Feb.13 (GMM) Norbert Haug, a former Mercedes F1 boss, says it’s a “thriller” why Lewis Hamilton determined to leap ship to Ferrari for 2025.
On Monday on the Aston Martin launch, former Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso poked enjoyable at Hamilton’s reasoning – that it had all the time been the 39-year-old’s “childhood dream” to race in pink.
“It was not his childhood dream 12 months in the past, no?” the Spaniard smiled. “Or two months in the past, I suppose. It was a special dream.”
Certainly, Haug admitted that no F1 insider was extra stunned than himself when he heard the bombshell information that Hamilton would go away Mercedes late this yr.
“If I had guess on one factor, on a partnership in Formulation 1 that will final perpetually, it could have been Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes,” the German marque’s former head of motorsport, Haug, advised motorsport-magazin.com.
“I used to be utterly blown away by it,” the 71-year-old added. “I’d have sworn that it could keep that approach perpetually. And that he would keep after he was completed driving as a model ambassador or no matter.”
Toto Wolff, Brackley primarily based Mercedes’ crew boss and co-owner, has not opened up on what went mistaken between him and the seven time world champion past Hamilton merely explaining that he needed a brand new problem.
Haug thinks the actual causes are nonetheless hidden.
“It’s a thriller,” mentioned the German. “Only a few folks in all probability know that. Toto Wolff will know.”
What is obvious to Haug is that Wolff is saying goodbye to greater than only a world-class driver, but additionally a world famous person. Wolff himself brazenly admits that he understands that Hamilton’s departure would possibly even have monetary penalties for Mercedes.
“Are there any dangers?” Wolff advised CNBC. “In fact, as a result of Lewis is far more than only a driver. It’s clear that after 2024 we shall be lacking one thing.
“However a crew like Mercedes will need to have its personal id, and we are going to all the time have that sooner or later.”
Nonetheless, it could be argued that Ferrari can be taking a danger by welcoming what shall be a 40-year-old driver to Maranello for 2025 and past.
“It takes much more effort at 40 than at 20,” Haug admits. “However there are a lot of drivers in F1 who’re bodily fitter at 30 than they have been at 20 as a result of they recognise the necessity and know find out how to feed themselves.”
