Mercedes Will Make Life Extremely Difficult For Lewis Hamilton to Execute Clever Plan of Action Ahead of Ferrari Move

Mercedes Will Make Life Extremely Difficult For Lewis Hamilton to Execute Clever Plan of Action Ahead of Ferrari Move

With Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season, reports claimed he won’t be moving to Maranello alone. There were claims of the Briton bringing Peter Bonnington alongside him, but that is no longer the case. Per a report from PlanetF1, there is a ‘no-poaching’ clause in Hamilton’s contract, rendering him unable to directly influence any staff departures from Mercedes.

There were rumors of a no-poaching clause in Hamilton‘s contract, but PlanetF1 confirmed the news directly from Mercedes. The clause is not a surprise addition to Hamilton’s contract, as teams have opted to add similar clauses in earlier contracts as well. The need for such clauses arises from a driver’s popularity on the grid and their influence over a team.

 

Sebastian Vettel had a similar clause in his contract with Red Bull. When he joined Ferrari in 2015, the clause blocked him from taking his race engineer, Guillaume Rocquelin, with him. Similarly, there were rumors of Bonnington and Andrew Shovlin moving to Maranello alongside Hamilton.

Addressing the speculations, Toto Wolff revealed he had a chat with Bonnington over his future in F1. Per Wolff’s words, Bonnington thought Wolff was joking when he told him Hamilton would be going to Ferrari. He later mentioned that there would be talks between the two regarding Bonnington’s future at Mercedes. “It’s something we will discuss in the coming months.”

Ferrari don’t want Lewis Hamilton to feel lonely

Hamilton will be moving to Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season after activating an early release clause. The switch will mark an end to a 12-year association between Hamilton and Mercedes. With Hamilton moving to a new country, it will be a big change for him, and Ferrari understand that. As such, they want to create a familiar environment for the 7-time world champion.

 

Given the same, Hamilton will not be arriving alone at Ferrari. Unlike Vettel’s move to the Maranello outfit, Hamilton will find familiar faces waiting for him in Italy as Loic Serra is also moving to Ferrari. There are also chances of Ricciardo Musconi (George Russell‘s race engineer) moving to Ferrari, adding to the list of familiar faces Hamilton would meet at Ferrari.

Post Edited By: Somin Bhattacharjee
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 team Scuderia Ferrari

About the author

Avatar photo

Naman Gopal Srivastava

Naman is an F1 writer at The SportsRush. Initially a football fanatic who worships Puyol and Leo Messi, Naman soon fell in love with the world of F1 upon reading about Jim Clarke. While the current era drivers do fascinate him, Naman still chooses to idolize Clarke and Ayrton Senna. When he is not busy watching the highlights of some of the greatest races of his idols, Naman can be found scribbling little snippets in his diary of poems or out in the town, exploring new places to eat.

Don’t miss these