It seems like a provocation, but instead it is an absolutely legitimate question: in the role of an F1 team principal, would you prefer to hire a steering wheel phenomenon who has won seven World Championships or a designer who has won 23 among drivers and constructors and will reach the mark at the end of the season 25? Judging by the recent GP seasons, where the single-seater dictates the law much more than those who drive it, and in light of the last thirty-plus years of racing, one would choose the second hands down… But the dilemma does not arise if the team directed by the aforementioned manager could bring home both. Science fiction? Not so.
Hamilton-Ferrari coup
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On February 1st, Ferrari announced the hiring of Lewis Hamilton, and this already sent an earthquake through the entire F1. News broke yesterday that Adrian Newey, the genius behind all of Red Bull’s periods of dominance and previously the 90s successes of Williams and McLaren, is leaving the Milton Keynes team. A bombshell, which definitively confirms the rumors about Newey’s “stomach ache” when faced with the powder keg that the team he works for has become for months. The coach was deeply disturbed by the situation that Red Bull is experiencing, after the accusations against team principal Chris Horner of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior against an employee (from which he was cleared after an internal investigation) and by the fight that it was unleashed between Horner himself, the consultant Helmut Marko and Jos Verstappen, father of Max who meanwhile continues to win races and World Championships as if nothing had happened. But you don’t live only on success and (a lot of) money. Newey could no longer stand the unbreathable climate in the factory and decided to leave. A liberation. And the fact that it became public knowledge on the day in which that very holiday is celebrated in Italy smacks of a signal, or an omen… In any case, the fact that he can use a clause in his contract to avoid the so-called “gardening leave” (the more or less long sabbatical that in F1 all employees must observe when they change teams) makes his departure extremely interesting. Especially for Ferrari.
newey backstory
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Newey certainly didn’t make his decision yesterday: numerous suitors have been moving for some time and the list of those who want him is very long. Understandable. From Aston Martin to McLaren, from Mercedes to Audi arriving in 2026, everyone has enough money and structures at their disposal to be able to afford to hire him. For the same money offered, however, Ferrari may have put a couple more cards on the table. Not so much his story, which always fascinates, but the opportunity for Newey to bring back to Maranello a World Championship that has been missing for too many years now. Because, if he succeeded, he would be revered as a god on earth and this would represent the perfect conclusion to an extraordinary career. And then the presence of Hamilton in the team from 2025. The one with the seven titles. Wasn’t it Newey himself, a few months ago, who said that having worked with the English champion was missing from his CV? Putting the pieces together and rewinding the tape, taking it back three months, we could thus find a deeper explanation to justify the impulsiveness with which Lewis married the Cavallino. Having a technical director like that at your disposal shifts the balance.
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choices and skills
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Hamilton, when he left McLaren for Mercedes in 2012, showed he had great flair. He may not have lost it. It is certainly a golden opportunity for Ferrari, a train that had passed through his area previously but never so close as in this moment. A train to take at all costs, and apparently the redhead at the ticket office has already shown up a while ago. At worst, regardless of where he pursues his plans, the wizard’s departure has the power to weaken the catch-all Red Bull. And this, if we want, is the undeniable favor that Newey has already done for the Cavallino.
