Is Ferrari Luring Lewis Hamilton with a $50 Million Contract?

Seven-time Formula One World Champion and current Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, who many consider to the greatest of all time (GOAT) is set to be a free agent next year, and reports say that he is in already in talks with rival team Ferrari. 

Ferrari’s offer, if the reports are to be believed, is reportedly worth a staggering $50 million (about 40 million pounds or P2.8 billion)

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The British driver is said to most likely replace current Ferrari driver Charles LeClerc next year if the deal pushes through. There has been no official word yet from both team principals Toto Wolf of Mercedes-AMG Petronas or Frederic Vasseur of Ferrari about the supposed deal.

Hamilton has also admitted in the past that he has always wanted to drive for the Italian team.

Hamilton suffered a devastating loss to clinch his eighth title in 2021 at the Abu Dhabi GP after his rival Max Verstappen beat him to the finish line. It was a controversial race decision by then FIA race director Michael Masi to allow only lapped cars to un-lap themselves after an accident that triggered the safety car to come out as other drivers caught up with Hamilton who was way ahead of the pack in a seeming easy win that didn’t happen. To this day, many consider it to be one of the most controversial championship upsets in the history of the sport.

Hamilton’s 2022 and 2023 standings and lack of dominance was hampered by the lack of performance of the new Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 car. FIA, the sport’s governing body implemented the changes in the design regulations two years ago and Hamilton’s team reportedly had difficulty in adapting to the new rule changes, ending their dominance since the changes made in 2014 that required the use of turbochargers and hybrid electric engines.

Mercedes-AMG has become one of Formula One’s most successful teams, winning driver’s championship titles from 2014 to 2020 and bagging eighth consecutive constructor’s titles from 2014 to 2021. The end of the turbo-hybrid era, as most race fans call it, was also the end of the team’s dominance.

Leaving his current team will be a tough call but moving to Ferrari could be the 38-year-old Hamilton’s last chance to secure his eighth championship record-breaking title.