It was highly suspicious for Merc to fall off the way they did in '22 and '23. Terrible car design, terrible race strategy, terrible pitstops with one of the best drivers in history. You almost can't make that up.
@pell0076 Yet they have arguably had the 2nd best car the last two years, so they aren't far off. The last two years need an asterisk because of the cost cap cheating, which most people forget.
Good insight. Of all the videos I've watched that attempt to describe why LH signed with Ferrari, I think yours is closest to the core of the issue. When LH decided to go to Mercedes he did so after being pursued by Niki Lauda and Ross Brawn - "I wasn't convinced necessarily at the beginning. I think the convincing stage which really made me look into it more was when Ross came around my mum's house, and sat with me in the kitchen. We had tea, and he showed me what the plan is for the team. "That was the real in-depth insight into what the team was planning, the changes they were trying to do. That was really the selling point." LH Autosport November 22, 2020. At that time, Mercedes was still a nimble racing team with desire to truly partner with LH to build a Champion. Over time, to your point, they became more 'corporate' in their approach and lost sight of the fact that Lewis was a true partner in building the team. Not taking his technical input in building their challenger in the last two (losing) campaigns and their inability to see the value of LH's brand pretty much sealed the deal. Championship DNA is hard to come by and Ferrari needs a transplant. Fred Vasseur (Like Ross Brawn before him) knows this. As a Mercedes fan (really a 44 fan) I suspect Mercedes will soon be relegated to the 'also-ran' category.
HMMNN YOU just hit the nail on the head here So i believe Ferrari made the same pitch. I believe Lewis has seen Ferrari plans and i think he is knowledgeable enough to know if they are better than Mercedes plans. I strongly believe this plus ofcourse the money meant he just had to leave. Mercedes does not have anything more to offer him really.
They are already in the also ran category, Lewis got them P2 in the championship, Which was more than they should have got. Russell, along with many of the newer drivers just aren't that good, whether it be technical feedback, decision making or personality wise. But this is a new F1 era.
I think you nailed it here. I think Merc ignoring Hamilton's teammate preference was frustrating for him too, especially since Red Bull is dedicated to providing Verstappen with a cupcake teammate. It's a huge disadvantage having a competitive teammate when you're trying to win a WDC, especially so in a slower car. It all boils down to the team taking Hamilton for granted, and Merc corporate grossly undervaluing him as a marketing asset.
@@caskraker He was beaten by DannyRic 2 out of 3 years, he's raced against nothing but virgins and a career mid-fielder since. It's easy to look like Jordan when you're playing basketball against a driveway full of 10 year olds.
Hamilton is 37 years old, any team with common logic of course will take a young driver and try to develop and integrate in their future plans. Crying about a teammate is the weak ass argument for someone step off from the team. In the 2021 season, Mercedes basically purges Bottas cars for the sake of Hamilton to get a better chance in that season. I know some LH fans still hurt how Nico beat him in EQUAL cars but hey, LH is one hell of the drivers. The teammate is not the big issue that leads to Hamilton decision 😂
I’m glad too as it means Russell won’t be spending this season or next being told by Toto to let Lewis pass him. Russell can be the racer he is for the first time.
@@stableianF1oraclethey were never close in the races last year, if anything George was the one who’d start moaning about being let by every time he was behind lewis…
To be honest this is FAR better and more considered information than all other so-called experts combined. This explains so much without all the baseless filler that everyone else seem to think they need. You said in a few minutes what hundreds of minutes of other videos couldn't.
@@stableianF1oracle as someone else said (ex F1 driver) very recently - the car is now 90%...if the car is shit, then even the best driver can't win in it.
@@davepastern To a point then you have the exceptional driver who can make a real difference. Watch Max in 2016 Brazilian GP in pouring rain from 16th to 3rd. The rain is a great leveller. Always has been in MotoGP and F1. Most people don’t know which team Stirling Moss drove for or Jim Clark but we do know they were head and shoulders above the others.
@@stableianF1oracleThe guy you are responding to is more correct. The car behaving correctly is more important. Driver skill can only take a car so far. But if the driver has to spend more time wrestling the car instead of making tactical decisions, he will underperform. Its why Lewis kept blowing away all of his competitors in the past while Max was always having a wrestling match against his own car. Lewis was driving as if his Benz had cruise control activated.
@@chiefdenis i agree. Kallenius doesn’t care about anything but profits at this point. It’s a shame that such a motorsport dynasty is being chipped at piece by piece because of corporate greed.
Andy Cowell was the beginning of the end for Mercedes. He was the engine chief. Let’s not Forget Ros Brawn and Norbert Haug started this dynasty. It was a 4 year effort that helped next 6-7 years. Then Aldo Costa and then Dr. Zetsch’s. Slowly everyone started to leave.
I agree with some of your analysis but not all. The reason Lewis only got a year guaranteed at Mercedes was not the parent company. It was that the team including Toto wanted the flexibility to put Kimi Antonelli in the seat in 2025. James Vowles confirmed that this week in a lecture to Oxford University students and Toto lost Max to Red Bull by refusing to put Max in F1. Right away and will not let that happen again with Antonelli. Lewis did not get the Mercedes brand ambassadorship because of the resistance to it by the parent company. You are correct that the CEO Mr. Kallenius does not support the company’s involvement in Motorsport and opposed the company’s entry into the last Concorde Agreement. Sad because it was a slap in the face to a driver that did so much to increase the value of the brand. Those two things drove Lewis into the open arms of Ferrari. Frankly he makes a better brand ambassador for Ferrari than Mercedes anyway. All the celebs love Ferrari and buy Ferrari and Lewis is ultra popular with celebs. Lewis is about glamour and fashion as well as fast driving and that fits Ferrari’s image more than Mercedes which is more about buttoned down quiet understated luxury. I think the Lewis move is a win win for all. Mercedes now has a seat for Kimi Antonelli and Lewis fulfills a lifelong dream of racing as a Ferrari driver and representing the brand
Besides all that, losing top engineers to RB and the W13, 14, 15 suck. No pace, aero package worst than all other cars. Lewis outmaneuvered Toto and Mercedes and they trying change the narrative that Lewis is washed up and they had to let him go. Mercedes is losing sponsors, Ferrari is adding sponsors now. Lewis new salary $400 million, four years and ambassadorship. Plus $400 million donated to his foundation/ charity. Ferrari stock is soaring, Mercedes stock is not. Ferrari merchandise sales will continue to climb. Fans will leave Mercedes because Lewis has been Mercedes. Ferrari will gain fans. Ferrari will have a 7 time champion driver. Mercedes will not attract as many sponsors because they will not have a 7 time world champion. At the end of the day. Ferrari made a smart business move. It’s a win/win for Team Ferrari and Lewis. I can’t wait to see Lewis in that red car…
Merc treated their biggest financial (advertising and marketing) asset like shit and lost him. Good. I hate how they treated him in 2023 especially. I’m sad but this is a chance for 8th WDC and a resurgence for Ferrari. 💪
Maybe cry a little harder. You hating how he gots treated while he made at least 100 times as much money as you do. Leclerc would also nico rosberg hamilton back in his place. Think mercedes would like to have a better racer who can actually beat verstappen than having a useless marketing asset knowing teams are capped in money anyway and its not like they come short without hamilton... pffff fanboy logic
Excellent points, I feel the biggest contributing factor was when Mercedes decided "Not" to develop the 2021 car in favor of focusing on development of the 2022 car whereas Red Bull did and were able to match Mercedes pace for the 2021 season. It likely would have been a slam dunk for Lewis to win his 8th World Title cementing him as the GOAT. I'm sure it was very disappointing for Lewis. That the team would not prioritize him in his effort to achieve this milestone after all of his commitment and hard work to excellence his entire career.
Good Job. Just to add Mercedes and Toto gave up on the 2021 robbery of Hamiltons 8th championship appeal. I believe Toto wants to be the head of F1 and didn't want to ruffle feathers because of his personal desire.
pretty spot on analysis. I do also think that Lewis waited until he was able to judge the 2023 car developments and W15 late enough in its development to see whether or not he felt Mercedes would improve for 2024. This is why HE negotiated the +1 contract option - so he could get out of Mercedes for 2024 and take up a Ferrari option for 2025/6/7. This has been a tactical masterpiece from Lewis - he's devalued the Mercedes AMG F1 team, the Mercedes brand, made a bucket load of money and probably secured a deal with a team that will unequivocally have a better car in 2024/5/6. Plus, if there has been any hint of a falling out with Toto (or Lewis has felt that Toto no longer values him the same anymore), this financially screws Toto with a team devaluation. It's a big FU to Mercedes.
Mercedes are going to regret ditching Hamilton. Trusting to his instincts has proved successful. He's going to find that the Ferrari 'tifosi' love him. Ferrari know a good deal when it's ready to pluck😊
Clearly you're passionate about F1 one and I praise your enthusiasm. However, your boy James Allison wanted to design sail boats for INEOS after the masterpiece 2020 W11 was built, so the position on CTO was created to keep him satisfied. The regulation change was supposed to happen in 2021 but because of COVID-19 they were pushed to 2022. However, to spice things up F1 changed the floor edge regulations to pin back Mercedes. Mercedes didn't adjust well to the 2021 changes and waited until the second half of the season to fix its flaws. With the extra year before the aerodynamic change the engineers outsmarted themselves and dropped the ball massively. You are very correct, that the engineers didn't listen to Lewis, after he took it upon himself as the team leader to improve the car at the expense of his own legacy and racing, and people somehow believed that Russell as better driver and was getting preferential treatment from the team. I've been upset since 2021 when Allison was allowed to design boats right before the biggest Aero regulation change in F1 history. Mercedes like McLaren took Lewis for granted and mismanaged things for too many years. The budget cap and egos have led to this outcome.
Yep, then Allison came back and dumped on Lewis complaints of the 22 car. I don’t think he was intentionally malicious but his answer to a question posed about what he thought about Lewis complaining about the side pod did not translate favorably to Lewis.
Mercedes did'nt really fix the issue half way through the season, the solution they found was a way to run the engine at higher level, they used Bottas as the guinea pig. It was just that simple. And they were satisfied taking engine penalties to start at the back when they knew they had a rocket engine. Fucking hilarious. Red Bull definitely had the aero advantage. Merc just had the better engine.
yeah he really didn't. The cost cap meant that James Allison as one of the highest paid staff members at Mercedes had to be moved on. So they moved him & a load of engineers on to the ineos boats bullshit. basically allowing Mercedes to keep the staff incase the people they picked on lower salaries fucked up. The even got rid of some of Lewis's most trusted staff. They let his no1 mechanic go to ferrari, the let Loic serra leave for ferrari who was close to Hamilton. Basically they started forcing the staff close to lewis out
@ckr5694 funny Allison said lewis was wrong about lewis saying the cockpit to far forward was wrong..... and surprise, surprise the W15 has moved the seat postion back. Almost like lewis was right all along.
Lewis Hamilton has as many followers as the next three F1 drivers combined together on instagram alone. As good as Max is, he is nowhere as big of a marketing machine/brand as LH. Mercedes really fumbled the bag with this one and Ferrari got themselves a legend on par if not better than Michael Schumacher who started this Mercedes team.
Lewis main reason for leaving Mercedes is because he felt the engineers weren’t listening to his feedback anymore!! He sacrificed 2022 season trying to help the team recover by agreeing to put sensors all over his car, during practice and races once it became apparent that the car wasn’t fast enough! In 2023 preseason, Lewis was dismayed to discover that most of the feedback he gave the engineers in 2022 season was largely ignored because they felt it would affect Russell driving style. After testing, he said the only positive thing about the 2023 car was that the bouncing had stopped! For the first in his F1 career he started criticising the engineers publicly that he wasn’t been listening to. This led to his mechanics not coming out to support him when he was on the podium in one of the races. This shocked him! Rumour started that he was talking to Ferrari whiles in negotiations with Toto.
I had no idea how deplorable Mercedes is to Sir Lewis. Especially the current CEO. How many Mercedes automobiles have been purchased as a direct result of him. This is my first, and hopefully only time I need to throw the colour card out there. What else could it possibly be? 🤷🏻♂️
If you asked him, im sure he'll just laugh it off and tell you it was business BUT in reality if the man named Lewis Hamilton was a blue eyed, white skinned guy, this would have been handled differently.
Lewis , personal issues considered, is an aspirational ikon for youngsters wanting to progress in any motorsport field. Ferrari was probably always his dream and so here we go. Let’s hope it isn’t a disappointment for him……AND us!!!
1:38 you probably it was the first time that two cars had the same MERCEDES power unit, as in 2008 there were various teams sharing the same engine (Ferrari, Honda, Toyota,…)
@@ciao0301 Still he would do better than diva Hamilton with less as he has proven this before. Mercedes might as well take Rosberg since he beat Hamilton. Mercedes before had a car with a superior engine which was miles ahead. When the cars are close Verstappen is good enough to put Hamilton in place regarding race skill. Why would Mercedes even think they need Hamilton knowing their superior engine is what gave him so many championships. History has proven Hamilton needed this engine more than Mercedes needed him regarding performance. Lulu is a good driver but not on the same level as a Senna, Schumacher, Verstappen etc. Every other good driver would have reached the same amount of championships in that car.
Toto's has had 2 horrible years under his stewardship. Crap car zero pod car design, not courting Lando Norris and getting George Russell, years of poor pit crews, and losing Hamilton to Ferrari. His leadership should be more in question.
Don’t let Ferrari’s generous offer for you. Ferrari is extremely pragmatic. If Lewis doesn’t perform, they will dump him like they did Kimi, Sebastian and Carlos Sainz Jr.
In my opinion, Sir Lewis Hamilton is F1. No other driver brings the same value, the celebrity status, the fans, the co-sponsors to F1 more than Lewis. The last time that I saw the viewership data, it had dropped significantly with the FIA self-appointing Verstappen as the face of the sport. Personally, I'm still confused as to how he is considered a champion after an obvious human error in 2021 and Redbull overspending the cost cap in 2022 and 2023. Can you be a champion and a cheater? Anyway, the majority of fans don't seem to think so. Love Sir Lewis and looking forward to his Ferrari days!!!
Great video, felt pretty unbiased and informative! One thought I have is that Fred Vasseur is probably the best thing that has happened to Ferrari in a while. I heard that he's pursing Newey aswell so we might see a return to glory for Ferrari and a less depressed Tifosi. Just sad that Sainz had to be axed but I'm sure he'll find a seat
That's quite an interesting perspective and one that I haven't heard anywhere else in F1 circles. I haven't done my own research as to why Lewis made that decision, but a few things have been clear since the last couple of seasons. Lewis has repeatedly alluded to the team not trusting his judgement regarding the car's development. That's not so surprising considering many still view him, even within the Mercedes camp, as the talented 7x champion who is technically illiterate. I also believe James Allison's departure dealt a swift blow to the team, one they haven't quite recovered from.
Good Job on this video, everything you said makes sense. I am a real estate guy but been a F1 fan since I was a kid. Maybe we can do a podcast swap one day. Cheers!
take out: NEVER EVER employ a person who LACKS PASSION for the work you do... ...Employ only a person who is passionate for what you guys are doing in that company. You'll drown like Mercedes Benz.
The moment Toto decided to ignore the teams advice & recruited the team's Albatross ( GR), he made a major 'Budweiser' type management mistake. Over the last two years, as a result of the teams 'Albatross' recruitment, the team unity has been destroyed, resulting in the team hemorrhaging their best engineering minds & now LH. Toto can unite & resurrect the Mercedes team competitiveness by dumping the teams 'Albatross' (GR). asap ..... or sell the team to someone has an interest in restoring the Mercedes pride & reputation.
I agree with you 💯 should’ve never got rid of Valtteri Bottas he had a lot more experience than George Russell. Toto got complacent with the team success. One of the biggest things that stuck in my throat was when some of the Sky pundits, and we all know who they are! Kept asking him when are you going to sign George Russell, simply because Russell was English. George Russell is not ready to lead that team. The facts speaks for themselves.
@@RebelRanger2009 In historic terms, early mariners firmly believed that sighting an Albatross is one of the worst omens possible as it signaled extreme bad luck....... Just like Mercedes has been experiencing since GR joined the team. As for the 'Golf' reference, we have never heard of an Albatross reference being used in that way.
@@RebelRanger2009 Just checked your reference on google and was surprised to see game of 'Golf' uses that term as you described. Thanks for the interesting fact clarification.
Great facts in analysis. Much appreciated. I figured part of it was due to them not listening to his input on car improvement but I knew they had to be something more to it than just that.
If you get the wrong person at the top to run the company it’s like lightning fast to screw it all up. I mean look at the overall reliability score of Mercedes-Benz. It’s all down in the stinkin’ mud!! It’s a big SHAME for the most prestigious vehicle maker to become this way.
Great breakdown - especially the history and background stuff. You missed a subtle piece… and a huge piece, though. Ineos used the fact that Allison had moved up into a broader role as an excuse to focus him on aerodynamic development for the Ineos Britannia America’s Cup sailing program. Ineos, for their 1/3 wasn’t innocent in the whole thing. Further, Toto wasn’t either. The big missing piece was the push to push out Bottas and insert Russell as the “second coming of Michael Schumacher” because Ecclestone, Masi, Marko et al didn’t want to see Sir Lewis eclipse their hero. Zero consideration was given to the reigning Champ in terms of teammate preferences (as it was to Verstappen from the day he walked in the RB door). The triumvirate of ownership was all at fault. I hope Lewis wins 8, 9, and 10 swathed in Rossi Corsa.
Lewis was not valued for his dedication to Mercedes, they showed no gratitude to Lewis in no way worst they refused to pay him the money he deserved and listening to him as other teams treated their star drivers.
Fun fact…Ferrari’s stock share skyrocketed when Lewis announced his move…and that total stock price increase is literally the same or more than what they offered Lewis so technically, they haven’t lost much signing Lewis
Lewis is tied with Schumacher with 7 titles apiece . Get your facts straight In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Michael Schumacher), and holds the records for the most wins (103), pole positions (104), and podium finishes (197), among others. Anything else?!
And what confuse me is this new CEO wasn’t he the guy that was head of AMG ? How was he head of AMG and not into Motorsports at all that makes no sense to me what so ever.
You are spot on to mention his request to be a Merc Brand Ambassador. Although he has asked for that in multiple contract renewals. (Easily looked up). Sir Lewis through his entire F1 Career has only driven Merc Engines (McLaren and Mercedes) 103 race wins (2nd and 3rd positions included?) & 7 World championships 6 Mercedes (+1 McLaren) and they couldn't straight up put that in a contract themselves? He has tattooed on his hand 'Loyalty' for a reason.
That's the only thing that's terrible about formula. One racing like you said, Hamilton was trying to tell Mercedes what to do with the car and they would not listen to him. And that's because Formula 1 racing is all about the people who put the money into racing. It's not about the drivers, it's about the car. It's about the sponsors
Just FYI, two weeks after Ferrari's announcement, their shares went up 25%, so about $1B+, paying for Hamilton's entire 3-year deal, and Mercedes lost Tommy Hilfiger's sponsorship. That's how much he brings to the team.
Re the car comments, yes it was good and perhaps Lewis had a large part to play in that. RB had Adrian Newley to thank for its dominance and (though I hate to admit it) a young fiery driver. Remember verstappens early record of regularly stuffing his car.
@@eliasbergsteigerausschwarz3654 Apparently we were wrong as Google agrees with you. LH is a very lucky man to be given a lucrative contract like that as he is definitely not worth it.
The reason: Merc want Kimi Antonelli for 2026 to partner George, this is no secret. As such they only offered Lewis 2 years, Lewis wanted to stay in F1 for longer, so forced the 1+1 option, that way he can go to Ferrari and extend his career. Pretty simple really, if Merc had offered him 4 years for example of course he’d have stayed.
This may be another genius move. The future of RedBull has some doubts with the death of Dietrich Mateschitz as well as internal conflict. Merc are showing signs of lack of corporate support and have been hemorrhaging technical staff to other teams . Ferrari is the only mega team that's all in.
It was highly suspicious for Merc to fall off the way they did in '22 and '23. Terrible car design, terrible race strategy, terrible pitstops with one of the best drivers in history. You almost can't make that up.
I am now beginning to understand why those 50 or so people left Mercedes. Thanks for this, you have cleared up a lot of issues that had me puzzled.
They dis.Sir Lewis when they started listening to George instead
No, Lewis that lost Mercedes..
He is headed to a team that has not won in 20 plus years. This is coming from a Ferrari fan, bad move Lewis
@pell0076 Yet they have arguably had the 2nd best car the last two years, so they aren't far off. The last two years need an asterisk because of the cost cap cheating, which most people forget.
Good insight. Of all the videos I've watched that attempt to describe why LH signed with Ferrari, I think yours is closest to the core of the issue. When LH decided to go to Mercedes he did so after being pursued by Niki Lauda and Ross Brawn -
"I wasn't convinced necessarily at the beginning. I think the convincing stage which really made me look into it more was when Ross came around my mum's house, and sat with me in the kitchen. We had tea, and he showed me what the plan is for the team.
"That was the real in-depth insight into what the team was planning, the changes they were trying to do. That was really the selling point." LH Autosport November 22, 2020.
At that time, Mercedes was still a nimble racing team with desire to truly partner with LH to build a Champion. Over time, to your point, they became more 'corporate' in their approach and lost sight of the fact that Lewis was a true partner in building the team. Not taking his technical input in building their challenger in the last two (losing) campaigns and their inability to see the value of LH's brand pretty much sealed the deal. Championship DNA is hard to come by and Ferrari needs a transplant. Fred Vasseur (Like Ross Brawn before him) knows this. As a Mercedes fan (really a 44 fan) I suspect Mercedes will soon be relegated to the 'also-ran' category.
HMMNN
YOU just hit the nail on the head here
So i believe Ferrari made the same pitch. I believe Lewis has seen Ferrari plans and i think he is knowledgeable enough to know if they are better than Mercedes plans.
I strongly believe this plus ofcourse the money meant he just had to leave. Mercedes does not have anything more to offer him really.
They are already in the also ran category, Lewis got them P2 in the championship, Which was more than they should have got. Russell, along with many of the newer drivers just aren't that good, whether it be technical feedback, decision making or personality wise. But this is a new F1 era.
I think you nailed it here. I think Merc ignoring Hamilton's teammate preference was frustrating for him too, especially since Red Bull is dedicated to providing Verstappen with a cupcake teammate. It's a huge disadvantage having a competitive teammate when you're trying to win a WDC, especially so in a slower car. It all boils down to the team taking Hamilton for granted, and Merc corporate grossly undervaluing him as a marketing asset.
There is no competitive teammate for Max. No one comes close. That is the difference with lulu.
@@caskraker He was beaten by DannyRic 2 out of 3 years, he's raced against nothing but virgins and a career mid-fielder since. It's easy to look like Jordan when you're playing basketball against a driveway full of 10 year olds.
@@LionAndALamb Wow, you really had to dig deep for that DR comparison! Well, just ignore the facts, luluboy. Keep believing in fairytales!
Hamilton is 37 years old, any team with common logic of course will take a young driver and try to develop and integrate in their future plans. Crying about a teammate is the weak ass argument for someone step off from the team. In the 2021 season, Mercedes basically purges Bottas cars for the sake of Hamilton to get a better chance in that season. I know some LH fans still hurt how Nico beat him in EQUAL cars but hey, LH is one hell of the drivers. The teammate is not the big issue that leads to Hamilton decision 😂
But he is going to Ferrari with Leclerc who is insanely quick.
I'm very happy that Lewis is coming to Ferrari. I'm a life long Tifosi but he's my favorite current driver. LET'S GO!
Forza Ferrari with Hamilton and Leclerc!
I’m glad too as it means Russell won’t be spending this season or next being told by Toto to let Lewis pass him. Russell can be the racer he is for the first time.
@@stableianF1oraclethey were never close in the races last year, if anything George was the one who’d start moaning about being let by every time he was behind lewis…
@@stableianF1oracle russell got spanked last year
@@Wonderkid44 Talking of being spanked how is your boyfriends butt lol 😂
To be honest this is FAR better and more considered information than all other so-called experts combined. This explains so much without all the baseless filler that everyone else seem to think they need.
You said in a few minutes what hundreds of minutes of other videos couldn't.
The Mercedes suits really screwed the pooch so bad with their decision not to accept Lewis’s offer
lol yeah right. Merc need drivers who can’t win a race all year.
@@stableianF1oracle as someone else said (ex F1 driver) very recently - the car is now 90%...if the car is shit, then even the best driver can't win in it.
@@davepastern To a point then you have the exceptional driver who can make a real difference. Watch Max in 2016 Brazilian GP in pouring rain from 16th to 3rd. The rain is a great leveller. Always has been in MotoGP and F1. Most people don’t know which team Stirling Moss drove for or Jim Clark but we do know they were head and shoulders above the others.
@@stableianF1oracle OK....
@@stableianF1oracleThe guy you are responding to is more correct. The car behaving correctly is more important. Driver skill can only take a car so far. But if the driver has to spend more time wrestling the car instead of making tactical decisions, he will underperform.
Its why Lewis kept blowing away all of his competitors in the past while Max was always having a wrestling match against his own car. Lewis was driving as if his Benz had cruise control activated.
Great insight, love that you don't have any clickbait!
Dr. Zetsch’s departure from Mercedes was the beginning of the end for Mercedes
Yep i always say this, ola kallenius is a dud just another corporate suit that'll return mercedes to the Chrysler era, everything for profit
@@chiefdenis i agree. Kallenius doesn’t care about anything but profits at this point. It’s a shame that such a motorsport dynasty is being chipped at piece by piece because of corporate greed.
Andy Cowell was the beginning of the end for Mercedes. He was the engine chief. Let’s not Forget Ros Brawn and Norbert Haug started this dynasty. It was a 4 year effort that helped next 6-7 years. Then Aldo Costa and then Dr. Zetsch’s. Slowly everyone started to leave.
Read Ross Brawn's book! ... Toto helped Edge him out of Mercedes!
I agree with some of your analysis but not all.
The reason Lewis only got a year guaranteed at Mercedes was not the parent company. It was that the team including Toto wanted the flexibility to put Kimi Antonelli in the seat in 2025. James Vowles confirmed that this week in a lecture to Oxford University students and Toto lost Max to Red Bull by refusing to put Max in F1. Right away and will not let that happen again with Antonelli.
Lewis did not get the Mercedes brand ambassadorship because of the resistance to it by the parent company. You are correct that the CEO Mr. Kallenius does not support the company’s involvement in Motorsport and opposed the company’s entry into the last Concorde Agreement. Sad because it was a slap in the face to a driver that did so much to increase the value of the brand.
Those two things drove Lewis into the open arms of Ferrari. Frankly he makes a better brand ambassador for Ferrari than Mercedes anyway. All the celebs love Ferrari and buy Ferrari and Lewis is ultra popular with celebs. Lewis is about glamour and fashion as well as fast driving and that fits Ferrari’s image more than Mercedes which is more about buttoned down quiet understated luxury.
I think the Lewis move is a win win for all. Mercedes now has a seat for Kimi Antonelli and Lewis fulfills a lifelong dream of racing as a Ferrari driver and representing the brand
Nice analysis!
Besides all that, losing top engineers to RB and the W13, 14, 15 suck. No pace, aero package worst than all other cars.
Lewis outmaneuvered Toto and Mercedes and they trying change the narrative that Lewis is washed up and they had to let him go. Mercedes is losing sponsors, Ferrari is adding sponsors now.
Lewis new salary $400 million, four years and ambassadorship. Plus $400 million donated to his foundation/ charity.
Ferrari stock is soaring, Mercedes stock is not. Ferrari merchandise sales will continue to climb. Fans will leave Mercedes because Lewis has been Mercedes. Ferrari will gain fans.
Ferrari will have a 7 time champion driver. Mercedes will not attract as many sponsors because they will not have a 7 time world champion.
At the end of the day. Ferrari made a smart business move. It’s a win/win for Team Ferrari and Lewis.
I can’t wait to see Lewis in that red car…
Even people who don’t watch f1 supports Lewis Hamilton and knows of him!!!
Merc treated their biggest financial (advertising and marketing) asset like shit and lost him.
Good.
I hate how they treated him in 2023 especially.
I’m sad but this is a chance for 8th WDC and a resurgence for Ferrari. 💪
Maybe cry a little harder. You hating how he gots treated while he made at least 100 times as much money as you do. Leclerc would also nico rosberg hamilton back in his place.
Think mercedes would like to have a better racer who can actually beat verstappen than having a useless marketing asset knowing teams are capped in money anyway and its not like they come short without hamilton...
pffff fanboy logic
@@zengerzPFFF get lost
@@zengerzTou clearly are not a bright person.
@@p51424 would be sad for you since i got at least twice the brain capacity you have 😉
@@zengerz Fanboy logic is better than the no logic you seem to have
Shows what Lewis is Worth it dude brought so much fans to f1 and f1 without Lewis is not the same sport ! To me and probably a lot of others
Excellent points, I feel the biggest contributing factor was when Mercedes decided "Not" to develop the 2021 car in favor of focusing on development of the 2022 car whereas Red Bull did and were able to match Mercedes pace for the 2021 season. It likely would have been a slam dunk for Lewis to win his 8th World Title cementing him as the GOAT. I'm sure it was very disappointing for Lewis. That the team would not prioritize him in his effort to achieve this milestone after all of his commitment and hard work to excellence his entire career.
I stumbled on this video and really glad that i did.
Very spot-on analysis. 🎉
Thanks for your knowledge.
I strongly believe Lewis
/Ferrari will win massively from the beginning.
Ofcourse Hamilton will be the Superman he will take the Ferrari under his arm and fly with it 😂
This was a good deep dive. Your work is appreciated.
Good Job. Just to add Mercedes and Toto gave up on the 2021 robbery of Hamiltons 8th championship appeal. I believe Toto wants to be the head of F1 and didn't want to ruffle feathers because of his personal desire.
Totally agree with you! Mercedes dropped the ball big time n let fia/f1/jean todt off the hook!
Couldn't have said it better myself 🤞🏾
Bottas’ antics made it close.
It shouldn’t have been
Daaaamn that's a good breakdown 👌 haven't heard something like this in a while
Just look at Ferrari’s stock price since the announcement of signing Hamilton, that in and of itself is a massive W.
pretty spot on analysis. I do also think that Lewis waited until he was able to judge the 2023 car developments and W15 late enough in its development to see whether or not he felt Mercedes would improve for 2024. This is why HE negotiated the +1 contract option - so he could get out of Mercedes for 2024 and take up a Ferrari option for 2025/6/7.
This has been a tactical masterpiece from Lewis - he's devalued the Mercedes AMG F1 team, the Mercedes brand, made a bucket load of money and probably secured a deal with a team that will unequivocally have a better car in 2024/5/6. Plus, if there has been any hint of a falling out with Toto (or Lewis has felt that Toto no longer values him the same anymore), this financially screws Toto with a team devaluation. It's a big FU to Mercedes.
Mercedes are going to regret ditching Hamilton.
Trusting to his instincts has proved successful.
He's going to find that the Ferrari 'tifosi' love him.
Ferrari know a good deal when it's ready to pluck😊
Thank you for this video. Lewis really made Mercedes well known and they don’t even appreciate him enough
Great video! I love the information but in a relaxed atmosphere and as an American watching F1 videos with no accent is a welcomed surprise
Clearly you're passionate about F1 one and I praise your enthusiasm. However, your boy James Allison wanted to design sail boats for INEOS after the masterpiece 2020 W11 was built, so the position on CTO was created to keep him satisfied. The regulation change was supposed to happen in 2021 but because of COVID-19 they were pushed to 2022. However, to spice things up F1 changed the floor edge regulations to pin back Mercedes. Mercedes didn't adjust well to the 2021 changes and waited until the second half of the season to fix its flaws. With the extra year before the aerodynamic change the engineers outsmarted themselves and dropped the ball massively. You are very correct, that the engineers didn't listen to Lewis, after he took it upon himself as the team leader to improve the car at the expense of his own legacy and racing, and people somehow believed that Russell as better driver and was getting preferential treatment from the team. I've been upset since 2021 when Allison was allowed to design boats right before the biggest Aero regulation change in F1 history. Mercedes like McLaren took Lewis for granted and mismanaged things for too many years. The budget cap and egos have led to this outcome.
Yep, then Allison came back and dumped on Lewis complaints of the 22 car. I don’t think he was intentionally malicious but his answer to a question posed about what he thought about Lewis complaining about the side pod did not translate favorably to Lewis.
Mercedes did'nt really fix the issue half way through the season, the solution they found was a way to run the engine at higher level, they used Bottas as the guinea pig.
It was just that simple.
And they were satisfied taking engine penalties to start at the back when they knew they had a rocket engine.
Fucking hilarious.
Red Bull definitely had the aero advantage. Merc just had the better engine.
yeah he really didn't. The cost cap meant that James Allison as one of the highest paid staff members at Mercedes had to be moved on. So they moved him & a load of engineers on to the ineos boats bullshit. basically allowing Mercedes to keep the staff incase the people they picked on lower salaries fucked up. The even got rid of some of Lewis's most trusted staff. They let his no1 mechanic go to ferrari, the let Loic serra leave for ferrari who was close to Hamilton. Basically they started forcing the staff close to lewis out
@ckr5694 funny Allison said lewis was wrong about lewis saying the cockpit to far forward was wrong..... and surprise, surprise the W15 has moved the seat postion back. Almost like lewis was right all along.
@@ads2686 yea but then it doesn't matter much rn
Lewis Hamilton has as many followers as the next three F1 drivers combined together on instagram alone. As good as Max is, he is nowhere as big of a marketing machine/brand as LH. Mercedes really fumbled the bag with this one and Ferrari got themselves a legend on par if not better than Michael Schumacher who started this Mercedes team.
Lewis main reason for leaving Mercedes is because he felt the engineers weren’t listening to his feedback anymore!! He sacrificed 2022 season trying to help the team recover by agreeing to put sensors all over his car, during practice and races once it became apparent that the car wasn’t fast enough!
In 2023 preseason, Lewis was dismayed to discover that most of the feedback he gave the engineers in 2022 season was largely ignored because they felt it would affect Russell driving style. After testing, he said the only positive thing about the 2023 car was that the bouncing had stopped!
For the first in his F1 career he started criticising the engineers publicly that he wasn’t been listening to. This led to his mechanics not coming out to support him when he was on the podium in one of the races. This shocked him!
Rumour started that he was talking to Ferrari whiles in negotiations with Toto.
I had no idea how deplorable Mercedes is to Sir Lewis. Especially the current CEO. How many Mercedes automobiles have been purchased as a direct result of him.
This is my first, and hopefully only time I need to throw the colour card out there. What else could it possibly be? 🤷🏻♂️
If you asked him, im sure he'll just laugh it off and tell you it was business BUT in reality if the man named Lewis Hamilton was a blue eyed, white skinned guy, this would have been handled differently.
@@jkbzzexactly! Watch how they make George a Mercedes ambassador 🥴
Yeah it couldn't possibly be his vocal woke politics could it.
Lewis , personal issues considered, is an aspirational ikon for youngsters wanting to progress in any motorsport field. Ferrari was probably always his dream and so here we go. Let’s hope it isn’t a disappointment for him……AND us!!!
Great Video ... Keep the Good Work ... Shout out from South Africa 🇿🇦
Why does this video clear up the question of "why" more than any other source !?
Good video..the only guy on youtube I could find who actually threads the history into a cohesive report
1:38 you probably it was the first time that two cars had the same MERCEDES power unit, as in 2008 there were various teams sharing the same engine (Ferrari, Honda, Toyota,…)
Yes that’s what I meant I just didn’t say it super clearly 😂
Once it’s confirmed Newey is wearing red it’s over for RB.
Keep dreamimg😂😂😂
You never know
@@barongasher4385it happened to williams in the 1990s when adrian moved to mclaren, no team is to big to fail.
Mercedes hasn’t understood that is Mercedes needing Hamilton and not the other way round
whahahahahahaaha mercedes need a racer who can beat verstappen, not a marketing dummy
@@zengerz Mercedes before having a racer need to have a car. With the car they have now even verstappen wouldn’t win a race.
@@ciao0301
Still he would do better than diva Hamilton with less as he has proven this before.
Mercedes might as well take Rosberg since he beat Hamilton.
Mercedes before had a car with a superior engine which was miles ahead. When the cars are close Verstappen is good enough to put Hamilton in place regarding race skill.
Why would Mercedes even think they need Hamilton knowing their superior engine is what gave him so many championships. History has proven Hamilton needed this engine more than Mercedes needed him regarding performance. Lulu is a good driver but not on the same level as a Senna, Schumacher, Verstappen etc. Every other good driver would have reached the same amount of championships in that car.
@@zengerzWhatever
@@ciao0301 there so many more facts and details regarding this 😄
For many who were looking at what really was behind the SLH decision, this upload is really informative.
The disrespect shown to Sir Lewis by merc was jawdropping. I'm so looking forward to joining the Tifosi in 2025!!
Now that i know about this, happy for Lewis. It’s gonna suck driving at Ferrari but the money is gooood
Toto's has had 2 horrible years under his stewardship. Crap car zero pod car design, not courting Lando Norris and getting George Russell, years of poor pit crews, and losing Hamilton to Ferrari. His leadership should be more in question.
That team will never be the same again
Mark my words!
You may win with James but that team will never be the same again
My friend thank you, I finally understand. I'm so torn on wearing Red. Oh... you've gained a subscriber.
Wow Mercedes really? Anyway I’m loving the fact my 2 favorite drivers are on the same team now as in Ferrari and that Lewis is deservingly happy.
Your analysis is way better than bigger channels. good job 👍
Don’t let Ferrari’s generous offer for you. Ferrari is extremely pragmatic. If Lewis doesn’t perform, they will dump him like they did Kimi, Sebastian and Carlos Sainz Jr.
True. It could be a very unceremonious ending to a glittering career.
Its a 2+1 contract. That gives him 2 years to perform.
Ferrari also need to hold up their end of the bargain by providing him
In my opinion, Sir Lewis Hamilton is F1. No other driver brings the same value, the celebrity status, the fans, the co-sponsors to F1 more than Lewis. The last time that I saw the viewership data, it had dropped significantly with the FIA self-appointing Verstappen as the face of the sport. Personally, I'm still confused as to how he is considered a champion after an obvious human error in 2021 and Redbull overspending the cost cap in 2022 and 2023. Can you be a champion and a cheater? Anyway, the majority of fans don't seem to think so. Love Sir Lewis and looking forward to his Ferrari days!!!
Great video, felt pretty unbiased and informative!
One thought I have is that Fred Vasseur is probably the best thing that has happened to Ferrari in a while. I heard that he's pursing Newey aswell so we might see a return to glory for Ferrari and a less depressed Tifosi. Just sad that Sainz had to be axed but I'm sure he'll find a seat
Quality content
You should have way more followers
That's quite an interesting perspective and one that I haven't heard anywhere else in F1 circles. I haven't done my own research as to why Lewis made that decision, but a few things have been clear since the last couple of seasons. Lewis has repeatedly alluded to the team not trusting his judgement regarding the car's development. That's not so surprising considering many still view him, even within the Mercedes camp, as the talented 7x champion who is technically illiterate.
I also believe James Allison's departure dealt a swift blow to the team, one they haven't quite recovered from.
It’s my 1st here on your page great video, and am here to stay, you just gain a new subscriber
Good Job on this video, everything you said makes sense. I am a real estate guy but been a F1 fan since I was a kid. Maybe we can do a podcast swap one day. Cheers!
Great assessment! It was baffling how they just fell out of contention practically overnight.
when you talk about f1 the 1st person you think of is the 7 times( lets be honest should be 8) times world champion lewis hamilton
take out: NEVER EVER employ a person who LACKS PASSION for the work you do...
...Employ only a person who is passionate for what you guys are doing in that company.
You'll drown like Mercedes Benz.
The moment Toto decided to ignore the teams advice & recruited the team's Albatross ( GR), he made a major 'Budweiser' type management mistake. Over the last two years, as a result of the teams 'Albatross' recruitment, the team unity has been destroyed, resulting in the team hemorrhaging their best engineering minds & now LH.
Toto can unite & resurrect the Mercedes team competitiveness by dumping the teams 'Albatross' (GR). asap ..... or sell the team to someone has an interest in restoring the Mercedes pride & reputation.
An Albatross in golf is 3 under par for a hole. Anyone hopes for an Albatross. You statement is confusing.
I agree with you 💯 should’ve never got rid of Valtteri Bottas he had a lot more experience than George Russell. Toto got complacent with the team success. One of the biggest things that stuck in my throat was when some of the Sky pundits, and we all know who they are! Kept asking him when are you going to sign George Russell, simply because Russell was English. George Russell is not ready to lead that team.
The facts speaks for themselves.
@@RebelRanger2009 In historic terms, early mariners firmly believed that sighting an Albatross is one of the worst omens possible as it signaled extreme bad luck....... Just like Mercedes has been experiencing since GR joined the team.
As for the 'Golf' reference, we have never heard of an Albatross reference being used in that way.
@@RebelRanger2009 Just checked your reference on google and was surprised to see game of 'Golf' uses that term as you described. Thanks for the interesting fact clarification.
@@RebelRanger2009 Our understanding of someone being an 'Albatross' is that they bring bad luck to what ever task that they are involved in.
Illuminating. Mercedes will regret it for a very long time
This entertains me way more than DTS.
Well done lad. I’m subscribing to support your channel.
Great facts in analysis. Much appreciated. I figured part of it was due to them not listening to his input on car improvement but I knew they had to be something more to it than just that.
Hamilton did the right thing. If the new CEO wants to pull the plug on MB F1 team he needs to get removed from that position ASAP
If you get the wrong person at the top to run the company it’s like lightning fast to screw it all up. I mean look at the overall reliability score of Mercedes-Benz. It’s all down in the stinkin’ mud!! It’s a big SHAME for the most prestigious vehicle maker to become this way.
Fascinating to see where hard-core Merc fans land from here .. with their team or with their driver?
Great breakdown - especially the history and background stuff. You missed a subtle piece… and a huge piece, though. Ineos used the fact that Allison had moved up into a broader role as an excuse to focus him on aerodynamic development for the Ineos Britannia America’s Cup sailing program. Ineos, for their 1/3 wasn’t innocent in the whole thing. Further, Toto wasn’t either. The big missing piece was the push to push out Bottas and insert Russell as the “second coming of Michael Schumacher” because Ecclestone, Masi, Marko et al didn’t want to see Sir Lewis eclipse their hero. Zero consideration was given to the reigning Champ in terms of teammate preferences (as it was to Verstappen from the day he walked in the RB door). The triumvirate of ownership was all at fault. I hope Lewis wins 8, 9, and 10 swathed in Rossi Corsa.
This was very informative. Very good job. It’s always the details
Excellent analysis and information. Love how structured the timeline was.
Lewis was not valued for his dedication to Mercedes, they showed no gratitude to Lewis in no way worst they refused to pay him the money he deserved and listening to him as other teams treated their star drivers.
I am on season 3 of the Netflix series. I am new to F1 and I am enjoying it. Sounds amazing in my home theather setup as well.
Mercedes actually offered Hamilton a one year contract initially. That's just disrespectful.
Its really like WTF!!!
Brilliant! Makes sense now.
Great video! One question remains: why Mercedes is less and less interested in their own F-1 series?!
He obviously didn’t like George at all. No team mate would.
Don’t forget, he also has history with Fred from his F3 & GP2 days
Looks like Merc has made a problem where there was none
This video is clearly well thought out and I have learned a lot. Nothing to disagree with at all. Another smart move by LH44
You summed it up beautifully...
Thank you!
Awesome video, thanks for the info. Had been wondering about this for months
Fun fact…Ferrari’s stock share skyrocketed when Lewis announced his move…and that total stock price increase is literally the same or more than what they offered Lewis so technically, they haven’t lost much signing Lewis
The stock price rose by billions, not millions, bro.
Your analysis is bang on point.
7 drivers championships
8 constructors titles.
Not 6 and 7
6 and 8 nico won 1 wich makes 7 and 8 in total but lewis 6 and 8
Lewis is tied with Schumacher with 7 titles apiece .
Get your facts straight
In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Michael Schumacher), and holds the records for the most wins (103), pole positions (104), and podium finishes (197), among others.
Anything else?!
@@michaelwilliams2782 hes talking about the mercedes era he won 6 there and 8 constructors that are the straight facts
After the TEAM came into to support him at the podium....he was done....I was too
And what confuse me is this new CEO wasn’t he the guy that was head of AMG ? How was he head of AMG and not into Motorsports at all that makes no sense to me what so ever.
You are spot on to mention his request to be a Merc Brand Ambassador. Although he has asked for that in multiple contract renewals. (Easily looked up). Sir Lewis through his entire F1 Career has only driven Merc Engines (McLaren and Mercedes) 103 race wins (2nd and 3rd positions included?) & 7 World championships 6 Mercedes (+1 McLaren) and they couldn't straight up put that in a contract themselves?
He has tattooed on his hand 'Loyalty' for a reason.
Thank you for that info and the clarity, I appreciate it👍🏾
I’m glad I watched this , thanks for that breakdown
Quality content 👍
Mercedes lost Lewis.
Lewis lost Mercedes.
Two way street.
But Lewis get Ferrari ❤
They didn't "lose" him. He was discreetly fired due to poor performance.
Really? You must've been there.
@@a.m.armstrong8354 Yes. One win in three years.
The driving force of Mercedes wasn't the power unit. It was Niki Lauda.
That's the only thing that's terrible about formula. One racing like you said, Hamilton was trying to tell Mercedes what to do with the car and they would not listen to him. And that's because Formula 1 racing is all about the people who put the money into racing. It's not about the drivers, it's about the car. It's about the sponsors
Just FYI, two weeks after Ferrari's announcement, their shares went up 25%, so about $1B+, paying for Hamilton's entire 3-year deal, and Mercedes lost Tommy Hilfiger's sponsorship. That's how much he brings to the team.
Re the car comments, yes it was good and perhaps Lewis had a large part to play in that. RB had Adrian Newley to thank for its dominance and (though I hate to admit it) a young fiery driver. Remember verstappens early record of regularly stuffing his car.
100% spot on. Great video. Clear and concise!
Nikki Lauda passing away didn't help either
Toto knew what he was doing. Was always going to ask lewis to leave after a year to give Kimithe seat
Its actually Diamler (Mercedes Benz parent company) who owns 33% of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team...along with Toto Wolff & Jim Ratcliffe (INEOS)
He's going to win there.
Correction. Ferrari offered $100 million pounds over 2 years........ not per year.
It's per year my friend
How do you know that??? Has it been confirmed by both sides??? 🙃
It s per year
@@jonpetter8921 Take 5 mins to check the facts. It is definitely $100 million for 2 years. Not $200 million for 2 years.
@@eliasbergsteigerausschwarz3654 Apparently we were wrong as Google agrees with you.
LH is a very lucky man to be given a lucrative contract like that as he is definitely not worth it.
The reason: Merc want Kimi Antonelli for 2026 to partner George, this is no secret.
As such they only offered Lewis 2 years, Lewis wanted to stay in F1 for longer, so forced the 1+1 option, that way he can go to Ferrari and extend his career.
Pretty simple really, if Merc had offered him 4 years for example of course he’d have stayed.
toto is wild. dont know how i feel about him anymore
This may be another genius move. The future of RedBull has some doubts with the death of Dietrich Mateschitz as well as internal conflict. Merc are showing signs of lack of corporate support and have been hemorrhaging technical staff to other teams . Ferrari is the only mega team that's all in.
Great cover, thanks for the info
Great analysis, loved it!!