While most of the drivers in the field changing teams next year in F1 have been authorized by their respective teams to discover their new cars during the closing tests of the season, there is still one exception. Indeed, Lewis Hamilton will not be able to drive the Ferrari on this occasion. Officially, end-of-season commitments with Mercedes F1 would be incompatible with this session.
F1: Wolff doesn't play the game, Lewis doesn't hold it against him
But unofficially, we suspect that Toto Wolff played his card to the fullest (a contract running until the end of the current year), in order to penalize the Briton. Just to punish him, after his surprise departure, announced at the start of the season and which had taken the Austrian by surprise. But also, just to slow down the process of discovery of the two parties a little, since the Hamilton/Ferrari tandem will be its competitor in 2025.
Of course, Lewis Hamilton does not confirm these assumptions in his comments, preferring to play the “corporate” card to the end. It was during the pre-Qatar F1 Grand Prix conference that the seven-time world champion gave his version of the story.
“Look, I know Fred wanted this to happen. I was divided. Driving the red car for the first time in Abu Dhabi doesn't excite me. In a perfect world, you can ride it, unseen, and take that first ride next year. When I raised this issue, obviously with Toto, there were all these events that I had to attend and visit some sponsors to say goodbye to them. I don't think I would have had permission, even if I had asked, because I am under contract with the team until December 31. And that's totally normal. Again, it doesn’t bother me because I wasn’t going to be able to take the test.” confirms the person concerned.
“That’s not what I wanted to do. I told Fred that wasn't what I wanted. Am I missing something? Of course. This clearly delays the process and [cela] makes the start of the year more difficult, but we will do our best to make up for lost time.”he concludes.
Article published on 11/29/2024 at 1:07 p.m.
