Lewis Hamilton has rolled the dice on the probable final chapter of his F1 career, with his shock move to Ferrari in 2025. While some experts call this a gamble, it will reportedly earn him a handsome salary of up to $100 million. However, besides the huge paycheck, Ferrari is also opening its doors to anyone who wishes to follow the Briton to Maranello. The Italian outfit is looking to do this to settle the seven-time champion in the team’s setup smoothly.
According to Formu1a.uno, Hamilton does not wish to move ‘solo’ to Ferrari next season. There are multiple trusted confidantes like his engineer Peter Bonnington with whom the 39-year-old has developed a great bond. So, the Italian team wants Hamilton to have this safety net around him and his known associates at Maranello too.
The report also highlighted that perhaps Ferrari doesn’t want Hamilton to make the mistake Sebastian Vettel did. Vettel moved to the Prancing Horse in 2015 from Red Bull. But apart from his press relations manager Britta Roeske, the German driver did not take any engineers with him to Ferrari.
This perhaps may have affected him when his relations with the team faltered after 2019. So, Hamilton may be looking to avoid the error the four-time champion made a few years ago.
Although there have been reports of Bonnington (Bono) moving to Maranello along with the seven-time champion, Mercedes is still not decided on the British race engineer’s future. Toto Wolff has highlighted that they shall discuss it. However, as things stand, Bonnington may stay put at Brackley.
Will Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari move cause a brain drain at Mercedes?
Before Lewis Hamilton announced his move to Ferrari, Loic Serra, the former performance director at Mercedes, had already parted ways with the team. Serra will now also join the Italian team in 2025, as a key signing on their technical team. This may have been an influence for Hamilton expressing confidence in the Italian outfit.
Whether more engineers from the Silver Arrows jump ship to Maranello is still unclear. However, with Bonnington being rumored to accompany Hamilton, it certainly would be a huge loss for Mercedes. So, the brain drain has already begun, and Toto Wolff will be on a mission to limit these exits as soon as possible.
Mercedes’s struggles in the past two years perhaps prompted Hamilton to part ways with the team. While Wolff is disappointed by the news, he knows and understands his star driver’s perspective.
About the move, the Austrian boss expressed, “He felt he needed change, and I can understand that.” Wolff cited that he respects the situation Hamilton faced and understands that it is a new challenge that he wishes to embark upon. From his side, the 52-year-old assured that he “will hold no grudge.”
From Ferrari’s perspective, all of Mercedes’s losses will be their gains now. The seven-time champion may or may not bring more engineers from Brackley. However, his teammate partnership with Charles Leclerc has the potential to be one of the strongest and most successful in F1. Can it translate into success? 2025 will tell.
