Ferrari Accused of Using Lewis Hamilton as Bait for Selfish Reasons

Mind games play a significant role to play in sports. And in a sport like Formula 1, where any team would want to have the best minds on its side to build the best possible car, teams don’t hold back. But as important as winning is in F1, so is loyalty. It is a crucial aspect of any team sport. But who would’ve thought Ferrari would try to exploit the loyalty Lewis Hamilton’s engineers have for him to lure them to Ferrari? 

Yes, former Ferrari driver, Gerhard Berger, speculates that Ferrari started the rumors about its $49 million offer to Lewis Hamilton for its own benefit. Could it have used the rumors just as a ruse to get high-level figures interested in joining the Maranello outfit?

Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari rumors were likely a ruse

It’s no secret that Ferrari has had a tough few seasons in F1 recently. Even when it had a car that had the potential to compete for the title in 2022, the team messed up its chances due to technical issues and bad strategy calls. But up until 2019, Ferrari made cars that were consistently competing for race wins. So what changed?

Mattia Binnoto, who was Ferrari’s Chief Technical Officer for two years, got promoted to Team Principal in 2019. But when that happened, the Maranello team did not assign the CTO role to anyone. This basically meant that there was no Red Bull’s Adrian Newey- equivalent in Ferrari. And this role at Ferrari was only filled in 2022, the year it made a good car. But in 2023, the car has gone back to being non-competitive. So what did Ferrari supposedly do? Offer Lewis Hamilton a $49 million deal to join the team.

According to Berger, as quoted by MSN.com, “Sometimes certain strategic moves can be used to attract engineers, in this case from Mercedes.” He’s referring to how Ferrari might have used the contract rumors to get people interested in joining Maranello, a task getting increasingly difficult the more time Ferrari spends away from the top step of the podium. 

Since Frederic Vasseur joined Ferrari as Team Principal this year, the team has offered roles to engineers from other teams to help improve their cars. Earlier this year, Ferrari asked Red Bull’s head of aerodynamics, Enrico Balbo, and technical director, Pierre Wache, to shift bases, but why would they want to do that, considering Red Bull is at the top of the table? Ferrari is also known to shift its strategic direction often and not take responsibility for its mistakes. Jacques Villeneuve says, “There is no decision-making, and this instability is costing Ferrari dearly.”

Read More: “Priorities in Life Change”: 38-Year-Old Lewis Hamilton’s Biological Evolution Held Liable for Potential Rejection of Ferrari’s $49 Million Offer

Ferrari is currently fourth in the championship, fighting against Mercedes and Aston Martin for P2. Even though both its drivers have contracts at least till the end of 2024, would Hamilton have considered shifting to Maranello?

Lewis Hamilton is loyal to Mercedes

Hamilton has been with Mercedes for the past 10 years. And he intends to stay there longer. When Ferrari supposedly offered him a $49 million deal, Mercedes decided to bring out the big guns and were ready to provide him with $14 million more. Mercedes means as much to Hamilton as he means to the team because as soon as the rumors about Ferrari started going around, he quickly shut them down.

Will Hamilton put pen to paper and sign his contract with Mercedes before the Austrian GP weekend that is set to start at the end of this month? Or will he put Toto Wolff and the entire Brackley team through more stress even after he’s already made it clear that Mercedes is where he wants to be?

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What do you think of Ferrari’s move to lure high-level figures from other teams using Hamilton’s contract rumor?