There is still plenty to get excited about for the final three races of the 2024 Formula 1 season, but anticipation is already building for next year.
Neither title has been sewn up yet, but Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has a great chance of winning the Drivers’ Championship at the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend.
The Constructors’ Championship is much closer though, and McLaren are currently fending off Ferrari with Red Bull clear outsiders to retain their crown.
Unfortunately for Mercedes, they’re in no man’s land in the standings, having been unable to develop a car that could give Lewis Hamilton the send-off he and his team dreamed of.
After 12 seasons of working together and six Drivers’ Championships, Hamilton heads to Ferrari at the end of the year to fulfil a lifelong dream of racing for the Scuderia in F1.
Team principal Toto Wolff is excited for the future at Mercedes without Hamilton, but there will be a tinge of regret that they couldn’t finish their partnership at the very top.
Hamilton faces one of his toughest challenges in Formula 1 so far next year alongside Charles Leclerc.
The Monegasque driver has had another superb season and extracted the maximum from a Ferrari that has had its ups and downs this year.
Establishing a hierarchy within the team is going to be very important and a report from Autoracer.it has shared more information about how Ferrari feel when it comes to their newest pairing.
Ferrari make number one driver decision ahead of Lewis Hamilton joining Charles Leclerc
Hamilton will have some critics to answer at the beginning of next year after a difficult 2024 campaign.
He’s been out-qualified more often than not by teammate George Russell and the pair are only separated in the standings by two points following Russell’s 4th-place finish in Sao Paulo.
The partnership between Leclerc and Hamilton is going to be fascinating, and the report from Autoracer.it says Hamilton’s approach to joining Ferrari has already been ‘very intelligent’.
They believe his relationship with Leclerc is already very good having been racing together for some time now.
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend
Ferrari will treat both drivers with the ‘greatest possible fairness’, and therefore ‘equal treatment’ is expected to be given to both drivers.
If either Leclerc or Hamilton pulls ahead in the championship, then it would be a surprise if they weren’t prioritised at that point.
However, Hamilton won’t arrive at Maranello and suddenly leapfrog his new teammate, while Leclerc’s long-standing relationship with Ferrari doesn’t mean he’ll be given precedence over F1’s most successful driver.
Ferrari want to make sure that their drivers know that the team always comes first, although the way Michael Schumacher won several of his races when he had Rubens Barrichello to thank suggests that sacrifices can be made if required.
Felipe Massa described one of the saddest days of his life came when he had to give up a victory to Fernando Alonso, but Hamilton and Leclerc can be confident that neither of them will start the season in that position.
Why Lewis Hamilton will already be excited about joining Ferrari next season
Mercedes have failed to fully understand the ground-effect era of Formula 1 cars, making Hamilton’s final seasons with the team a struggle compared to his dominance over the sport in the 2010s.
Ferrari haven’t had it their own way either, but they have shown signs in the second half of the 2024 season that they are heading in the right direction.
READ MORE: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family
Leclerc’s victory at Monza and Carlos Sainz’s win in Mexico City were fantastic and will give Hamilton plenty of confidence that he could regularly challenge for victories in 2025.
Frederic Vasseur will be looking forward to working with Hamilton again and will be desperate for him to replicate his GP2 victory under his stewardship in Formula 1.
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