:clap: :thumbsup:

Ohhh boy thank you! This is what I grew up watching. Phenomenal years

The soap opera called Mercedes F1 continues even in the off season with the recent FIA investigation that didn't last. An unnamed F1 executive says that Toto Wolff put a gun to Jean Todt's head and told him if Michael Masi wasn't fired that Lewis Hamilton would not be racing the following year. It doesn't surprise me that the FIA want to reign Toto in, but probably didn't expect the rest of the F1 teams to rally behind him in such a fashion.

Yesterday, a fan posted a picture of the 3rd place F1 trophy presented to Lewis Hamilton for the 2023 season on his X/Twitter account. Apparently the fan was walking by Lewis and he just gave it away and the fan posted it.

Stay tuned for more updates as the World Turns in upcoming weeks. :dummy:

F1... are we having fun yet?

the Gulf 24 is streaming live on YouTube, nice race.

None of that is true.

Todt was not the decider.
The “fan” is likely a thief.

See MB’s statement:

“Immediately after leaving the stage, and as has been done at previous prizegivings, Lewis accepted the offer from officials for the trophy to be sent on to the team and therefore left it in their care,” said the statement.

“We can confirm he did not give the trophy to anyone ‘as a gift’ as has been speculated.”


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Reports are out of various countries in Europe. I give exactly zero credence to what Mercedes spin doctor's have to say, besides, how exactly would a thief get close enough to these people or event? Com'on let's not be naive here. And as far as giving it to a fan as a wonderful gesture, do you really think that's what it was? He could care less about a 3rd place trophy and I wouldn't blame him given he's got several 1st place trophies. However, someone at the factory or a department at the factory may have been more deserving of it than a random fan on the streets. It's a FU to the FIA. Let's call it what it is.

More quotes from last night's award ceremony:

HAMILTON CRITICISES THE CHOICE TO HOLD THE GALA FIA IN BAKU: "WHERE DID THE ATTENTION TO SUSTAINABILITY GO? "
“I promise I really like Baku and it’s a great place, but I wonder what the Federation thinks about sustainability.
Why did it take so many people to fly to get here when the FIA is based in Paris? It would have been easier to organize it there”.

Following the Abu Dhabi 2021 race in which the controversial Michael Masi incident happened, Mercedes, Toto and LH boycotted the awards ceremony. The top 3 drivers are required to go as well as the winning manufacturer. The FIA fined both Mercedes and Hamilton 50,000 Euros for not attending.

deleted,

it's f1.... just really saddens me.....

I would be very happy if the decision-makers would finally forget about the very useful CO2 and finally start banning the emission of methane.

There is an outside chance that biofuel makes it into the 2026 engine regs. Honestly, if we got the engine revs/sound back to V10/V8 levels, a lot of people would be happy. Completely understand the sustainability argument, but it's still entertainment and I'm all for the biofuels Vettel was talking about.

Re biofuels, it'd be amusing for the new cars to smell of french fries.

Audi did it in WEC/ACO/IMSA with diesel.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...849f03a86d.jpg

Take it to the F2 series first and then, by 2030, who knows?

Engine
Audi 5,500 cc 90° DOHC 48-valve aluminium V12, twin-turbocharged.


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Have you ever seen a car with one of those conversions? They're kinda wild. When the kits first came out ~15yrs ago, there was a guy on my block who converted a MBZ 240TD. He had to drive around with empty paint pails to all of the fried food places nearby, then would have to filter the used fry oil. It looks like a total PITA, but it literally smelled like French fries. No idea what kind of MPG he got, but it was a spectacle.

Oops….
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...14208f98d6.png

This is the younger brother of LEC.

Charles still hasn’t signed, PER either.

The EOY shake-ups are reverb’g on interwebs.

Happy Christmas Arthur - maybe a move to the 499P HyperCar and WEC?
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b0bbada16b.jpg


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An oldy but always loved this Christmas card from the days Kimi was with Ferrari. Merry Christmas 🎄🎁 to everyone.

:clap:

Nice reindeer on the Scuderia’s yellow shield. At this side view, FIAT spells FAT like Santa.

So many clues…thanks for sharing!

Happy Christmas


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Lewis going to Ferrari next year:

https://www.google.com/search?q=lewi...&client=safari

Wow! Nothing confirmed. Just lots of buzz.

It's confirmed now but does nothing to improve the racing side for Ferrari, only the monetary side. Shares of Ferrari have gone up 6.5% just since the announcement or the equivalent of $4 billion in market cap. Peroni already had an ad with the #"44" on a car so this was planned far in advance. I wouldn't be surprised if Hamilton has backend points for a percentage of merchandise sales on the move to Ferrari.

Wow...that's a surprise to say the least.
Guess that's the end of WDC for him...imo.

UPDATE: Ferrari stock up nearly 12% or almost $8 billion since announcement.

I wonder if, Sir Lewis will demand that the cars are liveried, black?
After all, BCM, and it has been done before.

With a bit of luck he'll take the No.1 plate, to the Scuderia Ferrari!:chuckle:

Lol highly doubtful he would have left Mercedes if he thought he could win another WDC in that car.

What's been discussed in the move and start date. What hasn't been confirmed is the length of the contract and I'm not seeing any info online as to the length of the deal.

I guess everyone would love a ride with Ferrari at least once in their career...before they retire.

Official Ferrari site just confirmed that the deal is for 2 years with an option for a third year. So HAM will definitely be racing into his 40's and the new formula that will start in 2026.

If people think CS55 is highly political, wait till LH44 goes to Ferrari….
By the end of 2025, the team will be split into two halves!

Grazie Vasseur! Grazie Elkann!

I didnt see this move coming! I'd brushed the initial reports off as the usual rumors that seem to link HAM with SF.

I think a good move, and perhaps gives some insight into what Lewis thinks can be achieved at Mercedes over the next few years. Certainly something to look forward to & hope he makes a success of it. An 8th WC at Ferrari would definitely be a great way to finish his racing career.

Can you expand on this? Political in terms of actual political issues, or political in the world of F1? I don't know much about F1 drivers outside of their place of work.

I'm not sure Sainz is political in any sense from what I've seen. Hamilton, on the other hand has displayed being political in both F1 and more traditional senses.

Political not in the sense of being involved in politics, but it is well known in the paddock that CS Sr has been trying to pull strings behind the scenes to influence those in influential position to favour CS Jr. Helmut Marko had spoken about this recently when CS55 and MV33 were team mates at TR. CS Sr and Jos V were both jostling hard behind the scene to get their sons into the coveted RB seat such that the environment became toxic. The two Spanish sponsors Santander and Estrella are also on the side of CS55 in the Ferrari camp and now that CS55 is leaving, suspect Santander to also leave Ferrari, like Estrella had left to sponsor McLaren - they had likely known CS was leaving far in advance hence the decision.

With regards to Lewis, whenever he has a “slightly” competitive team mate, friction begins to develop. Alonso 2007, Jenson Button - twitter unfollow scandal, leaking telemetry of JB and his own on Twitter, Nico Rosberg 2016. That’s all I have to say about LH44 to Ferrari. Its going to be ugly.