2024 F1 General Discussion Thread

It's a strange time of year for silly season. How is the Mercedes-Benz team supposed to function for the whole year knowing he's off.

I can't see it being just him. I'd expect maybe Pete Bonnington at the very least to follow him. No offence to the Ferrari race engineers but those drole Italian accents would irk Hamilton very fast.

Hamilton hasn't much to lose. If he beats LeClerc, he looks great beating a highly rated driver in the same car. If he doesn't, well he's older so people will say he's just no longer in his prime.

Question is, whos going (Spoiler warning: Its Sainz)

I do hope poor Carlos lands a good seat at least.

The Race are reporting that the 2nd year of Hamilton's contract was an option on his part, so it's all good on that front.

Silly season will get going in anger now, we have only 2 teams with solid pairings for 2025 now, right? (McLaren & Ferrari based on this).

That’s mad Ted. I had read rumours yesterday but didn’t think it would actually happen. Where does that leave Sainz for 2025? I could see RB being interested but I don’t think Sainz sees himself as a number 2.

Sainz to Sauber/Audi (Saudi?, the illuminati exists)

I hope he finds a race winning seat at the very least. He's a solid driver who deserves more.

We should collectively spare a thought for Totos headphones right now.

And Lando, who must be gutted he extended with McLaren as he would be a lock for the Mercedes otherwise.

• Red Bull: Ricciardo if he does well this year. Verstappen going nowhere.
• Mercedes: Albon makes loads of sense here. Russell be the team lead, lets see how he does.
• Ferrari: Leclerc and Hamilton now.
• McLaren: Norris and Piastri.
• Aston Martin: Tsunoda here replacing Stroll who goes to WEC, ahead of the Honda link up in 2026. Alonso hopefully stays put.
• Alpine: Literally nobody cares, do they have any fans?
• Williams: Not a clue. Can't see Checo going down here, and I'd be astonished if Sargent hangs onto a seat for a 3rd year. Bottas might go back to where it all started perhaps?
• Mastercard Venmo Raging Bullets: Lawson to take one of the seats, no idea who will take the 2nd.
• Sauber: Apparently they are mad keen for Sainz and also Hulkenberg. That's a solid lineup to be fair...
• Haas: Don't deserve to be on the grid. They'll likely take Bearman and somebody else?

To be honest, I would prefer to be in a McLaren over a Merc right now. Lewis has seen something, or rather seen a lack of something, for him to jump ship.

Lando at McLaren makes sense as well, I see them being the closest to RB this year.

Would have to assume he's gambling on the reg changes in 26. Can't imagine he is moving with the expectation Ferrari will beat rb in 25.

It's very close to the same decision he made when moving to merc in the first place. Though likeky greater confidence then that they were on top of the new regs. I wouldnt know how you could be sure Ferrari are better set for 26 than merc will be.

Where sainz goes has me perplexed ,i thought he was a really good fit for Ferrari and charles nearly seemed worn down by them at this stage !

Craig Slater made a good point on Sky that this would explain the long contracts for the likes of Verstappen, Charles, Lando etc, so Merc wouldn't be able to poach them.

Sainz would have to be the top candidate for that seat, or Albon maybe?

Albon will probably fancy himself for that Merc seat. I don’t think he’s content to stay at Williams long term. They’ve made marginal gains under James Vowles but they’re still Williams. Sainz might try going back RB but who knows.

I’m not that surprised by Lewis’s move. Ferrari have form for signing aging champions and he has spoken positively about driving for them in the past. Plus we know he hasn’t been happy with Merc for the last 2 years and it’s more than just the car.

"Toto, it's Lewis, I have to tell you something..."

Exactly I'd imagine Merc would nearly be happy to be shot of him now.

Like obviously its comically early with 2024 not even started but Merc will obviously be very cagey regarding what they tell/show Hamilton regarding further developments on the 2025 Merc leaving it a harshly split garage.

Was the vettel swap to Ferrari similar? Amnohn season before?convinced there was another big move in the recent past with it being announced in the pre season the year before the move

The biggest loser out of all of this will probably be Perez. There’s no way he can hold onto the second RB seat with potentially Sainz and Ricciardo both available.

Sainz will feel hard done by. He may not be quite as quick as Leclerc, particularly in qualifying, but he is equal in driving skill and less error prone. So now he is a dead duck for the entire season. Arguably, recruiting the elderly and slowing Hamilton will weaken the team overall rather than strengthening it.

What next? Vettel comes out of retirement to drive for Merc ?