Lewis Hamilton’s move from Mercedes to Ferrari in 2025 must be considered as the ultimate consequence of a process that has fundamentally changed the technical assurances provided by the Brackley team to the British driver until 2021. In practice, the failure of the W13 and W14 projects must have been interpreted by Lewis as the result of a progressive crumbling of the unity of purpose within the technical office that had made the Mercedes team great, rather than its cause. Thus, it seems plausible to assume that Lewis Hamilton succumbed to the courtship of John Elkann and Frederic Vasseur, taking this premise into consideration and therefore recognizing that his stay, although useful, could not alone recreate the technical conditions that characterized the winning cycle of Mercedes.
This would have prompted him to step out of his comfort zone and embrace the challenge in red, a path he had considered several times in the past and where he will be reunited with Loic Serra.
The French engineer responsible for vehicle performance at Mercedes, arriving in Maranello by May at the end of the gardening period stipulated by his previous contract, could represent the trailblazer for a path that other more or less prominent figures in Toto Wolff’s team might decide to embark on now. Loic Serra, it is worth noting, was responsible for the vehicle dynamics of all the Mercedes cars with which Lewis Hamilton became a champion, later disagreeing on the effectiveness of the W13 project, which, from rumors in Brackley, he considered critical in terms of balance from the beginning. The path taken by then-Technical Director Mike Elliott, as known, turned out to be a failure, just like the subsequent car born on the same conceptual basis.
Toto Wolff’s subsequent choice to entrust the technical direction to James Allison again, immediately after the debut of the W14 in Bahrain, imposing a conceptual change, not only did not produce a tangible improvement in the car’s performance but seems to have exacerbated the fractures within a technical staff that is no longer united.
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Lewis Hamilton’s presence and continuity in the team, virtually guaranteed by the contract signed in August, had acted as an apparent adhesive, with many technicians, including the head of track activities, Riccardo Musconi from Imola, being extremely attached to the champion. The official confirmation of his move to Ferrari could be a turning point for many to follow him.
In this specific case, Riccardo Musconi in Maranello could take on the same role, which is a key position for the development of the car during the season. Even more so considering the regulatory revolution planned for 2026. In short, it is very likely that Lewis Hamilton will not arrive at Ferrari alone, and this also represents a considerable added value.
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