next year if it does come to this.
Leclerc wants to be champion, but Ferrari needs to catch up with the cars they produce.
Is this a risk Hamilton wants to take? Or could he do what Fernando Alonso and Vettel could not: pull a Michael Schumacher and take the team back to the top of F1 Mountain?