Mercedes is attempting to minimize the negative impact caused by Lewis Hamilton’s departure from the team and his subsequent move to Ferrari.
Hamilton has a provision in his contract that prevents him from enticing important Mercedes personnel to join him at Ferrari next season.
The seven-time world champion shocked the Formula One community by announcing his departure from Mercedes at the end of the season in order to pursue his dream of driving for the legendary Ferrari team.
There were speculations that key figures at Mercedes, with whom Hamilton has developed strong relationships, such as engineer Pete ‘Bono’ Bonnington, might follow him to the Italian team.
However, Autosport revealed that Hamilton’s Mercedes contract includes a clause that prohibits team members from joining him at Ferrari.
This clause aims to avoid a situation similar to Michael Schumacher’s move from Benetton to Ferrari in 1996.
Schumacher, who had won consecutive titles with Benetton in the previous two years, had the freedom to bring Benetton’s technical director Ross Brawn and chief designer Rory Byrne to Ferrari with him.
Both Brawn and Byrne played crucial roles in Ferrari’s subsequent dominance, leading to five consecutive drivers’ championships between 2000 and 2004.
Schumacher’s first championship win with Ferrari ended the team’s 21-year drought.
As 2024 will mark 17 years since Kimi Raikkonen last won a drivers’ championship for Ferrari, the team is currently going through another extended period without a title.
Hamilton has a history with Ferrari’s team principal Frederic Vasseur, as they worked together during his championship-winning GP2 season in 2006.
When Hamilton joins Ferrari in 2025, he expects to see few familiar faces.
Nevertheless, he has developed a close bond with race engineer Bonnington, prompting Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff to acknowledge the need for future discussions about their partnership.
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Hamilton’s £40 million move to Ferrari will see him teaming up with talented Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc, replacing Spaniard Carlos Sainz.
In a social media post announcing his departure from Mercedes, Hamilton stated, “After an amazing 11 years with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, the time has come for me to embark on a new chapter in my life, and I will be joining Scuderia Ferrari in 2025.
“I feel incredibly fortunate to have achieved things with Mercedes that I could only have dreamed of as a child, and now I have the opportunity to fulfill another childhood dream by driving in Ferrari red.”
According to the Source formula1news.co.uk