Lewis Hamilton wants to leave Mercedes soon, at the end of this season despite extending his contract in 2024, and has knocked on the doors of Maranello again, to fulfill at 38 years old the old dream he had as a child, wear red, and step out of the Mercedes world in which he has been involved, by engine or by team, since 2007.
The Briton has let himself be loved and this time the Scuderia sees it feasible, which generated since yesterday multiple leaks in the Italian press, a classic in the Ferrari ecosystem.
Only this time it seems that the fit is possible because Lewis had that exit clause in his team for status and career despite the extension at Mercedes was last August 31 “for several seasons”.
This explains the halt in negotiations with Carlos Sainz, very much on track in recent months, but whose renewal slowed down at the same time that Leclerc‘s renewal was announced. No, it was not Albon or anyone passing by, nor anything against Sainz, at least that tranquility remains in the environment of the Spanish driver: the thing was Hamilton.
Lewis, a close friend of Fred Vasseur, head of the team, and close friend of John Elkann, president of Ferrari, called again, as he had done before and was told in January last year.
Although it is not signed yet, and with Hamilton a fringe means a month and more with a hefty salary like Leclerc‘s, in Maranello they are moving forward with the signing of the decade, they have no other choice if you have a shot at a seven-time world champion: you win a monumental driver and you take him away from Mercedes, plus the Brit, whether he is older or not, has a long time to live.
At Ferrari they have no problems with Carlos, but they have had no other choice due to historical opportunity. Leclerc, five years younger than Carlos, has been their long-term bet for years and even if Carlos had doubled his poles or points, he would have renewed. Even the Monegasque has welcomed the arrival of Lewis: who sank Vettel wants to repeat with another giant, and if he loses against him, he is a seven-time world champion. Against whom he had more to lose and many more things to explain, it was Sainz.
Future options for Sainz
The 55-year-old, the only grand prix winner last season who was a Red Bull (Piastri did it in a Saturday sprint event) now has, if everything crystallizes, which remains to be seen, a whole season ahead of him to negotiate the next step of his sporting career, which seems closely linked to Audi, which enters 2026.
In recent weeks Sainz Sr. himself, Audi’s Dakar driver, spoke highly of the German brand in motorsport and as an ideal destination for any athlete, which already gave clues that Hamilton‘s arrival has been brewing for several weeks. Not much more, since on December 1, Elkann himself took it for granted that Sainz was going to stay: “Of course they are staying,” he said.
However, it is not the only feasible place for the Spaniard, as there is now a vacant seat at Mercedes itself, and according to MARCA, there are other options on the market and teams interested in the Spaniard, which would rule out that in 2025 he would be unemployed.
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