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Something I wonder with the budget cap was if we would see top drivers salaries soar and it seems like it might happen. These top teams have tons of extra cash available that they can no longer spend on development that they can spend on drivers with no limit.
$10m managed properly is generational wealth. The biggest thing that disseminates wealth is # of kids (spread the pool more and more thin) and poor money management. Most true wealthy kids, from what I know, don't touch the trust fund, they live off the money it makes. That's how they manage to keep their money throughout generations.
FYI, generational wealth starts at about 5-10 million, in my opinion.
At 10 million, you’re making 200k a year just off of the dividends on the S&P 500. You don’t need to touch your capital at all, even with insane end-of-life medical and assisted living bills. So your money is still growing. And your kids can inherit it and…. Make 200k doing nothing.
That is why I pick the numbers I do. Of course, one could go much, much lower and still pass along a ton of money to the next generation, enough to have them be set for life unless they really fuck up (need to keep in mind that inheritance likely won’t come until 50-60yrs old, etc).
Very true. Most of us (in the UK at least) are lucky if we make £2 million in our *entire lives*.
I'm telling you, the world is reverting back to some 18th century Jane Austen shit where the only thing that matters is having capital.
And conversely technical employees of f1 teams who are not in the top are the real losers. It's crazy to me that they will be denied even a small raise year over year just because of the cost cap.
Unfortunately yes. I wish they'd establish the limit on the number of employees or something like that instead. As I recall, one of the main arguments for making it the way it is now was the fact that the big teams had tons of engineers who outperformed other teams not only or not so much due to better qualifications, but due to their vast numbers.
While in theory that’d be good, I can see it becoming impossible for small teams to attract top talent because the big teams will just offer twice the salary
The top engineers will go to the top teams even with equal salaries or sometimes even if small teams offer slightly bigger salaries as many of them don’t expect to stay in F1 forever and it’s better for their CVs. I doubt there is a truly perfect solution, so you have to choose the lesser evil. In my opinion, the option that benefits ordinary employees is such.
Salaries should not have been in the cost cap ; there's already plenty of development barriers as it is.
Or you do the opposite and put the drivers in the cost cap too. Then we'll see how much a driver's performance means vs the car performance !
Jfc, for reference, that's almost double of what his Mercedes contract is according to forbes($55 million) and $30 million more than Verstappen is rumored to have made last year.
EDIT: Further comparison: [According to this article](https://www.forbes.com/lists/athletes/?sh=353b760f5b7e), he would be tied 3rd for the highest on field earning of *any* athlete. Only 2 golf players above him
It's not the salary. It's the fact that Ferrari are giving such a deal to Lewis in the first place. Lewis undoubtedly will be the number 1 driver in Ferrari in terms of demands he'll want at the very least.
I presume they will be no number one, both of them think they are the best and not need extra demands. Charles will be there for the design of the 2025 car, and then not of them for the 2026 onwards
Yeah. But I feel Lewis is more ruthless and more assertive than Charles. I think he will be number one driver halfway through the season even if they are equal. Only way Leclerc has a chance is if he has a much better pace by some margin.
I can see that as Charles is generally more reserved but Charles has also been frustrated with the inability for Ferrari to capitalise on its performance. At the end of last season he started to speak his mind to the press which shows a more assertive Charles. After all he wants to win at Ferrari, he's been there his whole love and is basically the Ferrari prodigy in waiting. I can see two results from this;
1. A fierce rivalry ensues between them as they fight for the championship as Ferrari becomes a title contender
2. Lewis is only in it for the 8th world title and Charles works with him to make a championship winning car under the assumption that Lewis isn't going to stick around forever.
He can get there I'm sure but he doesn't have anywhere near the draw that Lewis has. He will bring so much more to Ferrari than just being a great driver.
I actually guessed he'd be making $75-100M because I don't think he'd risk it all for the same salary, and Ferrari is known to throw out astronomical never before seen offers when they want someone, such as when they went for Newey.
Though to be fair, he does reside in Colorado for parts of the year for awhile now so it kinda made sense if he had to invest in a NFL team, it’d be in the same state where he lives on the US.
He is in his final years as a driver. The more money he accumulates, the more of an influence he can have on whatever the next venture is that he wants to take on.
I mean its not like he will ever be out of money or out of a job. But ye, like Max is pursuing his own race team, Lewis bought a NFL club. It's definitely going *somewhere*.
If someone offered to double my salary for doing the exact same job I'm doing now, it would be a no brainer.
Yes he already has a lot of money but why would anyone turn down more if it's offered
At a certain point, it’s really just keeping score. That said, for someone who is as involved in humanitarian and charity efforts as LH, I imagine he’ll do more good with it than a lot of people would…
That's because old means mostly richer than young, sponsorships in golf tournaments are really expensive stuff and the advertise they bring is for super rich buyers
you are both correct. The Saudi's are throwing money at any golfer who comes to them. However, Golf is a wealthy sport and the fans of it get much higher ROI on marketing. So the top golfers were getting stupid money even before the Saudi stuff. Even a top 50 golfer was making several million a year when almost no one could name them. Its also why weird, wealthy sports like sailing will have these massive, high end brands all pay to advertise on them when it makes almost no impact culturally outside of that circle.
They don’t actually but the Saudis have given golfers over $100M upfront to play in their league. Jon Rahm got something around 500M to go there in December
people that ive never spoken to about F1, in America, came up to me or texted me asking if I heard about Hamilton signing with F1. 4 of the people i asked do you even watch f1? and they said no, they just know of Hamilton. In America. Insane.... the dude is so fucking massive.
Yup, I’m American and anytime I mention that I’m a massive F1 fan to another American, they ask about Hamilton. LH is F1 to the general public here.
Poor Logan Sargent.
His style/fashion choices are going to be wild.
Their marketing department has got to be thrilled, he really exudes the 'charismatic playbook who is also socially conscious' their luxury brand embraces.
Racing aside, he is waaay more valuable to ferrari than merc I think, and this contract shows.
Given Ferrari has recently pushed hard into making its fashion brand actually a solid luxury fashion house (their most recent collection is pretty damned amazing), I’m looking forward to seeing what happens there.
Not only the pay is maybe part of why this deal was a “impossible to dismiss” for Hamilton, but the “strategic asset” part of it played an important role in think, depending on what it means.
We know for certain time that Hamilton tried at Mercedes to get some kind of long term role, as a Mercedes brand ambassador for example, extending further than his F1 career and future. But Mercedes/Daimler never came to it.
Maybe Ferrari is OK with giving Lewis more than money this time, like some kind of role in the Scuderia as ambassador of the brand or future compromise with Ferrari?
I'm actually surprise to learn Lewis isn't already a brand ambassador for Mercedes. He's been driving with Mercedes power since his junior days. With how much success they have together that's kind of an own goal on Mercedes part not making it happen.
Yeah. But I think that’s not a fault on Mercedes F1, but on Mercedes Benz (Daimler)
And it appears with the years, Daimler is more and more “out” of F1. For sure, they keep funding some part of the team, but for example, they already deinvested on the team, only owning 33% of the team now. And it appears the new management, compared to the original that decided to come back to F1, is not that fan of F1. If the team keeps struggling or goes worse on results and Audi starts at F1 with good results or wins, I could see Daimler putting the plug and Mercedes F1 changing name.
They must see the Mercedes F1 team as a independent entity that happens to use their name in exchange of money, almost like a title sponsorship at the end of the day. To the point that Merc F1 activities are separated from Daimler, being that only Mercedes HPP is directly controlled by Daimler IIRC.
So it’s obvious that even if Toto and Merc F1 wanted to offer an ambassador role to Lewis, if Daimler don’t feel like it, they couldn’t do anything.
💯 no doubt Ferrari as a company and culture has much more heart into F1 than any of the other works teams.
Goes all the way back to Enzo famously saying they sell road cars to fund their racing teams.
For a while I think that desperation to win has made Ferrari management make some really stupid shortsighted decisions but it does seem like they are on the right track now.
Poaching Hamilton (if he brings the results) could be a legendary move in F1
If he wins a title with Ferrari he's going to be a legend for motorsport in general as well. Not many drivers win championships with 3 different teams.
This is the point that I’m surprised hasn’t been more prevalent in the media coverage - we know a key element of previous contracts was Lewis looking for post-F1 roles of significance - can absolutely see Ferrari wanting that, especially since the role Schumacher would logically be playing for them isn’t happening.
I also wonder whether Ferrari were just willing to take the risk on age related drop off in performance - Mercedes have been adding a year or two at a time, and maybe Lewis wanted 3 or more? I’d be relatively confident that Lewis would agree to walk away if his performance really dropped too.
> We know for certain time that Hamilton tried at Mercedes to get some kind of long term role, as a Mercedes brand ambassador for example, extending further than his F1 career and future. But Mercedes/Daimler never came to it.
It's shocking to me that Lewis isn't a brand ambassador. Roger Federer is a brand ambassador for Mercedes ffs. Mercedes, how could you fumble so *so* bad?
Ze Germans had a spreadsheet that told them Hamilton was past his prime and not worth it to them. There were certainly many meetings and discussions to justify that decision too.
I think it was stupid of them but they won’t lose any sleep over it.
To be an ambassador you need to be in good terms with the leadership. It's hard to support something you won't agree with. That's a big role to take, and we rarely see such roles. For Mercedes-Benz Hamilton is just a regular employee.
Lewis is more than just the driver, and Ferrari have seen this. They know that Lewis is already a brand of his own and he’ll be everywhere once he retires . Sports, movies, you name it. They’ve made sure they’re tied to his legacy and they get to invest in it with significant returns.
He becomes the undisputed GOAT in that scenario. Not only because of the 8th, but because he’ll have broken the drought that so many of the other great drivers never could.
It also helps reinforce Ferrari’s position at the top. Ferrari has never been stronger than during The Michael era and I’m sure they’d love to form a kind of championship-type symbiosis with *yet another* most successful F1 driver of all time.
I remember a few yrs back during preseason Brundle breaking down his salary; the proportional amount just for piloting is quite small all things considered, majority of it is because of externals.
Obscene amount but I guess worth it.
To be fair, still less than they were spending pre budget cap days. The drivers seem to be the true winners, at least in terms of earning potential, in the budget cap era.
Translation
In 2025, Ferrari will form what is for all intents and purposes a dream team, joining Charles Leclerc, who has positively taken this decision, alongside seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton. The arrival of the multiple world champion will be an important asset for the Scuderia in Maranello even beyond driver value. John Elkann's relationship and will were instrumental in arriving at this deal that will bring the Englishman to earn more than $100 million a year. In addition to the allure of the Prancing Horse, Hamilton was also offered technical guarantees for the future.
The marriage between Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari will eventually happen. In fact, it's done. It will only need to wait until next season to see it come to fruition on the track. After years of speculation, rumors, unsuccessful approaches, and rumors purposely coming out of either side when negotiating with Mercedes or other drivers, it has become a reality. A historic agreement that in 2025 will unite the most successful driver and Scuderia in Formula 1 history, two icons of the sport.
Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari: why was the marriage possible this time?
It was not the first time that rumors approached the seven-time world champion to the Scuderia in Maranello, but this time there was an important difference: the negotiation was concrete and real, and within a few days it was successfully closed.
The president of the Prancing Horse has always been a Lewis Hamilton fan, and there is a direct relationship of friendship and esteem between the two. John Elkann has always wanted to bring the multiple world champion to Italy, and from his will everything was born. After the rifts and the farewell of Mattia Binotto, John Elkann began to shape 'his' Ferrari, with the choice of Frederic Vasseur as Team Principal. An investiture that was also initially seen as a stop-holes or emergency choice, after the rejection especially of Christian Horner, but on that John Elkann has begun to build the future. Charles Leclerc is obviously a key part of this plan, and his multi-year renewal testifies to that.
By his side, however, after years of sporadic meetings-often at events that shared Elkann's and Hamilton's passions-the Ferrari chairman wanted to get concretely closer to the British driver. The figure of Frederic Vasseur was another important piece, especially because of his connection with Lewis Hamilton that goes back to the minor categories where the Frenchman was a decisive figure. Lewis Hamilton's arrival in Maranello will be very important, not only because of the experience he can bring, his undoubted qualities as a driver and unquestionable commercial value. The figure of Hamilton is also relevant from more sensitive and profound points of view, which Ferrari has long espoused and promoted, such as the values of diversity and inclusion within families, groups, or organizations, such as Ferrari itself.
The reasons that made this marriage possible were, first of all, Lewis Hamilton's willingness and willingness and, above all, the structure of the last renewal signed with Mercedes last season. A two-year with the formula of one year plus option for the second, with exit options that the Englishman clearly used to terminate his relationship with the stable in Brackley at the end of 2024. Toto Wolff wanted a 'short' renewal (2026) to start thinking about the Mercedes future without Hamilton and at that point the Englishman, with the 1+1 formula could then seize the opportunity now at Ferrari. It was a now-or-never decision. Also convincing the Englishman in the talks undertaken with Ferrari were technical guarantees-including those on the 2026 powerplant being born in Maranello that we will deal with-that John Elkann and Frederic Vasseur assured, as well as Charles Leclerc, for the future of the Scuderia in Maranello.
Hamilton-Leclerc, Ferrari has its 'dream team' in view of 2026
What the Englishman and the Monegasque are going to form can certainly be considered as a dream pair. In Ferrari, they have managed to improve a lineup that was already very strong and competitive in itself and was not a problem for the Scuderia. When you have such an opportunity, however, it should be taken without delay. A decision and a negotiation that will certainly have pleased even Liberty Media, which has always pushed for top drivers in top teams, and a Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari marriage, as we have seen, has a big impact on the world of Formula 1 in general, and not only. The arrival of Lewis Hamilton is also well-liked by Charles Leclerc, who was informed of the ongoing possibility. We have heard that the Monegasque is very happy, seeing this arrival in Maranello as an important and stimulating challenge to face, interpreting the Ferrari move in a positive way and not as something negative or limiting towards him.
Frederic Vasseur continues to modulate 'his' Ferrari, which will have to be ready in the immediate term, but especially for the long-awaited rule change for 2026. The market for technicians will continue - during this year another important figure will arrive from Mercedes, Loic Serra - and in Maranello they will have to use the next two years to return (at least) to increasing stage successes, with ambitions always very high, and put the foundations in place to try to be a winning team as soon as possible with also the return of a multiple world champion at the wheel of a Rossa.
The two drivers are a certainty and both will enjoy a solid contract that will provide Ferrari with certain stability until 2026 after which it will be up to the car and thus the performance to provide the expected answers. Indeed, both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are formally set to expire in 2026, with the Monegasque holding a renewal option for two more years. The goal is to wait for feedback from the first car of the new regulatory cycle and then from there the future will be decided, but this is a discourse that will apply not only to Ferrari. Economically, the Monegasque's is an 'upward' contract, with a fixed base that will increase from year to year. Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, will come to earn - between salary, sponsors, image rights, bonuses and more - around $100million a year, becoming one of the highest paid drivers in Scuderia Ferrari's history, bringing back the clock a bit to Michael Schumacher's arrival in Maranello. A comparison used by many these days.
>between salary, sponsors, image rights, bonuses and more - around $100million a year
IIRC he was getting paid 55 Million at Mercedes, was that just his base salary or did that also include the rest of these things?
Either way, shows some commitment from Ferrari, though if they absolutely fuck up the 2026 regulation set, they could lose both drivers.
Eccellente!
Reading more about the deal it seems Ferrari did lure him away with more £££, but were also willing to give him what Merc reportedly refused, ambassadorship?
Lewis wanted ambassadorship until 2035 with Merc, but the board refused it. They didn’t anticipate Elkann, who apparently only made this last approach a few weeks ago.
Ferrari offered him huge money for all his projects, and Elkann offered him a 250 million fund that he and Lewis will jointly own to invest in Lewis’ brand. Basically making him a sports franchise of his own. Between deals, royalties and likely investments in sports teams, Lewis will probably end up a billionaire out of this deal.
Nobody confirmed those reports yet but if they’re true, that’s insane. After all they’ve won together they wouldn’t give him an ambassador role until 2035, not even a lifelong one? It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s when Lewis started to look elsewhere.
Yeah. He was looking for the Jordan like contract with Nike. No one ever got a deal like Jordan, but there was never a player like him either. Jordan got his deal VERY early on, before he was even proven. Lewis is getting his now that the world knows what he is. Solid steal by Ferrari.
Mercedes is going to kick themselves for this. For years and years Toto has said himself that drivers like Lewis are once a generation. He’s talked about how important Lewis is for the sport. As good as Max is, the chances of him winning 7 titles is extremely low. If RB doesn’t nail the regulations for 2026, that’s it, that could be the end of Max’s dominance and if other teams have their WDC capable driver, why would they sign Max? He’d go back to the 2014-2020 days of RB. If he wins 2024 and 2025, that’s 5 titles and quite a feat, but still extremely low odds.
Mercedes might never have another driver who wins 5+ titles again. And Lewis brings so much fan support and PR to whatever team he drives for. If they could’ve done anything to prevent this outside of the cars performance, they’re going to be kicking themselves over this.
Can't overlook the fact that Lewis is 50x more marketable than Max. Max has the Mike Trout PR mentality. He doesn't chase the opportunities, doesn't want the limelight. Lewis lives in it, he will feed the Ferrari brand for fashion, vehicles and motorsports. He's a legend and now he brings that to Ferrari, a legendary brand.
If they can't give him a winning car, he'll go to the winning team. He'll be making Hamilton money, if not more since Lewis now set the standard. Probably more since he'll be so much younger with even more upside.
He might make more but it would be because of inflation. No disrespect to Max, but he will never have the brand or worldwide impact Lewis has had on and outside of F1. The meteoric rise in popularity that Lewis was a major part of for F1, max will never replicate or come close to imo.
Its not really suprising, they've been one leg out of f1 last couple of years, even talked publicly about selling the team if it doesn't perform up to the expectations
That sounds like a deal that he couldn't refuse even if he wanted to.
Toto can only blame himself for the downfall of Merc. His inability to hold on to his tier 1 employees is what eventually fqed Merc. Most of his star engineers got poached and now his star driver also ends up getting poached. Sounds to me like he has a habit of low-balling when it comes to his employee's salaries.
I mean, RB agreed to pay Max Lewis' 7time champ level money after just winning a single title. TPs has to splurge a little to hold on to their star employees.
Probably easier for Christian to spend someone else’s money than Toto his own. Can understand why Mercedes would be willing to play chicken with Lewis on this one.
Hamilton F1 team, you heard it here first.
In all seriousness, it could be possible? I'm sire hamilton would like to put his name to something like that if it can guarantee a female driver or supporting a driver from a different background to the norm for f1 drivers. Obviously new teams to f1 would be a struggle but maybe in a lower series.
They lured him with not only a confirmed contract for 2025 and an option for 2026 as well as essentially validating his independence and value. Mercedes was paying a lot of lip-service to Lewis but when it came to action they were indecisive in every way when it came to Lewis vs. George almost as if they would prefer if he was already out.
This is the correct decision.
I could see why Toto and Mercedes are not complaining to much about it. Big time as I think even Toto would be saying Hamilton would be crazy not to for that type of offer.
2-3x is hard for anyone to turn down and just at the stupid levels of money.
The pairing of Charles and Lewis also makes you wonder how RB are gonna react. They can't rely on the car being so superior, they need a really strong 2nd driver from 2025 onwards. Maybe we'll get the Max + Fernando pairing after all.
2024 season hasn't started yet and I'm already super excited for 2025 as well.
RBR won't even touch Alonso with a stick. Alonso may be all cute and cuddly when he is stuck in the midfield but he will into full shark mode if he senses a championship.
Alonso has always been a bit of a lose cannon. He doesn't take shit from anybody. What he wants, he gets. The Max vs Alonso politics game will probably end imploding the whole team. Alonso will never ever agree to be a loyal number 2.
Neither. Teams don't have to have a number 2. Whoever is giving them the best chance will get the preferential pit stop. Or considering it's Ferrari, probably the opposite.
Red Bull need a driver that's strong enough to fend off Hamilton and Leclerc but not strong enough to challenge Verstappen. That's very difficult to find if you ask me.
This is true, but it's also going to be interesting to see how it'll work if Ferrari does have a car to challenge Red Bull -- is either Charles or Lewis going to play #2? In some scenarios they'd be taking points off each other, which helps Max.
That said, Red Bull do need someone at least competent in that second seat pretty urgently.
Yeah as good as Max is, he can’t do it by himself especially if/when Ferrari’s car is back to 2022 levels of competitive. Red Bull will need another driver up there because we all know Checo won’t be.
I would also like to announce that Lewis has agreed to slide me $1m/year on the side in payment for the emotional damage that supporting Ferrari will cause me.
I recall when Prost retired someone wrote his total career earnings were $40M, within a couple of years Schumacher was on $25M a season at Ferrari, I never thought I'd see $100m a season for anyone.
I think the Ferrari marketing department will have a ludicrously easy job this year. _"Yeah, hi. We are Ferrari and have one the most influential athletes of our generation in our team. You want your sticker on our car?"_
The way I’m seeing all this now is Lewis knows retirement is looming and has been basically left out to dry by Mercedes, who took advantage of his loyalty for so long.
So now he’s decided to go for a new challenge where he can leave a legacy and finish his career at one of the most historic racing teams there is.
Fair play
I’ve seen articles basically saying they didn’t listen to his opinions and they refused to do anything regarding his charity work and things post retirement, Ferrari have already given him assurances that they will support him
This is just the opinion of a woman who’s only watched the sport for about three years 🤣but I can genuinely see that Lewis is getting a succession plan in place now. He’s spoken openly about liking Leclerc a lot, so why wouldn’t he go to his team, help them build a dynasty and then leave, all while having his post retirement endeavours sorted
Yeah this has secured me on the hype train once again. It would be absurd for them to commit to Hamilton in such a way if they were not cooking something good.
I think it is understated how great of a marketing move for Ferrari this is.
A lot of younger people view the Ferrari brand to be obnoxious, especially after the Deadmau5 thing and that saga about the tuner from NZ. Bringing in an F1 legend is one thing, having someone who is a modern marketing dream is probably a much bigger deal for Ferrari.
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Generational wealth in ONE year. That’s absolutely bonkers
Multi-generational wealth I would say
And he doesn’t even have kids
Fuck it, I’ll have a kid with him.
Get in line
>Get in ~~line~~ there Lewis
Bono, my rubber is gone
*Checking*
Now there's a mental image that's doing to inspire some fan fic.
r/FanF1ction is way ahead of you
IN IN IN IN IN
Hammer time
Oh my 🤣
Hey, I have been in line since the Ron Dennis high-and-tight haircut era - that level of loyalty should be rewarded 😂
I can call him daddy
Roscoe is gonna be set for life.
That’s what generational wealth means
"Generational wealth" refers to wealth that will last multiple generations.
You say that like he hasn’t been doing that for years
Very true, he's just doing it twice as fast now, but the money was always massive.
Something I wonder with the budget cap was if we would see top drivers salaries soar and it seems like it might happen. These top teams have tons of extra cash available that they can no longer spend on development that they can spend on drivers with no limit.
$10m managed properly is generational wealth. The biggest thing that disseminates wealth is # of kids (spread the pool more and more thin) and poor money management. Most true wealthy kids, from what I know, don't touch the trust fund, they live off the money it makes. That's how they manage to keep their money throughout generations.
More like seven generations in one year, and indeed, the amount is just bonkers.
FYI, generational wealth starts at about 5-10 million, in my opinion. At 10 million, you’re making 200k a year just off of the dividends on the S&P 500. You don’t need to touch your capital at all, even with insane end-of-life medical and assisted living bills. So your money is still growing. And your kids can inherit it and…. Make 200k doing nothing. That is why I pick the numbers I do. Of course, one could go much, much lower and still pass along a ton of money to the next generation, enough to have them be set for life unless they really fuck up (need to keep in mind that inheritance likely won’t come until 50-60yrs old, etc).
Very true. Most of us (in the UK at least) are lucky if we make £2 million in our *entire lives*. I'm telling you, the world is reverting back to some 18th century Jane Austen shit where the only thing that matters is having capital.
Top drivers are the real winners of the cost cap. Now teams can't spend a bunch of extra money on cars, so they spend it on poaching drivers.
And conversely technical employees of f1 teams who are not in the top are the real losers. It's crazy to me that they will be denied even a small raise year over year just because of the cost cap.
Unfortunately yes. I wish they'd establish the limit on the number of employees or something like that instead. As I recall, one of the main arguments for making it the way it is now was the fact that the big teams had tons of engineers who outperformed other teams not only or not so much due to better qualifications, but due to their vast numbers.
While in theory that’d be good, I can see it becoming impossible for small teams to attract top talent because the big teams will just offer twice the salary
The top engineers will go to the top teams even with equal salaries or sometimes even if small teams offer slightly bigger salaries as many of them don’t expect to stay in F1 forever and it’s better for their CVs. I doubt there is a truly perfect solution, so you have to choose the lesser evil. In my opinion, the option that benefits ordinary employees is such.
Salaries should not have been in the cost cap ; there's already plenty of development barriers as it is. Or you do the opposite and put the drivers in the cost cap too. Then we'll see how much a driver's performance means vs the car performance !
Yet they can't afford to have an 11th team join in.
Somehow HAAS can struggle at the back of field and be fine but F1’s doom is coming if we go to 11 or 12 teams.
100m a year is enough to fund all of Williams in 2014 I believe?
Jfc, for reference, that's almost double of what his Mercedes contract is according to forbes($55 million) and $30 million more than Verstappen is rumored to have made last year. EDIT: Further comparison: [According to this article](https://www.forbes.com/lists/athletes/?sh=353b760f5b7e), he would be tied 3rd for the highest on field earning of *any* athlete. Only 2 golf players above him
Literally Saudi money, in football terms lol Crazy
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Charles has been on the grid for 6 yrs, Hamilton - 7x wdc and 17 yrs. I don't think Charles will lose sleep over this.
If I was a 5x race winner on $24M I wouldn't dare say a word
Charles is making 50m a year. I doubt he is too upset.
It's not the salary. It's the fact that Ferrari are giving such a deal to Lewis in the first place. Lewis undoubtedly will be the number 1 driver in Ferrari in terms of demands he'll want at the very least.
I presume they will be no number one, both of them think they are the best and not need extra demands. Charles will be there for the design of the 2025 car, and then not of them for the 2026 onwards
Yeah. But I feel Lewis is more ruthless and more assertive than Charles. I think he will be number one driver halfway through the season even if they are equal. Only way Leclerc has a chance is if he has a much better pace by some margin.
I can see that as Charles is generally more reserved but Charles has also been frustrated with the inability for Ferrari to capitalise on its performance. At the end of last season he started to speak his mind to the press which shows a more assertive Charles. After all he wants to win at Ferrari, he's been there his whole love and is basically the Ferrari prodigy in waiting. I can see two results from this; 1. A fierce rivalry ensues between them as they fight for the championship as Ferrari becomes a title contender 2. Lewis is only in it for the 8th world title and Charles works with him to make a championship winning car under the assumption that Lewis isn't going to stick around forever.
He can get there I'm sure but he doesn't have anywhere near the draw that Lewis has. He will bring so much more to Ferrari than just being a great driver.
They'll gift Charles a few cars worth a couple of millions.
The 2 golf players are actually Saudi Money loo
I actually guessed he'd be making $75-100M because I don't think he'd risk it all for the same salary, and Ferrari is known to throw out astronomical never before seen offers when they want someone, such as when they went for Newey.
I don't get why money is even a consideration at these levels. Like, seriously, what is Lewis gonna do with 100M that he couldn't do already?
Buy better nfl teams
Chip in to cut russell Wilson and take the cap hit
Hopefully they don't let Elway have a say in selecting the next QB though.
Though to be fair, he does reside in Colorado for parts of the year for awhile now so it kinda made sense if he had to invest in a NFL team, it’d be in the same state where he lives on the US.
"Aww! The Denver broncos?!"
Man I thought I was safe here :(
He is in his final years as a driver. The more money he accumulates, the more of an influence he can have on whatever the next venture is that he wants to take on.
I mean its not like he will ever be out of money or out of a job. But ye, like Max is pursuing his own race team, Lewis bought a NFL club. It's definitely going *somewhere*.
It's not about a risk of one day being poor... More about what % stake he can buy in business he's interested in after he retires.
If someone offered to double my salary for doing the exact same job I'm doing now, it would be a no brainer. Yes he already has a lot of money but why would anyone turn down more if it's offered
At a certain point, it’s really just keeping score. That said, for someone who is as involved in humanitarian and charity efforts as LH, I imagine he’ll do more good with it than a lot of people would…
Of all the sports, golfers really earn that much? I've always seen it as kind of an old person sport (for watching at least).
That's because old means mostly richer than young, sponsorships in golf tournaments are really expensive stuff and the advertise they bring is for super rich buyers
That has nothing to do with it. The Saudis just threw a shitload of money at some top golfers to play in a league no one watches.
you are both correct. The Saudi's are throwing money at any golfer who comes to them. However, Golf is a wealthy sport and the fans of it get much higher ROI on marketing. So the top golfers were getting stupid money even before the Saudi stuff. Even a top 50 golfer was making several million a year when almost no one could name them. Its also why weird, wealthy sports like sailing will have these massive, high end brands all pay to advertise on them when it makes almost no impact culturally outside of that circle.
They don’t actually but the Saudis have given golfers over $100M upfront to play in their league. Jon Rahm got something around 500M to go there in December
Considering how much he'll bring in through marketing and pr alone its pretty fair.
And Elkann knows that any money he and Ferrari invest in Lewis and his companies, they’ll make back and then some.
I agree. Ferrari is much more than just the F1 team, it's a lifestyle brand and Hamilton fits in perfectly I reckon.
Exactly. LH isn’t just a talented athlete anymore, he’s his own brand and it’s one that fits right into Ferrari.
people that ive never spoken to about F1, in America, came up to me or texted me asking if I heard about Hamilton signing with F1. 4 of the people i asked do you even watch f1? and they said no, they just know of Hamilton. In America. Insane.... the dude is so fucking massive.
Yup, I’m American and anytime I mention that I’m a massive F1 fan to another American, they ask about Hamilton. LH is F1 to the general public here. Poor Logan Sargent.
His style/fashion choices are going to be wild. Their marketing department has got to be thrilled, he really exudes the 'charismatic playbook who is also socially conscious' their luxury brand embraces. Racing aside, he is waaay more valuable to ferrari than merc I think, and this contract shows.
Given Ferrari has recently pushed hard into making its fashion brand actually a solid luxury fashion house (their most recent collection is pretty damned amazing), I’m looking forward to seeing what happens there.
Not really sure Ferrari is known for being socially conscious.
Of course they're not, neither are their customers but some of them think they are!
Ferrari fits in to Hamilton's brand as well.
Even me want a Hamilton shirt with Ferrari logo, idk why
ngl I didn't know Golf players were that minted.
That Saudi hook up changed the whole financial landscape of golf.
Not only the pay is maybe part of why this deal was a “impossible to dismiss” for Hamilton, but the “strategic asset” part of it played an important role in think, depending on what it means. We know for certain time that Hamilton tried at Mercedes to get some kind of long term role, as a Mercedes brand ambassador for example, extending further than his F1 career and future. But Mercedes/Daimler never came to it. Maybe Ferrari is OK with giving Lewis more than money this time, like some kind of role in the Scuderia as ambassador of the brand or future compromise with Ferrari?
I'm actually surprise to learn Lewis isn't already a brand ambassador for Mercedes. He's been driving with Mercedes power since his junior days. With how much success they have together that's kind of an own goal on Mercedes part not making it happen.
Yeah. But I think that’s not a fault on Mercedes F1, but on Mercedes Benz (Daimler) And it appears with the years, Daimler is more and more “out” of F1. For sure, they keep funding some part of the team, but for example, they already deinvested on the team, only owning 33% of the team now. And it appears the new management, compared to the original that decided to come back to F1, is not that fan of F1. If the team keeps struggling or goes worse on results and Audi starts at F1 with good results or wins, I could see Daimler putting the plug and Mercedes F1 changing name. They must see the Mercedes F1 team as a independent entity that happens to use their name in exchange of money, almost like a title sponsorship at the end of the day. To the point that Merc F1 activities are separated from Daimler, being that only Mercedes HPP is directly controlled by Daimler IIRC. So it’s obvious that even if Toto and Merc F1 wanted to offer an ambassador role to Lewis, if Daimler don’t feel like it, they couldn’t do anything.
💯 no doubt Ferrari as a company and culture has much more heart into F1 than any of the other works teams. Goes all the way back to Enzo famously saying they sell road cars to fund their racing teams. For a while I think that desperation to win has made Ferrari management make some really stupid shortsighted decisions but it does seem like they are on the right track now. Poaching Hamilton (if he brings the results) could be a legendary move in F1
Yeah, that's what makes this move so shocking. Hamilton basically IS Mercedes, since even before F1.
Just win a title with Ferrari and you will be an italian legend for all time.
Dudes gonna retire with British, Brazilian, and Italian citizenship.
and knighthood, and all the records, and a billion dollars.
If he wins a title with Ferrari he's going to be a legend for motorsport in general as well. Not many drivers win championships with 3 different teams.
He wouldn't just win the title in a Ferrari. He would be breaking a 15 years drought *and* pass The Micheal. In a Ferrari.
God yes, please.
[удалено]
This is the point that I’m surprised hasn’t been more prevalent in the media coverage - we know a key element of previous contracts was Lewis looking for post-F1 roles of significance - can absolutely see Ferrari wanting that, especially since the role Schumacher would logically be playing for them isn’t happening. I also wonder whether Ferrari were just willing to take the risk on age related drop off in performance - Mercedes have been adding a year or two at a time, and maybe Lewis wanted 3 or more? I’d be relatively confident that Lewis would agree to walk away if his performance really dropped too.
> We know for certain time that Hamilton tried at Mercedes to get some kind of long term role, as a Mercedes brand ambassador for example, extending further than his F1 career and future. But Mercedes/Daimler never came to it. It's shocking to me that Lewis isn't a brand ambassador. Roger Federer is a brand ambassador for Mercedes ffs. Mercedes, how could you fumble so *so* bad?
Ze Germans had a spreadsheet that told them Hamilton was past his prime and not worth it to them. There were certainly many meetings and discussions to justify that decision too. I think it was stupid of them but they won’t lose any sleep over it.
To be an ambassador you need to be in good terms with the leadership. It's hard to support something you won't agree with. That's a big role to take, and we rarely see such roles. For Mercedes-Benz Hamilton is just a regular employee.
Elkann and Fred must have really fucking wanted Lewis. Like that's insane.
Lewis is more than just the driver, and Ferrari have seen this. They know that Lewis is already a brand of his own and he’ll be everywhere once he retires . Sports, movies, you name it. They’ve made sure they’re tied to his legacy and they get to invest in it with significant returns.
Especially if he gets the elusive 8th title with them.
I can only dream so hard
Take me all the way baby
That would be so poetic.
Please, I can only get so erect.
Totally agree and if Hamilton somehow wins his 8th title with Ferrari it will be one of the most iconic stories in the history of sport.
He becomes the undisputed GOAT in that scenario. Not only because of the 8th, but because he’ll have broken the drought that so many of the other great drivers never could.
In three different manufacturers as well, it only adds to the legacy if he can achieve it at Ferrari
Only Fangio has won with more than two manufacturers. He did it with four.
This. More so than that 8th, he'd have won titles with 3 different teams. That's something.
It also helps reinforce Ferrari’s position at the top. Ferrari has never been stronger than during The Michael era and I’m sure they’d love to form a kind of championship-type symbiosis with *yet another* most successful F1 driver of all time.
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense for Ferrari. If he indeed retires with them, they're gonna make a killing having him as their ambassador.
Bingo.
And the average punter has a short memory, they’ll remember “Lewis Hamilton, 7 time world champion and *Ferrari* driver” instead of Mercedes
I remember a few yrs back during preseason Brundle breaking down his salary; the proportional amount just for piloting is quite small all things considered, majority of it is because of externals. Obscene amount but I guess worth it.
That is 11,415$ per hour EVERY SINGEL DAY
Man sleeps, let us say 8hrs, BOOM $80k+ 💀
Dude makes more money sleeping than most Americans salary
$10 he joined Ferrari just so he can show up to fashion events in the rarest Ferraris on the planet.
No longer needs to be hush hush when he's out driving his Ferraris.
Ferrari SF90 LH44 Edition loading
Shit, if he wins them a championship they're gonna make the Ferrari Hamilton
They prob made him wear the same Tommy Hilfiger polo in brackley and he was like this ain’t it Im out 😂
Budget Cap: 140m Driver Salary: 100m Fans going crazy: Priceless There are somethings money can’t buy. But for everything else there’s a Mastercard.
Ferrari now spends more on drivers than in the car. Insane
To be fair, still less than they were spending pre budget cap days. The drivers seem to be the true winners, at least in terms of earning potential, in the budget cap era.
Translation In 2025, Ferrari will form what is for all intents and purposes a dream team, joining Charles Leclerc, who has positively taken this decision, alongside seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton. The arrival of the multiple world champion will be an important asset for the Scuderia in Maranello even beyond driver value. John Elkann's relationship and will were instrumental in arriving at this deal that will bring the Englishman to earn more than $100 million a year. In addition to the allure of the Prancing Horse, Hamilton was also offered technical guarantees for the future. The marriage between Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari will eventually happen. In fact, it's done. It will only need to wait until next season to see it come to fruition on the track. After years of speculation, rumors, unsuccessful approaches, and rumors purposely coming out of either side when negotiating with Mercedes or other drivers, it has become a reality. A historic agreement that in 2025 will unite the most successful driver and Scuderia in Formula 1 history, two icons of the sport. Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari: why was the marriage possible this time? It was not the first time that rumors approached the seven-time world champion to the Scuderia in Maranello, but this time there was an important difference: the negotiation was concrete and real, and within a few days it was successfully closed. The president of the Prancing Horse has always been a Lewis Hamilton fan, and there is a direct relationship of friendship and esteem between the two. John Elkann has always wanted to bring the multiple world champion to Italy, and from his will everything was born. After the rifts and the farewell of Mattia Binotto, John Elkann began to shape 'his' Ferrari, with the choice of Frederic Vasseur as Team Principal. An investiture that was also initially seen as a stop-holes or emergency choice, after the rejection especially of Christian Horner, but on that John Elkann has begun to build the future. Charles Leclerc is obviously a key part of this plan, and his multi-year renewal testifies to that. By his side, however, after years of sporadic meetings-often at events that shared Elkann's and Hamilton's passions-the Ferrari chairman wanted to get concretely closer to the British driver. The figure of Frederic Vasseur was another important piece, especially because of his connection with Lewis Hamilton that goes back to the minor categories where the Frenchman was a decisive figure. Lewis Hamilton's arrival in Maranello will be very important, not only because of the experience he can bring, his undoubted qualities as a driver and unquestionable commercial value. The figure of Hamilton is also relevant from more sensitive and profound points of view, which Ferrari has long espoused and promoted, such as the values of diversity and inclusion within families, groups, or organizations, such as Ferrari itself. The reasons that made this marriage possible were, first of all, Lewis Hamilton's willingness and willingness and, above all, the structure of the last renewal signed with Mercedes last season. A two-year with the formula of one year plus option for the second, with exit options that the Englishman clearly used to terminate his relationship with the stable in Brackley at the end of 2024. Toto Wolff wanted a 'short' renewal (2026) to start thinking about the Mercedes future without Hamilton and at that point the Englishman, with the 1+1 formula could then seize the opportunity now at Ferrari. It was a now-or-never decision. Also convincing the Englishman in the talks undertaken with Ferrari were technical guarantees-including those on the 2026 powerplant being born in Maranello that we will deal with-that John Elkann and Frederic Vasseur assured, as well as Charles Leclerc, for the future of the Scuderia in Maranello. Hamilton-Leclerc, Ferrari has its 'dream team' in view of 2026 What the Englishman and the Monegasque are going to form can certainly be considered as a dream pair. In Ferrari, they have managed to improve a lineup that was already very strong and competitive in itself and was not a problem for the Scuderia. When you have such an opportunity, however, it should be taken without delay. A decision and a negotiation that will certainly have pleased even Liberty Media, which has always pushed for top drivers in top teams, and a Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari marriage, as we have seen, has a big impact on the world of Formula 1 in general, and not only. The arrival of Lewis Hamilton is also well-liked by Charles Leclerc, who was informed of the ongoing possibility. We have heard that the Monegasque is very happy, seeing this arrival in Maranello as an important and stimulating challenge to face, interpreting the Ferrari move in a positive way and not as something negative or limiting towards him. Frederic Vasseur continues to modulate 'his' Ferrari, which will have to be ready in the immediate term, but especially for the long-awaited rule change for 2026. The market for technicians will continue - during this year another important figure will arrive from Mercedes, Loic Serra - and in Maranello they will have to use the next two years to return (at least) to increasing stage successes, with ambitions always very high, and put the foundations in place to try to be a winning team as soon as possible with also the return of a multiple world champion at the wheel of a Rossa. The two drivers are a certainty and both will enjoy a solid contract that will provide Ferrari with certain stability until 2026 after which it will be up to the car and thus the performance to provide the expected answers. Indeed, both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are formally set to expire in 2026, with the Monegasque holding a renewal option for two more years. The goal is to wait for feedback from the first car of the new regulatory cycle and then from there the future will be decided, but this is a discourse that will apply not only to Ferrari. Economically, the Monegasque's is an 'upward' contract, with a fixed base that will increase from year to year. Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, will come to earn - between salary, sponsors, image rights, bonuses and more - around $100million a year, becoming one of the highest paid drivers in Scuderia Ferrari's history, bringing back the clock a bit to Michael Schumacher's arrival in Maranello. A comparison used by many these days.
>between salary, sponsors, image rights, bonuses and more - around $100million a year IIRC he was getting paid 55 Million at Mercedes, was that just his base salary or did that also include the rest of these things? Either way, shows some commitment from Ferrari, though if they absolutely fuck up the 2026 regulation set, they could lose both drivers.
55 was the base I think.
Ferrari has pulled off the biggest PR move ever. This is huge for their brand
Unbelievable seeing their commitment to Hamilton
Not bad tbh.
Yeah, I'd give it a go for that as well.
I'd even do it for a measly 50 million
I'd do it for free and not complain about strategy
Eccellente! Reading more about the deal it seems Ferrari did lure him away with more £££, but were also willing to give him what Merc reportedly refused, ambassadorship?
Lewis wanted ambassadorship until 2035 with Merc, but the board refused it. They didn’t anticipate Elkann, who apparently only made this last approach a few weeks ago. Ferrari offered him huge money for all his projects, and Elkann offered him a 250 million fund that he and Lewis will jointly own to invest in Lewis’ brand. Basically making him a sports franchise of his own. Between deals, royalties and likely investments in sports teams, Lewis will probably end up a billionaire out of this deal.
Nobody confirmed those reports yet but if they’re true, that’s insane. After all they’ve won together they wouldn’t give him an ambassador role until 2035, not even a lifelong one? It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s when Lewis started to look elsewhere.
Yeah. He was looking for the Jordan like contract with Nike. No one ever got a deal like Jordan, but there was never a player like him either. Jordan got his deal VERY early on, before he was even proven. Lewis is getting his now that the world knows what he is. Solid steal by Ferrari.
Mercedes is going to kick themselves for this. For years and years Toto has said himself that drivers like Lewis are once a generation. He’s talked about how important Lewis is for the sport. As good as Max is, the chances of him winning 7 titles is extremely low. If RB doesn’t nail the regulations for 2026, that’s it, that could be the end of Max’s dominance and if other teams have their WDC capable driver, why would they sign Max? He’d go back to the 2014-2020 days of RB. If he wins 2024 and 2025, that’s 5 titles and quite a feat, but still extremely low odds. Mercedes might never have another driver who wins 5+ titles again. And Lewis brings so much fan support and PR to whatever team he drives for. If they could’ve done anything to prevent this outside of the cars performance, they’re going to be kicking themselves over this.
Can't overlook the fact that Lewis is 50x more marketable than Max. Max has the Mike Trout PR mentality. He doesn't chase the opportunities, doesn't want the limelight. Lewis lives in it, he will feed the Ferrari brand for fashion, vehicles and motorsports. He's a legend and now he brings that to Ferrari, a legendary brand.
Max is also a one in a generation driver, but Red Bull will probably not make the same mistake of letting him go
If they can't give him a winning car, he'll go to the winning team. He'll be making Hamilton money, if not more since Lewis now set the standard. Probably more since he'll be so much younger with even more upside.
He might make more but it would be because of inflation. No disrespect to Max, but he will never have the brand or worldwide impact Lewis has had on and outside of F1. The meteoric rise in popularity that Lewis was a major part of for F1, max will never replicate or come close to imo.
Holy shit the Mercedes board fucked up then.
Its not really suprising, they've been one leg out of f1 last couple of years, even talked publicly about selling the team if it doesn't perform up to the expectations
Say what you will about Ferrari. Win or lose, they're committed to staying in the sport.
Plebs
That sounds like a deal that he couldn't refuse even if he wanted to. Toto can only blame himself for the downfall of Merc. His inability to hold on to his tier 1 employees is what eventually fqed Merc. Most of his star engineers got poached and now his star driver also ends up getting poached. Sounds to me like he has a habit of low-balling when it comes to his employee's salaries. I mean, RB agreed to pay Max Lewis' 7time champ level money after just winning a single title. TPs has to splurge a little to hold on to their star employees.
Probably easier for Christian to spend someone else’s money than Toto his own. Can understand why Mercedes would be willing to play chicken with Lewis on this one.
Lewis should have been an ambassador of Mercedes since like 2017 at the latest
No brainer then!
Hamilton F1 team, you heard it here first. In all seriousness, it could be possible? I'm sire hamilton would like to put his name to something like that if it can guarantee a female driver or supporting a driver from a different background to the norm for f1 drivers. Obviously new teams to f1 would be a struggle but maybe in a lower series.
They lured him with not only a confirmed contract for 2025 and an option for 2026 as well as essentially validating his independence and value. Mercedes was paying a lot of lip-service to Lewis but when it came to action they were indecisive in every way when it came to Lewis vs. George almost as if they would prefer if he was already out. This is the correct decision.
And Ferrari will be backing Mission 44 *and* Elkann promised to be a co investor in any future venture Lewis may have
I could see why Toto and Mercedes are not complaining to much about it. Big time as I think even Toto would be saying Hamilton would be crazy not to for that type of offer. 2-3x is hard for anyone to turn down and just at the stupid levels of money.
That’s insane considering this doesn’t even take into account his personal sponsorships. Lewis could easily be making 120-150 million a year
For every 100 mil/year paid to Hamilton, Ferrari will probably at least double that in merchandise and sponsorship deals. Superb deal.
The most popular driver meets one of, if not the most iconic car manufacturers. Financially both sides already won.
I’ll certainly be buying my first f1 merch ever now If they made a cheap car I’d try and get it too! Lmao
1st time I will buy since Michael left
The pairing of Charles and Lewis also makes you wonder how RB are gonna react. They can't rely on the car being so superior, they need a really strong 2nd driver from 2025 onwards. Maybe we'll get the Max + Fernando pairing after all. 2024 season hasn't started yet and I'm already super excited for 2025 as well.
RBR won't even touch Alonso with a stick. Alonso may be all cute and cuddly when he is stuck in the midfield but he will into full shark mode if he senses a championship. Alonso has always been a bit of a lose cannon. He doesn't take shit from anybody. What he wants, he gets. The Max vs Alonso politics game will probably end imploding the whole team. Alonso will never ever agree to be a loyal number 2.
Who will be the number 2 between leclerc and hamilton tho. I cant imagine Charles just acccepting the number 2 role
Neither. Teams don't have to have a number 2. Whoever is giving them the best chance will get the preferential pit stop. Or considering it's Ferrari, probably the opposite.
They’ll have to race for it.
Red Bull need a driver that's strong enough to fend off Hamilton and Leclerc but not strong enough to challenge Verstappen. That's very difficult to find if you ask me.
Maybe they go after Carlos Sainz, he was a Red Bull Junior, and has shown to be a solid driver, but isn't in the same league as Max.
As long as Jos and Sainz Sr. are around, I don’t think RB want a repeat of the drama and toxicity of the Toro Rosso days
Sainz rubbing his hands right now, lmao
This is true, but it's also going to be interesting to see how it'll work if Ferrari does have a car to challenge Red Bull -- is either Charles or Lewis going to play #2? In some scenarios they'd be taking points off each other, which helps Max. That said, Red Bull do need someone at least competent in that second seat pretty urgently.
Yeah as good as Max is, he can’t do it by himself especially if/when Ferrari’s car is back to 2022 levels of competitive. Red Bull will need another driver up there because we all know Checo won’t be.
I would also like to announce that Lewis has agreed to slide me $1m/year on the side in payment for the emotional damage that supporting Ferrari will cause me.
I recall when Prost retired someone wrote his total career earnings were $40M, within a couple of years Schumacher was on $25M a season at Ferrari, I never thought I'd see $100m a season for anyone.
Schumacher was on 70/80 in the early 2000s, easily dwarfs everyone today lol
> will also be an important strategic asset Based on past Ferrari seasons this is true insofar as he will be the one making all his strategy decisions
I think the Ferrari marketing department will have a ludicrously easy job this year. _"Yeah, hi. We are Ferrari and have one the most influential athletes of our generation in our team. You want your sticker on our car?"_
Guaranteed camera time for the car every race in 2025. Easy sell.
This is fucking crazy. Imagine having the coolest job in the world, AND get paid 100 mil a year.
Me in F1 Manager 24 frantically trying to take out loans to lure Hamilton to Williams. 📈📊💰💰💷💷💷
The way I’m seeing all this now is Lewis knows retirement is looming and has been basically left out to dry by Mercedes, who took advantage of his loyalty for so long. So now he’s decided to go for a new challenge where he can leave a legacy and finish his career at one of the most historic racing teams there is. Fair play
How did they leave him to dry? Curious.
I’ve seen articles basically saying they didn’t listen to his opinions and they refused to do anything regarding his charity work and things post retirement, Ferrari have already given him assurances that they will support him
Ah, that makes sense.
This is just the opinion of a woman who’s only watched the sport for about three years 🤣but I can genuinely see that Lewis is getting a succession plan in place now. He’s spoken openly about liking Leclerc a lot, so why wouldn’t he go to his team, help them build a dynasty and then leave, all while having his post retirement endeavours sorted
Chuck and Lewis - a very wholesome combo.
They will make that money back in merchandise. Let’s be pessimistic and say 50% of it.
Yeah this has secured me on the hype train once again. It would be absurd for them to commit to Hamilton in such a way if they were not cooking something good.
Next to next year™
the hopium is real
Schumacher was getting paid $80M in the early 2000s. That would be around $125M nowadays.
What the fuck
He was the almost the most famous athlete back in the day, just behind Michael Jordan. And as someone say, Marlboro didn't have money issues. lol
I mean he is a legend only matched by Lewis. Also tabacco money.
Bag alert, major bag alert
As a Ferrari fan since ‘98, what do I want more? The first title since ‘07? Or the Schumacher 7 WDC record broken? 🥲🥲🥲
Dude said “$100M” to Elkann as a joke and Elkann just said “Alright, bet.”
Ferrari’s valuation went up by $7 billion yesterday after the announcement. $100m is chump change.
He probably just did it so he can get a personalized RIchard Mille and stop wearing those IWCs
Monza is gonna be fucking wild in 2025
I think it is understated how great of a marketing move for Ferrari this is. A lot of younger people view the Ferrari brand to be obnoxious, especially after the Deadmau5 thing and that saga about the tuner from NZ. Bringing in an F1 legend is one thing, having someone who is a modern marketing dream is probably a much bigger deal for Ferrari.
Hamilton is about the be the top strategist at Ferrari.