Fernando Alonso rejected Red Bull’s offer in the late 2000s and early 2010s. One can only imagine how different F1’s history would be if Alonso made the move to Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton is probably faced with a similar situation with Ferrari and the tempting $48,000,000 offer. Nevertheless, the 7X champ has been urged to let go of the lucrative Ferrari offer in favor of the post-retirement advantages that are to be gained at Mercedes. What are these advantages?
Lewis Hamilton has been linked to Ferrari amid the Mercedes performance slump. Not able to produce a title-challenging car, Mercedes is speculated to lose Hamilton to Ferrari, who has been rumored to be ready to offer the Briton a $48,000,000 contract. However, Mercedes did show signs of improvement with the new upgrade and a new direction of development as Lewis Hamilton finished P2 and George Russell finished P3 in Spain.
Recently, Hamilton was asked to reject the tempting Ferrari offer worth $48 Million in favor of the post-retirement benefits offered by Mercedes. Christian Nimmervoll, editor-in-chief of the platforms of Motorsport Network Germany, suggested that staying loyal to Mercedes will reap loads of benefits to Lewis Hamilton in his post-racing career as he can work as a Mercedes Ambassador. This might not be possible if the Briton decides to go for the Ferrari move.
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According to motorsport-total.com, Christian Nimmervoll said, “Remaining loyal to the Mercedes brand as a racing driver would have a completely different advantage because then he can be a Mercedes brand ambassador until his death. (…) Even at 75, he can still wear the star on his car breast come into the paddock and get a bit of pension money for it. If he really decided to go somewhere else again, he probably wouldn’t do it. If he goes to Ferrari for two years, I don’t think he can just go back to Mercedes like that. Maybe someday, if there’s a bit of grass over them thing has grown. But not directly.” [Translated Via Google]
Amid the performance boost attained with the new upgrades. Lewis Hamilton has shown interest in signing an extension with Mercedes, as explained by the Briton during the Spanish GP weekend.
Lewis Hamilton on meeting with Toto Wolff after the Spanish GP.
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Lewis Hamilton’s P2 in Spain was a guarantee of the fact that Mercedes has made improvements with the new upgrades. During the post-race interviews, Hamilton advised that he’s going to be having a meeting with Toto Wolff and hopefully the terms and conditions of the contract can be decided then. He further explained how getting things finalized will have a positive impact on his focus on his and the team’s future.
According to Skysports.com, Lewis Hamilton said, “I haven’t signed anything yet, but I think we are meeting with Toto tomorrow [Monday] so hopefully we can get something done. It wasn’t a subtle hint. We’ve had so many meetings and this is just another one of the meetings we are having. You could see today my performance is not affected by that, but it’s always something that’s at the back of your mind. Once that’s done then you are able to then focus more and think about the future.”
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What do you make of Christian Nimmervoll’s comments?