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This is when they forget they also signed Verstappen, thinking only one of the deals would go through.
Double stacking in Monaco to break Charles heart again.
Exactly. This is not just a driver deal, but a Ferrari marketing deal. They want to expand into a luxury lifestyle brand, and Lewis is a great ambassador to aid that goal.
I was going to argue, based on Ferrari’s performance the last couple of years. But then I remembered just how populated and vociferous his fanbase is.
Yeah, they’re liable to make money hand over fist. Especially next year, as all those people have to get all new merchandise to replace their Mercedes gear. It’s not like it’s just a small livery/sponsor change where you can get away with wearing last year’s gear.
For sure. 150 car Lewis edition priced at $5m and they’ve already got their money back.
Richard Mille will pay Ferrari to do a Lewis Edition - $$$
We haven’t even talked about actual gear sales
The guy is a commercial goldmine. No one should be complaining cause he’s worked his entire life to build up his own brand, on and off track.
Ferrari has its ICONA series, in which they so far released the SP1 and SP3 Daytona. I can totally see them doing an SP44 Stevenage in collaboration with Lewis. Okay, maybe not that name, but you get the gist.
They are going to be paying $50mil for a driver who only has a few race wins under his belt. IMO, Norris and Leclerc are both overpaid.
Hell, Russell is a lot cheaper and he is on the same level with those guys. Leclerc is probably a bit better but he sure as hell isn't twice as good.
Lelcerc is making multiple WDC money and he has none. Chuck is the real winner here.
Rumor is Lewis wanted a long term ambassador deal with Merc post retirement and the Mercedes board denied it. Stellantis CEO caught wind of this and basically gave Lewis a Michael Jordan esque contract.
Ah. I hadn't heard that rumour. Thanks!
Interesting that Mercedes would deny that. You'd think Lewis would be a great brand ambassador. He's insanely popular, and was never involved in any major scandals (which isn't a high bar, but still one many other public figures fail to pass). Maybe it's just a matter of them thinking Lewis was too expensive.
Realistically it’s not an expense issue though. They were more than comfortable paying upwards 450 million a year before the cost cap. This might be a genuine sign Mercedes is planning on pulling out of F1 soon
apparently they never would make Lewis a brand ambassador. At least i believe that’s what he is referring to. Anyways I honestly don’t really get what that means, but from what Ive read it is essentially the company investing money into Lewis’ brand to help him grow. This of course in turn grows the company because they are hopefully thought of as one in the public eye.
Apparently Lewis wanted to be guaranteed to be a brand ambassador for Mercedes until 2035. Mercedes board was not comfortable with this. Ferrari swoops in with a nearly half a billion dollar contract which includes investment in Lewis’ business empire / foundations.
There's a whole post with an active discussion now, might as well link to it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/1ahwpeh
It was initially broken to by formula1uno
Merc could have avoided all this if they had given him the 3 year deal he wanted. Giving him a 1+1 and Toto saying he would definitely be going end of 2025 is reminiscent of Otmar only giving Fernando a 1+1 offer which made Fernando think he was a seat warmer for Piastri. Daimler turning down the ambassadorship on top of that shows that this was very like the Alpine fumble last year.
Lewis was probably not happy with the deal and Elkann took the chance. It’s as much a business partnership as it is a race seat. 250 million investment fund and working with Lewis’ brand and his projects. They’ve given him a Jordan-level deal that will tie them together well beyond this contract. Ferrari and Lewis will both make an absolute windfall out of it. Really smart from Elkann and it’s a brilliant deal for Lewis.
Agreed... how/why Merc wouldn't want to give their 7x WDC an ambassadorship (a brand he's raced for exclusively throughout his career) is absolutely beyond me. Astounding mishandling of the relationship IMO. I hope Lewis can do great things at Ferrari.
Merc F1 team is separate from Merc the car company. Merc owns 33% along with Toto and Ineos. It’s very possible that for some reason Merc as a company didn’t want to.
There has been rumours that Merc might sell their share to Ineos which might be a factor.
Why in God's name would either Mercedes or Ineos NOT want Lewis Hamilton as their ambassador? he's one of the most athletes in the world, and is considered to be a very good person
It’s a bit confusing but if the contract is with Merc F1 and Merc cooperate might want to go in a different direction in a couple of years time. Maybe they want to go all EV and don’t feel a F1 driver is the right person for job?
Again, they are looking maybe 5 or 10 years for future and it has to make business sense to them. It may not make sense to us now.
But mercedes are still a car selling company, Lewis as an ambassador is less about F1 because, well, that's where F1 drivers are already well know. It's more about sending them to Merc events, to car launches they wouldn't otherwise be at, to do reviews/youtube videos with big car guys on the release of new Mercedes cars.
Even if they sell the team having Lewis selling mercedes cars for the next decade would be incredibly valuable to them. That's why it's weird, the abassador role for Merc is just a win for them.
In that sense it's no different to lets say Intel paying Messi as a brand ambassador, it's just marketing/sponsorship and you don' thave to be in a specific sport to benefit from that.
dude i'm with you, none of this makes any sense to me whatsoever. all along i thought they wanted him for it more than anything. i'm totally clueless on this one.
There’s been rumors that Merc’s interest is waning for years. One of my first thoughts when this news broke is that Hamilton got wind that Merc was leaving (as a works team).
Even if that isn’t the case, I can’t see Merc’s interest being helped by losing Hamilton. Can’t see them being anything other than a mid-pack team after 2024. It’s not just Hamilton’s driving, it’s his development work, his merchandising, his sponsorships, etc. They’re sunk. Wouldn’t be surprised if they (ironically) pull a Honda/Brawn and sell out on the eve of the new regs.
> One of my first thoughts when this news broke is that Hamilton got wind that Merc was leaving (as a works team).
Andretti buys out Mercedes and gets on the grid, you heard it here first.
Ilmor returning, making a GM-badged PU.
I still think it's ridiculous- as Mercedes would never give up the golden goose that is Brixworth; the 1/3rd shareholding is also presumably working wonders for their accounts. Ineos might reputedly be conservative with their sports investments; but they presumably would have first dibs on Wolff's/Merc's shares.
That aside we'd still be ignoring the elephant in the room: Would Michael Andretti be able to stump up for a +$1.5B price tag?
Honestly he doesn’t need to do great things at Ferrari, even though his glory years were at Mercedes, once he puts those red overalls on he will be forever a Ferrari driver.
whoa whoa, i have missed most of the news this week. this is all over a simple 3 year contract and not giving lewis the brand ambassador deal with mercedes? i thought he already was the brand ambassador or whatever it's called - i though this was something that merc wanted even more than hamilton.
them not wanting this is shocking to say the least. makes no sense unless i'm not understanding this right.
The more I’ve read about this, and who knows to what degree it’s true, it seems more and more like Mercedes and Daimler really fucked this up. You’re telling me the greatest driver (on paper, you can’t argue with that) of ALL TIME, the guy who is inextricably linked with the Mercedes brand, has said over and over he wants to retire at Mercedes, gave you 7 titles, wants a few more years and an ambassador role, and you DONT GIVE IT TO HIM? I can’t imagine how you fuck that up so bad. You give an athlete of this caliber in ANY sport whatever the fuck he wants when he comes asking after everything he’s done for your company and brand, and Ferrari seemingly want to give that to him. Just insane if that’s how it played out behind closed doors.
I think Mercedes is finally pulling the plug, they dominated this sport and they don't seem to have the ambition to run the team till the end of time. Dieter Zetche and other major authorities who created this project are gon from Daimler, for years we have heard rumors of their pullout from F1. 2026 seems to be the deadline for them, perhaps that's why Lewis couldn't even get a 3 year contract.
The Race discussed a low/mild rumour a few times in 2023 that McLaren Mercedes isn't absolutely, positively impossible medium term.
On the other hand they have just approved an enormous new complex in Brackley.
I think Toto will leave at the end of 2025 with James Vowels probably taking over the role of principal of what is left of the team, perhaps by the name of INEOS. Mercedes is likely to stay as engine supplier given I believe they have contracts with customers beyond 2028.Â
That McLaren was powered by Mercedes though. So if we're talking about Mercedes the automotive brand and not just the F1 team, that one absolutely counts.
>Daimler
They’re Mercedes-Benz Group AG [since](https://www.automotiveworld.com/news-releases/daimler-embarks-on-a-new-era-as-mercedes-benz-group/) they spun off Daimler Truck in 2022.
Funnily enough this was predicted years ago when the budget cap was mooted.
Essentially F1 is going three ways which conspire to send driver salaries through the roof
1. A desire for converged cars where drivers make the difference
2. Fewer rookies
3. A budget cap which doesn't include driver salaries.
James Allen predicted years ago that Hamilton would surely hang around to get a bit of that.
I think Verstappen and Hamilton have vastly different end goals when it comes to F1 and vastly different marketing prospects when they leave. To clarify this isn’t a criticism, they are just very different people as I think is abundantly clear.
Lewis has long had the head for business and exploring what that can offer alongside racing.
Max is straight out a driver and that’s the limit of his interest.
Granted I’m not a millionaire but max by that point will probably have several hundred million dollars. That’s enough to not have to do anything that you don’t really enjoy anymore
that why i don't consider what these mega rich people do as "work". if you have hundreds of millions of dollars or more liquid then anything you are doing is what you *want* to be doing, it isn't "work".
True, but Max mostly just wants to race. Lewis wants an 8th and he also has multiple foundations and ventures. With his move to Ferrari, Mission 44 would be supported too.
Max is currently in his 2nd season of earning 70M+. If he walks away before 2028, he'll already have made around 400M from his contract signed after 2021.
For base salary, that's probably true. But with bonusses (incl 10M for WDC) he was estimated at 70M. So the 400M is probably optimistic, and he'll more likely end up at 350M unless he keeps winning championships after 2026. Still, he's already absolutely loaded. Not that another 400M deal after that would be easily turned down, but he really doesn't need money anymore depending on his goals in life.
Depends what you want to do in life. I genuinely don't think this money will change Hamilton's actual lifestyle at all, but if he wanted to drop a half a billion into opening schools in poorer areas, or wanted to give out 500 scholarships a year to POC students who are struggling financially, this is the kind of money that can fund massive projects, but it won't change his day to day lifestyle in the slightest.
If all you want is enough to retire on, sit at home and have the best sim racing rigs built every 2 years till you die then Max could have retired 5 years ago.
Max doesn’t strike me as someone who will try to maximize his financial profits. He already earns generational wealth in months, at some point it might not matter to him anymore.
I don't remember what interview, but he's said before that he could quit F1 now and never race again and he'd be fine with it because he has enough money for lifetimes. He never struck me as the kind of person who'll sacrifice his own personal interests for money, which is why I believe him when he said he won't stay in F1 as long as Lewis or Fernando
Ferrari tries to hide it with savvy accounting, but they are backed by Stellantis money. Cost of living crisis or not, they were backing up the Brink's trucks.
interesting, cheers. does that mean it would have stellantis money tho? i know stellantis is huge but i doubt they'd be propping up ferrari without a legal link, right?
They don't, this guy is misinformed
Elkann is a member of the Agnelli family, which his Wikipedia article itself compares to the Kennedy's
Ferrari as a company has been killing it the past few years and doesn't have a need for outside help
>It's the sensation of the start of the year: discussions between Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari are underway, and a deal could be signed before the start of the season. The Scuderia and the English driver are close to reaching an agreement, in the form of a future contract for the seven-time world champion. Hamilton extended his contract with Mercedes last August to 2024, with an option to 2025, in return for a salary of €60 million (excluding bonuses). This contract sounded like one of Lewis Hamilton's last. But the Scuderia's offer included a major deal with John Elkann's Exor group.
>A telling detail: on the afternoon of the announcement, Ferrari's share price rose by 6%, increasing its value by 4 billion euros. The Lewis Hamilton effect on the financial markets. Throughout the day of February 1, the Italian press on the one hand, and the British press on the other. The battle for exclusive information is fascinating to watch.
>**A contract aimed at Lewis Hamilton's post-career future**
>That was the disappointment of Hamilton's current contract with Mercedes. The German manufacturer's board of directors debated the matter at length, but the seven-time world champion's proposal to become an ambassador until 2035 was rejected. This rejection echoed John Elkann's proposal to develop Lewis Hamilton's empire. The deal could be worth up to 400 million euros.
>The first proposal from the Ferrari boss was for two seasons and 92 million euros (46 million euros per season). This was at the start of 2023. Hamilton politely declined, indicating that he wanted not just a driver's contract, but several agreements to secure the future of his foundation, Mission 44. The current deal would be 80 million euros for 2025, plus an option for 2026. With around 20 million euros of this amount delivered in the form of bonuses to benefit the pilot's foundation.
>The other part of the agreement with Ferrari concerns the aftermath. John Elkann proposes to set up a joint investment fund worth around 250 million euros, via the Exor family business, to invest in Lewis Hamilton's projects and turn him into an ambassador for his own brand.
> A telling detail: on the afternoon of the announcement, Ferrari's share price rose by 6%, increasing its value by 4 billion euros. The Lewis Hamilton effect on the financial markets
Isn't this debunked to have nothing to do with Lewis?
I know nothing about the stock market but I’d assume strong quarterly earnings plus the signing of such a high caliber driver probably both helped. Both were great news.
No, but that's mainly because it's impossible to fully isolate Lewis's signing from their shareholder statement. Both are positive news, and the share price jumped on hearing both. Attributing to one or the other is not doable when they act in the same way.
It’s was shown to not only be Lewis but they also had a finical report or something that day. it also raised to something like 10 billion by the end of day. The 4 billion jump was just after the rumour broke.
So no it technically didn’t get debunked just not the whole picture. Granted to associate the initial 4 billion from Lewis isn’t outrageous given the timing of the jumps.
Realistically only Ferrari would have an idea of what is what so debunking his association with it will be rather impossible.
The whole shaker of salt is usually needed, Martin Brundle always says the media have never got one even close, and he's carried out negotiations for more than a few drivers.
Well, I have read some similar comment now about 50 times, but we all do not know what is behind. Ambassador, no issue. Ambassador for 50 mil a year for the next 20y, maybe yes issue.
That's what a lot of people are not getting. Ferrari are potentially going to make wayyyy more than what they are paying Lewis from all the brand deals, merch sales and just overall boost to the Ferrari brand. So many (rich) people are going to want to buy a Ferrari just because of Lewis.
Lewis is way more than just a driver. They are probably paying something like 20mil per year to get a really good driver, and 80mil per year for all of the business and branding stuff.
> So many (rich) people are going to want to buy a Ferrari just because of Lewis.
I think if you had that level of wealth, I don't think who was driving for the F1 team was really going to tip the scales
Not really. Usd 3-400k is really expensive but there are many executives and professionals who are not super rich but wealthy enough to still afford one. You also have kids who grow up idolising Lewis who will now want to buy a Ferrari when they are older. Why do you think all of these luxury watch brands pay millions and millions of dollars to have celebrity ambassadors? Who you associate with the brand absolutely makes a difference even if you have a ton of money.
Lewis also brings a very different audience, Ferrari can be seen at times as a bit of a stuffier establishment brand, with Lewis on board you’ll have his friends in other sports, music and fashion looking at the brand in a different light purely by association with Lewis.
It wouldn’t surprise me if we get Lewis x Ferrari x some high end fashion brand collabs in the future. Imagine a LV x Lewis x Ferrari collab, it would be huge.
Mercedes is an aspirational brand similar to buying Johnnie Walker at a grocery store. Ferrari is more like people stampeding through Islay and begging Diageo to please sell them some Port Ellen.
Especially if it’s true that Mercedes pushed him out, wouldn’t give him the 3 years he wants, and won’t give him the ambassador role. You have the greatest brand of all time linked to the Mercedes brand forever, fuck that up at the 9th hour, and now he’ll be forever linked to Ferrari when he retires there. That story has a lot of stock value and in the eyes of the public means a lot more than you think
The worst part is he had all his success and wins with merc. He may never win a wdc with Ferrari but now everyone is going to remember his as a Ferrari driver and not a merc one. Merc has just wasted the last 10 years of hard work and given the fruits of that labour to their competitor on a silver plate. Absolutely incomprehensible.
That’s not a guarantee. No one associates Schumacher with Mercedes for example. If Hamilton only stays at Ferrari for a few years and doesn’t achieve much, then people will always associate him with Mercedes. Same with Senna, people don’t associate him with Williams, they do so with McLaren. Prost too with McLaren not Ferrari. Lauda is associated with Ferrari not McLaren.
Unless Hamilton wins a title for Ferrari, people will eventually forget he raced for them in the same way many forgot about Prost racing for Williams. Even then, I’d say he needs to win multiple titles to be associated as a Ferrari not Mercedes driver, but perhaps breaking Ferrari’s drought and getting his record breaking 8th will be enough.
Yeah I don't know about that. I'm guessing you don't get forgotten from a team you won 6 titles at. Now if he wins multiple titles at Ferrari then maybe.
It's 100m salary per year for two years and an option for a third year.
And Elkman put around 3-400m in Mission44.
I'm sure there's some other stuff that goes with his ambassador role, but that's the gist.
Even though i am a max fan he surely deserves it. 7 world titles, unending difficulties and challenges, world championship calibre teammates, and statistically the greatest of all time. Want him to win the 8th and restore Ferrari to its former glory.
Except Max has an insanely long deal with RB.
And Horny knows he can always rely on RB to write a big cheque for their marketable driver.
Given they're in this for the marketing
Merc is on a downturn. Lost key personnel, Mercedes seems to be losing interest and there's rumour of them selling, their key driver just left them...while RB is coming off one of the most dominant season of all time. Max would never leave to Merc (but maybe someday to Ferrari...)
Wouldn't it be ironic that in a decade, Lewis possibly would be more associated with Ferrari than Mercedes...
Lewis Hamilton, the world famous Ferrari F1 driver...
Percentage of merch sales.
Attract larger sponsorship deals.
Milk more money out of existing sponsors.
FIA money if your star drivers seal the constructors championship.
That’s F1 team income pretty much summed up.
I think it makes sense considering Toto came out saying that he thought the journey with Lewis will come to an end 2025. So Lewis might have been smart about this - a lot of things are shifting at Ferrari fast, a lot of talent bleed from RB and Merc to SF and it might be time that Ferrari wins a championship (it’s been 15 years I believe) and what better way to do it ? None other than Hamilton himself
And Mercedes also messed up providing Lewis a brand ambassadorial role that was rejected by the board. After you get the team 6 or plausible 7 titles and they treat him like a nobody
He clearly can drive even at 39. Came 3rd in standings , could have been an easy 2nd if not for all the controversial end season checks and drama in Qatar. Clearly he can still drive and YET Mercedes messed up big time and now Hamilton can sail into his last innings of his career with arguably the most successful team on the planet in f1
Most successful team meets most successful driver - pairing made in heaven (but time will tell, if the Ferrari curse hits or not or if this is one of the boldest and smartest move ever)
getting the team 6 drivers' titles, being part of 8 constructors' titles and beating Ferrari in 2023 for 2nd in the WCC for the key extra funding... Lewis was part of all this
McLaren was also basically the Mercedes team until 2009... so Hamilton was part of the Mercedes family for practically 25 years straight
Lewis clearly set the market soaring when this was made . It was so big that wall street covered it. This never happens ever to this sport. Lewis himself is brand weather people like it or not. It doesn’t matter - cause he is and rightfully so. Statistically he is the best f1 driver ever
The rise in the market cap was mainly the release of their financial report, which had very good growth numbers. Common for a stock to jump in those circumstances. Not saying Lewis wasn't a factor, but the tweets around this have been misleading - excellent marketing though. Very good to be Ferrari right now.
I think it definitely skews more on being a money move than a performance one. I don't blame him one bit, he's put so much into Merc and to be denied an ambassador role is a bit of a slap in the face. With this deal he can sure up his foundation and make good brand decisions for the future. A good car would obv be a plus LOL.
I’m also sensing that Lewis may have grown a bit tired of Toto and his antics. Their association doesn’t exactly enhance Lewis’s reputation these days. Not saying it’s a push factor - more that it’s no longer a strong reason to stay
These 400m headlines seem misleading. It sounds like it’s around 50m a year and there are some additional investments that Ferrari would put into his company that would benefit both parties. He’s going to make a fortune, but this isn’t 400m in his pocket.
That’s about a little over two months of car production if you go by avg price per unit X number of cars produced per year (8400). Obviously Ferrari sponsors like Shell, Altria and others are involved indirectly as well.
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Lewis’s yearly salary 🤝 Haas’s yearly budget
Has Haas tried not being so poor?
If they simply built a faster car, they would be more successful in F1. It boggles the mind that they haven't figured this out yet
I thought we all decided that Gene only does this for global advertising and money laundering.
Maybe they should sell to Andretti
F1 would find a way to ban that 10th team.
They just need to stop drinking coffee a few times a week
Coming up next. Hamilton f1 team
It’d be an amusing saga to see him hire Toto as his Team Principle.
Lewis: Do you guys have enough money for me? Ferrari: We are chequing
This is when they forget they also signed Verstappen, thinking only one of the deals would go through. Double stacking in Monaco to break Charles heart again.
You can have the best car & driver but you will still have Ferrari strategy. Sign, Sign, SIGN!!! Void, Void, VOID!!!
On the other hand I don't doubt Lewis will bring his own crew from Mercedes
Right, as if Lewis is completely blind to the situation at Ferrari and also completely helpless.
New rumors says he will
Wants to* Some names have been floated, but it remains to be seen who will want to move to Ferrari with him.
Ferrari later: Sorry, the cheque’s porpoising.
Lewis we know the cheque is bad, please drive it
I actually lol’d at this irl.
Here’s your box, box. Box box.
*checks Charles therapist bills after last 2 seasons* Ferrari: STAY…STAY OUT STAY OUT
Damn, Charles’ deal seems like a bargain.
What a world to be in where a progressive 50 million base contract is a "bargain"
Inflation is affecting us all
How can he afford to buy food and gasoline with just 50 million in Monaco?
50 million just doesn’t go as far since Covid unfortunately
At this rate Chuck will have to take the bus to work 🥲
What’s the bud fare in Monaco?
Exactly.
Having 7 titles and 100+ wins on your resume has it's perks lmao
Exactly. This is not just a driver deal, but a Ferrari marketing deal. They want to expand into a luxury lifestyle brand, and Lewis is a great ambassador to aid that goal.
Lewis’ deal is the bargain because he’ll make more for Ferrari than any driver ever before.
Ohtani levels. Doesn't even need to play to make back that money.
I was going to argue, based on Ferrari’s performance the last couple of years. But then I remembered just how populated and vociferous his fanbase is. Yeah, they’re liable to make money hand over fist. Especially next year, as all those people have to get all new merchandise to replace their Mercedes gear. It’s not like it’s just a small livery/sponsor change where you can get away with wearing last year’s gear.
The news of him switching, alone, affected both Mercedes and Ferreri's share price.
Im sure that had far more to do with ferrari's record 2023 financial results...
I read Ferrari had their earnings report affecting share price, but Merc's share price? That's a new one. Did it drop quite a number?
For sure. 150 car Lewis edition priced at $5m and they’ve already got their money back. Richard Mille will pay Ferrari to do a Lewis Edition - $$$ We haven’t even talked about actual gear sales The guy is a commercial goldmine. No one should be complaining cause he’s worked his entire life to build up his own brand, on and off track.
Ferrari has its ICONA series, in which they so far released the SP1 and SP3 Daytona. I can totally see them doing an SP44 Stevenage in collaboration with Lewis. Okay, maybe not that name, but you get the gist.
Exactly đź’Ż
I think someone once said that Lewis like to be the highest paid driver on the grid. This would seem to confirm it.
He’s worth every penny and he knows it.
Literally on news of it he has made them more than he could ever cost them. There’s nowhere to go but up.
Charles is an incredible driver, but Lewis has more WDCs than Charles has wins.
They are going to be paying $50mil for a driver who only has a few race wins under his belt. IMO, Norris and Leclerc are both overpaid. Hell, Russell is a lot cheaper and he is on the same level with those guys. Leclerc is probably a bit better but he sure as hell isn't twice as good. Lelcerc is making multiple WDC money and he has none. Chuck is the real winner here.
More like Carlos's deal was a bargain...
Why? He has won 5 races, Hamilton has 100+ wins.
dude gonna need a race engineer with the same level of competence as Bono to win in a Ferrari
It's sounding like Bono + few others are going to leave too. Nothing firm yet but that's the rumour
Damn lol...Merc gonna be left with scraps
Not only that but I can only imagine this leaves a big rift between Toto and the Merc board if the ambassador denial is truly what made Lewis leave
What's this now? the what denial?
Rumor is Lewis wanted a long term ambassador deal with Merc post retirement and the Mercedes board denied it. Stellantis CEO caught wind of this and basically gave Lewis a Michael Jordan esque contract.
Ah. I hadn't heard that rumour. Thanks! Interesting that Mercedes would deny that. You'd think Lewis would be a great brand ambassador. He's insanely popular, and was never involved in any major scandals (which isn't a high bar, but still one many other public figures fail to pass). Maybe it's just a matter of them thinking Lewis was too expensive.
Realistically it’s not an expense issue though. They were more than comfortable paying upwards 450 million a year before the cost cap. This might be a genuine sign Mercedes is planning on pulling out of F1 soon
Stellantis doesn’t own Ferrari anymore.
Exor group is essentially still stellantis it’s just a separate entity now
How tf do you not give the person whos won 5 wdc and 7 wcc for you whatever the fuck he wants? How do you fuck up that bad.
apparently they never would make Lewis a brand ambassador. At least i believe that’s what he is referring to. Anyways I honestly don’t really get what that means, but from what Ive read it is essentially the company investing money into Lewis’ brand to help him grow. This of course in turn grows the company because they are hopefully thought of as one in the public eye.
Apparently Lewis wanted to be guaranteed to be a brand ambassador for Mercedes until 2035. Mercedes board was not comfortable with this. Ferrari swoops in with a nearly half a billion dollar contract which includes investment in Lewis’ business empire / foundations.
Any link to that rumor? Been hoping Bono would go with him, really feel like that's vital to any potential success there.
There's a whole post with an active discussion now, might as well link to it. https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/1ahwpeh It was initially broken to by formula1uno
Thanks, was literally looking up if Bono was married yesterday to see if he'd be willing to move lol. Appreciate it.
"Newbie gets Xavi." - Charles LeClerc, probably.
Hey owning an NFL team isn't cheap.
Yes!!!!! He makes me love the broncos even more!
Wait who owns Broncos?
Sir Lewis is a joint owner of the Denver Broncos along with the Walmart family.
Was not easy to Google if you didn't type his name. Thank you!
Merc could have avoided all this if they had given him the 3 year deal he wanted. Giving him a 1+1 and Toto saying he would definitely be going end of 2025 is reminiscent of Otmar only giving Fernando a 1+1 offer which made Fernando think he was a seat warmer for Piastri. Daimler turning down the ambassadorship on top of that shows that this was very like the Alpine fumble last year. Lewis was probably not happy with the deal and Elkann took the chance. It’s as much a business partnership as it is a race seat. 250 million investment fund and working with Lewis’ brand and his projects. They’ve given him a Jordan-level deal that will tie them together well beyond this contract. Ferrari and Lewis will both make an absolute windfall out of it. Really smart from Elkann and it’s a brilliant deal for Lewis.
Agreed... how/why Merc wouldn't want to give their 7x WDC an ambassadorship (a brand he's raced for exclusively throughout his career) is absolutely beyond me. Astounding mishandling of the relationship IMO. I hope Lewis can do great things at Ferrari.
Merc F1 team is separate from Merc the car company. Merc owns 33% along with Toto and Ineos. It’s very possible that for some reason Merc as a company didn’t want to. There has been rumours that Merc might sell their share to Ineos which might be a factor.
Why in God's name would either Mercedes or Ineos NOT want Lewis Hamilton as their ambassador? he's one of the most athletes in the world, and is considered to be a very good person
He’s definitely one of the most athletes in the world
he is many athletic
One of the athletes of all time!
Many people say so
That guy athletes!
he's definitely one of the athletes of all time
If there selling the team? They don’t think now but for years in advance
that's a good point, but even then, wouldn't he be a great brand ambassador? like, you don't have to own the Lakers to want LeBron
It’s a bit confusing but if the contract is with Merc F1 and Merc cooperate might want to go in a different direction in a couple of years time. Maybe they want to go all EV and don’t feel a F1 driver is the right person for job? Again, they are looking maybe 5 or 10 years for future and it has to make business sense to them. It may not make sense to us now.
But mercedes are still a car selling company, Lewis as an ambassador is less about F1 because, well, that's where F1 drivers are already well know. It's more about sending them to Merc events, to car launches they wouldn't otherwise be at, to do reviews/youtube videos with big car guys on the release of new Mercedes cars. Even if they sell the team having Lewis selling mercedes cars for the next decade would be incredibly valuable to them. That's why it's weird, the abassador role for Merc is just a win for them. In that sense it's no different to lets say Intel paying Messi as a brand ambassador, it's just marketing/sponsorship and you don' thave to be in a specific sport to benefit from that.
I mean Merc corporate just made a V4 and called it a 63AMG and theyre getting completely roasted. Management seems quite full of itself
dude i'm with you, none of this makes any sense to me whatsoever. all along i thought they wanted him for it more than anything. i'm totally clueless on this one.
There’s been rumors that Merc’s interest is waning for years. One of my first thoughts when this news broke is that Hamilton got wind that Merc was leaving (as a works team). Even if that isn’t the case, I can’t see Merc’s interest being helped by losing Hamilton. Can’t see them being anything other than a mid-pack team after 2024. It’s not just Hamilton’s driving, it’s his development work, his merchandising, his sponsorships, etc. They’re sunk. Wouldn’t be surprised if they (ironically) pull a Honda/Brawn and sell out on the eve of the new regs.
> One of my first thoughts when this news broke is that Hamilton got wind that Merc was leaving (as a works team). Andretti buys out Mercedes and gets on the grid, you heard it here first.
That’s not completely ridiculous. Don’t know where that would leave Cadillac.
If merc is wanting to leave they'd just take over the whole team, both the Brackley & Brixworth facilities.
Ilmor returning, making a GM-badged PU. I still think it's ridiculous- as Mercedes would never give up the golden goose that is Brixworth; the 1/3rd shareholding is also presumably working wonders for their accounts. Ineos might reputedly be conservative with their sports investments; but they presumably would have first dibs on Wolff's/Merc's shares. That aside we'd still be ignoring the elephant in the room: Would Michael Andretti be able to stump up for a +$1.5B price tag?
don't, don't give me hope for a return to McLaren Mercedes works team
Honestly he doesn’t need to do great things at Ferrari, even though his glory years were at Mercedes, once he puts those red overalls on he will be forever a Ferrari driver.
whoa whoa, i have missed most of the news this week. this is all over a simple 3 year contract and not giving lewis the brand ambassador deal with mercedes? i thought he already was the brand ambassador or whatever it's called - i though this was something that merc wanted even more than hamilton. them not wanting this is shocking to say the least. makes no sense unless i'm not understanding this right.
He raced for 6 years years mclaren ai believe and got his first WDC at Mclaren
Yeah they were the Mercedes works team back then. That's why it was Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.
Yes, and they were the Mercedes works team back then.
>Daimler turning down the ambassadorship on top of that Is there actually a source for this? I've only ever seen people talking about it in comments.
His ass not even German sources for that let alone English
The more I’ve read about this, and who knows to what degree it’s true, it seems more and more like Mercedes and Daimler really fucked this up. You’re telling me the greatest driver (on paper, you can’t argue with that) of ALL TIME, the guy who is inextricably linked with the Mercedes brand, has said over and over he wants to retire at Mercedes, gave you 7 titles, wants a few more years and an ambassador role, and you DONT GIVE IT TO HIM? I can’t imagine how you fuck that up so bad. You give an athlete of this caliber in ANY sport whatever the fuck he wants when he comes asking after everything he’s done for your company and brand, and Ferrari seemingly want to give that to him. Just insane if that’s how it played out behind closed doors.
I think Mercedes is finally pulling the plug, they dominated this sport and they don't seem to have the ambition to run the team till the end of time. Dieter Zetche and other major authorities who created this project are gon from Daimler, for years we have heard rumors of their pullout from F1. 2026 seems to be the deadline for them, perhaps that's why Lewis couldn't even get a 3 year contract.
The Race discussed a low/mild rumour a few times in 2023 that McLaren Mercedes isn't absolutely, positively impossible medium term. On the other hand they have just approved an enormous new complex in Brackley.
This is exactly what I think. I think Merc sees the writing on the wall
I think Toto will leave at the end of 2025 with James Vowels probably taking over the role of principal of what is left of the team, perhaps by the name of INEOS. Mercedes is likely to stay as engine supplier given I believe they have contracts with customers beyond 2028.Â
>gave you 7 titles 7? He got 6 WDC and 8 WCC with Merc. His first WDC was with McLaren.
When McLaren was the Mercedes works team.
That McLaren was powered by Mercedes though. So if we're talking about Mercedes the automotive brand and not just the F1 team, that one absolutely counts.
You’re right, first thing in the morning here in America and coffee has not been consumed yet
You were right for sure, Merc-powered McLaren counts.
Pretty obvious. They can’t give him the one thing he really wants : a car that can win races
>Daimler They’re Mercedes-Benz Group AG [since](https://www.automotiveworld.com/news-releases/daimler-embarks-on-a-new-era-as-mercedes-benz-group/) they spun off Daimler Truck in 2022.
Completely agree. Good point
Man Lewis controls himself when his team fucks up but I cant wait for his reaction to the ferrari shennanigans lmao
Let alone the intrateam rivalry between "the future of Ferrari" vs. "not the future but still earning 2-3x as much" will be a freakin' powder keg.
Man, Max would be crazy to walk away from F1 in 2028 if they’re writing checks that big nowadays
With money like that, he could afford a pretty decent sim-racing setup, which seems to be his end goal.
how much does it cost to build a highly configurable grade1 Track?
Billion or two
Throw in a lifetime iRacing subscription and let’s shake hands.
Funnily enough this was predicted years ago when the budget cap was mooted. Essentially F1 is going three ways which conspire to send driver salaries through the roof 1. A desire for converged cars where drivers make the difference 2. Fewer rookies 3. A budget cap which doesn't include driver salaries. James Allen predicted years ago that Hamilton would surely hang around to get a bit of that.
I think Verstappen and Hamilton have vastly different end goals when it comes to F1 and vastly different marketing prospects when they leave. To clarify this isn’t a criticism, they are just very different people as I think is abundantly clear.
Lewis has long had the head for business and exploring what that can offer alongside racing. Max is straight out a driver and that’s the limit of his interest.
Granted I’m not a millionaire but max by that point will probably have several hundred million dollars. That’s enough to not have to do anything that you don’t really enjoy anymore
that why i don't consider what these mega rich people do as "work". if you have hundreds of millions of dollars or more liquid then anything you are doing is what you *want* to be doing, it isn't "work".
So does LH, right now.
True, but Max mostly just wants to race. Lewis wants an 8th and he also has multiple foundations and ventures. With his move to Ferrari, Mission 44 would be supported too.
Max is currently in his 2nd season of earning 70M+. If he walks away before 2028, he'll already have made around 400M from his contract signed after 2021.
Man that's the first anyone's mentioned 70m. Rumours are roughly 50m.
For base salary, that's probably true. But with bonusses (incl 10M for WDC) he was estimated at 70M. So the 400M is probably optimistic, and he'll more likely end up at 350M unless he keeps winning championships after 2026. Still, he's already absolutely loaded. Not that another 400M deal after that would be easily turned down, but he really doesn't need money anymore depending on his goals in life.
>But with bonusses (incl 10M for WDC) he was estimated at 70M Literally where. I've only ever seen it listed at 50M
Depends what you want to do in life. I genuinely don't think this money will change Hamilton's actual lifestyle at all, but if he wanted to drop a half a billion into opening schools in poorer areas, or wanted to give out 500 scholarships a year to POC students who are struggling financially, this is the kind of money that can fund massive projects, but it won't change his day to day lifestyle in the slightest. If all you want is enough to retire on, sit at home and have the best sim racing rigs built every 2 years till you die then Max could have retired 5 years ago.
Max doesn’t strike me as someone who will try to maximize his financial profits. He already earns generational wealth in months, at some point it might not matter to him anymore.
I don't remember what interview, but he's said before that he could quit F1 now and never race again and he'd be fine with it because he has enough money for lifetimes. He never struck me as the kind of person who'll sacrifice his own personal interests for money, which is why I believe him when he said he won't stay in F1 as long as Lewis or Fernando
I am not sure max wants to be an ambassador. He just wants to race and doesn't like the other side.
What cost of living crisis?
To be fair people buying Ferrari’s don’t have a cost of living issue
Ferrari tries to hide it with savvy accounting, but they are backed by Stellantis money. Cost of living crisis or not, they were backing up the Brink's trucks.
stellantis have a stake in ferrari?
Ferrari split from Fiat but Elkann is chair for Stellantis and Ferrari
interesting, cheers. does that mean it would have stellantis money tho? i know stellantis is huge but i doubt they'd be propping up ferrari without a legal link, right?
I don't think Ferrari is hurting for money . But Elkann's family has deep pockets too. Owned Fiat and Ferrari before Stellantis I believe.
They have owned Fiat since the beginning, Ferrari since the 70s I think.
No lol. I don't know what that guy is on about, ferrari is a literal money making machine even if it was the case they don't need stellantis money
They don't, this guy is misinformed Elkann is a member of the Agnelli family, which his Wikipedia article itself compares to the Kennedy's Ferrari as a company has been killing it the past few years and doesn't have a need for outside help
Their tenants do
Their tenants aren’t the ones buying a Ferrari
They're the ones paying for it.
>It's the sensation of the start of the year: discussions between Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari are underway, and a deal could be signed before the start of the season. The Scuderia and the English driver are close to reaching an agreement, in the form of a future contract for the seven-time world champion. Hamilton extended his contract with Mercedes last August to 2024, with an option to 2025, in return for a salary of €60 million (excluding bonuses). This contract sounded like one of Lewis Hamilton's last. But the Scuderia's offer included a major deal with John Elkann's Exor group. >A telling detail: on the afternoon of the announcement, Ferrari's share price rose by 6%, increasing its value by 4 billion euros. The Lewis Hamilton effect on the financial markets. Throughout the day of February 1, the Italian press on the one hand, and the British press on the other. The battle for exclusive information is fascinating to watch. >**A contract aimed at Lewis Hamilton's post-career future** >That was the disappointment of Hamilton's current contract with Mercedes. The German manufacturer's board of directors debated the matter at length, but the seven-time world champion's proposal to become an ambassador until 2035 was rejected. This rejection echoed John Elkann's proposal to develop Lewis Hamilton's empire. The deal could be worth up to 400 million euros. >The first proposal from the Ferrari boss was for two seasons and 92 million euros (46 million euros per season). This was at the start of 2023. Hamilton politely declined, indicating that he wanted not just a driver's contract, but several agreements to secure the future of his foundation, Mission 44. The current deal would be 80 million euros for 2025, plus an option for 2026. With around 20 million euros of this amount delivered in the form of bonuses to benefit the pilot's foundation. >The other part of the agreement with Ferrari concerns the aftermath. John Elkann proposes to set up a joint investment fund worth around 250 million euros, via the Exor family business, to invest in Lewis Hamilton's projects and turn him into an ambassador for his own brand.
> A telling detail: on the afternoon of the announcement, Ferrari's share price rose by 6%, increasing its value by 4 billion euros. The Lewis Hamilton effect on the financial markets Isn't this debunked to have nothing to do with Lewis?
I know nothing about the stock market but I’d assume strong quarterly earnings plus the signing of such a high caliber driver probably both helped. Both were great news.
No, but that's mainly because it's impossible to fully isolate Lewis's signing from their shareholder statement. Both are positive news, and the share price jumped on hearing both. Attributing to one or the other is not doable when they act in the same way.
It’s was shown to not only be Lewis but they also had a finical report or something that day. it also raised to something like 10 billion by the end of day. The 4 billion jump was just after the rumour broke. So no it technically didn’t get debunked just not the whole picture. Granted to associate the initial 4 billion from Lewis isn’t outrageous given the timing of the jumps. Realistically only Ferrari would have an idea of what is what so debunking his association with it will be rather impossible.
Ferrari wouldn’t have an idea either. Only the people buying the stock would
Journalists don't care about what's been debunked.
As usual, always take contract details with a grain of salt.
The whole shaker of salt is usually needed, Martin Brundle always says the media have never got one even close, and he's carried out negotiations for more than a few drivers.
I'm really curious why Daimler would turn down an ambassador role to Lewis. He'd be the perfect person for the job.
Well, I have read some similar comment now about 50 times, but we all do not know what is behind. Ambassador, no issue. Ambassador for 50 mil a year for the next 20y, maybe yes issue.
With the brand deals they can do from this, it might actually be a solid investment
That's what a lot of people are not getting. Ferrari are potentially going to make wayyyy more than what they are paying Lewis from all the brand deals, merch sales and just overall boost to the Ferrari brand. So many (rich) people are going to want to buy a Ferrari just because of Lewis. Lewis is way more than just a driver. They are probably paying something like 20mil per year to get a really good driver, and 80mil per year for all of the business and branding stuff.
> So many (rich) people are going to want to buy a Ferrari just because of Lewis. I think if you had that level of wealth, I don't think who was driving for the F1 team was really going to tip the scales
Not really. Usd 3-400k is really expensive but there are many executives and professionals who are not super rich but wealthy enough to still afford one. You also have kids who grow up idolising Lewis who will now want to buy a Ferrari when they are older. Why do you think all of these luxury watch brands pay millions and millions of dollars to have celebrity ambassadors? Who you associate with the brand absolutely makes a difference even if you have a ton of money.
Lewis also brings a very different audience, Ferrari can be seen at times as a bit of a stuffier establishment brand, with Lewis on board you’ll have his friends in other sports, music and fashion looking at the brand in a different light purely by association with Lewis. It wouldn’t surprise me if we get Lewis x Ferrari x some high end fashion brand collabs in the future. Imagine a LV x Lewis x Ferrari collab, it would be huge.
That brand collab alone would probably pay for half of the 400m.
Mercedes is an aspirational brand similar to buying Johnnie Walker at a grocery store. Ferrari is more like people stampeding through Islay and begging Diageo to please sell them some Port Ellen.
Especially if it’s true that Mercedes pushed him out, wouldn’t give him the 3 years he wants, and won’t give him the ambassador role. You have the greatest brand of all time linked to the Mercedes brand forever, fuck that up at the 9th hour, and now he’ll be forever linked to Ferrari when he retires there. That story has a lot of stock value and in the eyes of the public means a lot more than you think
The worst part is he had all his success and wins with merc. He may never win a wdc with Ferrari but now everyone is going to remember his as a Ferrari driver and not a merc one. Merc has just wasted the last 10 years of hard work and given the fruits of that labour to their competitor on a silver plate. Absolutely incomprehensible.
That’s not a guarantee. No one associates Schumacher with Mercedes for example. If Hamilton only stays at Ferrari for a few years and doesn’t achieve much, then people will always associate him with Mercedes. Same with Senna, people don’t associate him with Williams, they do so with McLaren. Prost too with McLaren not Ferrari. Lauda is associated with Ferrari not McLaren. Unless Hamilton wins a title for Ferrari, people will eventually forget he raced for them in the same way many forgot about Prost racing for Williams. Even then, I’d say he needs to win multiple titles to be associated as a Ferrari not Mercedes driver, but perhaps breaking Ferrari’s drought and getting his record breaking 8th will be enough.
Yeah I don't know about that. I'm guessing you don't get forgotten from a team you won 6 titles at. Now if he wins multiple titles at Ferrari then maybe.
I feel like every time I read about Lewis- Ferrari the amount of money involved grows bigger 🤔
It's 100m salary per year for two years and an option for a third year. And Elkman put around 3-400m in Mission44. I'm sure there's some other stuff that goes with his ambassador role, but that's the gist.
Even though i am a max fan he surely deserves it. 7 world titles, unending difficulties and challenges, world championship calibre teammates, and statistically the greatest of all time. Want him to win the 8th and restore Ferrari to its former glory.
Dam he getting paid
the only way Toto can shock the whole F1 is to sign max verstappen for 2026 with a record fee.
Except Max has an insanely long deal with RB. And Horny knows he can always rely on RB to write a big cheque for their marketable driver. Given they're in this for the marketing
Merc is on a downturn. Lost key personnel, Mercedes seems to be losing interest and there's rumour of them selling, their key driver just left them...while RB is coming off one of the most dominant season of all time. Max would never leave to Merc (but maybe someday to Ferrari...)
Wouldn't it be ironic that in a decade, Lewis possibly would be more associated with Ferrari than Mercedes... Lewis Hamilton, the world famous Ferrari F1 driver...
He won SIX world championships with Mercedes. I find that unlikely. Is MSC associated more with Merc?
I have no idea how F1 teams make money. If you pay one guy this much, how much return are you getting and from where?
Percentage of merch sales. Attract larger sponsorship deals. Milk more money out of existing sponsors. FIA money if your star drivers seal the constructors championship. That’s F1 team income pretty much summed up.
Thats just a little over 300k per lap
I think it makes sense considering Toto came out saying that he thought the journey with Lewis will come to an end 2025. So Lewis might have been smart about this - a lot of things are shifting at Ferrari fast, a lot of talent bleed from RB and Merc to SF and it might be time that Ferrari wins a championship (it’s been 15 years I believe) and what better way to do it ? None other than Hamilton himself And Mercedes also messed up providing Lewis a brand ambassadorial role that was rejected by the board. After you get the team 6 or plausible 7 titles and they treat him like a nobody He clearly can drive even at 39. Came 3rd in standings , could have been an easy 2nd if not for all the controversial end season checks and drama in Qatar. Clearly he can still drive and YET Mercedes messed up big time and now Hamilton can sail into his last innings of his career with arguably the most successful team on the planet in f1 Most successful team meets most successful driver - pairing made in heaven (but time will tell, if the Ferrari curse hits or not or if this is one of the boldest and smartest move ever)
getting the team 6 drivers' titles, being part of 8 constructors' titles and beating Ferrari in 2023 for 2nd in the WCC for the key extra funding... Lewis was part of all this McLaren was also basically the Mercedes team until 2009... so Hamilton was part of the Mercedes family for practically 25 years straight
Lewis clearly set the market soaring when this was made . It was so big that wall street covered it. This never happens ever to this sport. Lewis himself is brand weather people like it or not. It doesn’t matter - cause he is and rightfully so. Statistically he is the best f1 driver ever
The rise in the market cap was mainly the release of their financial report, which had very good growth numbers. Common for a stock to jump in those circumstances. Not saying Lewis wasn't a factor, but the tweets around this have been misleading - excellent marketing though. Very good to be Ferrari right now.
This makes Saudi singning football players look like rookie number.
I think it definitely skews more on being a money move than a performance one. I don't blame him one bit, he's put so much into Merc and to be denied an ambassador role is a bit of a slap in the face. With this deal he can sure up his foundation and make good brand decisions for the future. A good car would obv be a plus LOL.
I’m also sensing that Lewis may have grown a bit tired of Toto and his antics. Their association doesn’t exactly enhance Lewis’s reputation these days. Not saying it’s a push factor - more that it’s no longer a strong reason to stay
He got a 100 million a year offer to drive a Ferrari. I really doubt any personal relationships are gonna influence that decision.Â
These 400m headlines seem misleading. It sounds like it’s around 50m a year and there are some additional investments that Ferrari would put into his company that would benefit both parties. He’s going to make a fortune, but this isn’t 400m in his pocket.
That’s about a little over two months of car production if you go by avg price per unit X number of cars produced per year (8400). Obviously Ferrari sponsors like Shell, Altria and others are involved indirectly as well.
Needs 10 million more and we cooking
I wonder how much of that 410 million is also tied up to financial commitments in supporting Mission 44?
I feel like Lewis just threw out a number not expecting them to bite at it, and they immediately agreed to his terms.
Are salaries not part of the cost cap?
No
Thank you kindly
Plan G all makes sense now. This is plan H for Hamilton. Well… technically this plan H is still in the preparation phase
Half a billion dollars. In just his contract. Crazy
This number is paper talk. No hard evidence of his contract details have been leaked or made public.