Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM.....

[dre1982]

Hamilton and Mercedes finally have an agreement. Its a contract for 2 yeats and Hamilton got a veto for who will be his teammate.
https://www.reportdoor.com/veto-power-and-2-year-contract-lewis-hamilton-and-mercedes-reportedly-reach-basic-agreement-on-f1-deal/

This not official.
The deadline is the start of F1 preseason test.
The tests will be in Bahrain from 12th to 14th of March, they will be done in the same place where 2 weeks later the 1st race will be done.
Hamilton has 5 more weeks to find an agreement with Mercedes.

They will still agree on where they will go from each other, because the interest in cooperation from both sides is mutual, although all these things related to signing a contract are already beginning to resemble elements of a staged show to attract audience interest to the team in the off-season. Because it seems that thanks to the new co-owner of the Mercedes racing team, there should be no problems with the financial part of the contract.

You're right that it not offical yet but at least the got to an agreement which will lead into a contract.

A lot of old drivers aren't that happy with the clause Hamilton wants in his contract. Especially Bernie Ecclestone isn't a fan of this contruction: https://www.news24.com/wheels/formulaone/everyone-is-replaceable-bernie-ecclestone-warns-lewis-hamilton-20210207

But let's be happy we will see Hamilton driving next year.

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[coinlocket$]

And now it's official.



Source: https://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/news/2021/02/mercedes-f1-lewis-hamilton-agree-new-contract-2021/

It seems to be only 1-year contract.

[dre1982]

So we will see a new circus next year when this contract ends or will it be the last season of Hamilton.

If Hamilton wins his 8 title he got all the records and nothing more to race for. Of course more titles would be great but I see him going to do something else after a 8th title.

[Cnut237]

It seems to be only 1-year contract.

This angle is covered on the BBC page (excerpt below). It does make sense, really, when you think about it.

But I would expect him to continue with Mercedes in 2022 - after winning the 2021 title
2021 will likely be a Mercedes procession, but 2022 is a reset for the whole field, and should result in closer racing with more teams being competitive. Hamilton has complained in the past about not having real close competitors, it's something he seems to relish - as I'm sure all racers would - and he'd surely be eager to test himself against rivals on a more level playing field rather than simply retire.

Why only a year?
Team boss Toto Wolff said the duration of the contract was a consequence of the lateness of the talks, which was caused by them having to delay negotiations when Hamilton contracted Covid in December, and their mutual desire to "see how the world develops".

There is the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, as well as by a number of major rule changes in F1, including a budget cap that starts this year at $145m (£114m) and new technical rules for 2022 aimed at closing up the field.

Wolff said the global situation could have an impact on the team's revenue, while Daimler as a group is having to invest in electrification, adding: "We are living a financial reality that is very different from a few years ago."

He added: "We are totally in line - Lewis and me and the wider group in Mercedes - about the situation, so there was never a discrepancy in opinion.

"It was just we felt that we had a good signature on a 2021 contract and we needed to get going and then find some time in 2021 earlier than this time to discuss the future.

"And it's not to discuss only 2022 but also beyond, and that was not something we wanted to carve out via video conferencing between Christmas and the end of January."

[Koal-84]

So we will see a new circus next year when this contract ends or will it be the last season of Hamilton.

If Hamilton wins his 8 title he got all the records and nothing more to race for. Of course more titles would be great but I see him going to do something else after a 8th title.

Yes this is maybe after he won the 8 championship he is looking for a new challenge? Or the contract and conditions for more than one year Mercedes are to expensive and set at the new area on young driver?

[boltz]

So we will see a new circus next year when this contract ends or will it be the last season of Hamilton.

If Hamilton wins his 8 title he got all the records and nothing more to race for. Of course more titles would be great but I see him going to do something else after a 8th title.

Yes this is maybe after he won the 8 championship he is looking for a new challenge? Or the contract and conditions for more than one year Mercedes are to expensive and set at the new area on young driver?

I have some doubts that he will win the 8 championship as this year RedBull seems pretty strong especially that it will be Honda's last year in F1 as they are set to retire plus the fact that Vestappen has reached the mature age when he can take wins as long as the car is there up to his level.

Russel will be on Mercedes car for 2021 , this is what I'm hoping for.

[dre1982]

So we will see a new circus next year when this contract ends or will it be the last season of Hamilton.

If Hamilton wins his 8 title he got all the records and nothing more to race for. Of course more titles would be great but I see him going to do something else after a 8th title.

Yes this is maybe after he won the 8 championship he is looking for a new challenge? Or the contract and conditions for more than one year Mercedes are to expensive and set at the new area on young driver?

I have some doubts that he will win the 8 championship as this year RedBull seems pretty strong especially that it will be Honda's last year in F1 as they are set to retire plus the fact that Vestappen has reached the mature age when he can take wins as long as the car is there up to his level.

Russel will be on Mercedes car for 2021 , this is what I'm hoping for.

Hamilton still got the best papers for winning the championship but Red Bull could be closer then last year. Last year Verstappen already was a lot closer if he didn't got that 5 DNF. Even with those DNF's he was very close at Bottas. This year he got Perez as his teammate which will leads that Mercedes have to change their tacticts in the races. Last season with Albon at Red Bull Mercedes didn't even had to take that in account because Albon wasn't driving at the front cars.

[swogerino]

If Red Bull truly brings a good car this year then it would be very good for the Championship as beside Verstappen even Perez I think will be doing great because he is finally able to drive a title contender car.However Mercedes still remains the team to beat for the upcoming season.

[Cnut237]

If Red Bull truly brings a good car this year then it would be very good for the Championship as beside Verstappen even Perez I think will be doing great because he is finally able to drive a title contender car.However Mercedes still remains the team to beat for the upcoming season.

Perez can make a big difference. Whilst Mercedes are likely to continue to have the best car, Verstappen has demonstrated that the Red Bull can compete fairly well with them. One of the issues last season was that Mercedes could very easily beat Red Bull on strategy, because they always had two cars at the front to Red Bull's one. They could go split strategies every time, and force Max to pit whenever they wanted him to by making him cover off one of the Mercs. If Red Bull had two cars at the front, that strategic advantage goes. Even more, if Bottas continues to struggle, and we have a situation with Hamilton and two Red Bulls at the front, then we enter a scenario where Red Bull can force Hamilton to pit whenever they want in order to cover off one of the Red Bulls. And then suddenly Red Bull have the advantage, even if their car is a bit worse than the Merc, because they can control how the race plays out.

This is why the second driver is crucial at top teams. Bottas' underperformance in recent years hasn't been an issue, because there wasn't a viable competitor with two good drivers. That may change this time around with Verstappen and Perez.

[Jackl87]

I can hardly bring myself to watch formula 1 for a few years now. It is just not as exciting to watch as a few years ago.
Nowadays it's all about tire management and not about racing at the absolute limit, if a driver is really pushing it his tires will be gone after 5 rounds. I also miss refueling during the pit stops.
Plus Mercedes is so far ahead that hamilton wins every race easily even when he is holding back and his teammate is happy with being no. 2 behind him, which i don't blame him for.

[dre1982]

I can hardly bring myself to watch formula 1 for a few years now. It is just not as exciting to watch as a few years ago.
Nowadays it's all about tire management and not about racing at the absolute limit, if a driver is really pushing it his tires will be gone after 5 rounds. I also miss refueling during the pit stops.
Plus Mercedes is so far ahead that hamilton wins every race easily even when he is holding back and his teammate is happy with being no. 2 behind him, which i don't blame him for.

The tyre management makes it boring to watch. The most existing races where the one where they had to make at least a 2-stopper.

Changing the rule that they have to make at least 1 pitstop to 2 pitstops would be more existing but I don't see that happen. Maybe the new tyres of this season force teams to make more then one pitstop. While they were testing them in the last races they didnt last that long as I remember.

[Koal-84]

I can hardly bring myself to watch formula 1 for a few years now. It is just not as exciting to watch as a few years ago.
Nowadays it's all about tire management and not about racing at the absolute limit, if a driver is really pushing it his tires will be gone after 5 rounds. I also miss refueling during the pit stops.
Plus Mercedes is so far ahead that hamilton wins every race easily even when he is holding back and his teammate is happy with being no. 2 behind him, which i don't blame him for.

The tyre management makes it boring to watch. The most existing races where the one where they had to make at least a 2-stopper.

Changing the rule that they have to make at least 1 pitstop to 2 pitstops would be more existing but I don't see that happen. Maybe the new tyres of this season force teams to make more then one pitstop. While they were testing them in the last races they didnt last that long as I remember.

Yes that's the think what make boring to watch Formula 1 also behind Mercedes, all driver must show on your tyres and can not drive to there limits. In addition, I would prefer smaller tanks and no limit to the amount of fuel that would require at least one refueling stop.

[Spack17]

If Red Bull truly brings a good car this year then it would be very good for the Championship as beside Verstappen even Perez I think will be doing great because he is finally able to drive a title contender car.However Mercedes still remains the team to beat for the upcoming season.

I think things will be very different at Red Bull in the oncoming season. Because we don't have Albon this time and Perez is going to be in his place.   It means a lot to me that I expect a much better performance from both Red Bull drivers now. Perez is one of the drivers I like the most on the grid. He did a very good job at Racing Point last season. We can also see a good competition between Perez and Verstappen.

[Koal-84]

Ducati launch and presentation about the new bike for the session 2021

Live presentation



Link to the photo gallery

https://www.motogp.com/en/gallery/2021/02/09/photo-gallery-ducati-lenovo-team-show-off-new-2021-livery/360895

I think the black Lenovo lettering takes a bit of getting used to, but I'm looking forward to seeing Bagnaia at the Ducati this year. I think he will have a strong season on the factory Ducati.

[Cnut237]

Perez is one of the drivers I like the most on the grid. He did a very good job at Racing Point last season. We can also see a good competition between Perez and Verstappen.

I like him, too, and I'm really glad he got a drive for 2021, and in one of the best cars. He definitely deserved it.
It will be nice to see Verstappen have a rival, but my big hope is that we start to see both Red Bulls near the front to put pressure on the Mercedes cars, and remove that 2 vs 1 strategy advantage that Mercedes had last season.

[Juggy777]

Perez is one of the drivers I like the most on the grid. He did a very good job at Racing Point last season. We can also see a good competition between Perez and Verstappen.

I like him, too, and I'm really glad he got a drive for 2021, and in one of the best cars. He definitely deserved it.
It will be nice to see Verstappen have a rival, but my big hope is that we start to see both Red Bulls near the front to put pressure on the Mercedes cars, and remove that 2 vs 1 strategy advantage that Mercedes had last season.

@Cnut237 it’s too early to think about Perez dominating the race, because of the sheer power of Mercedes drivers, but if he and Verstappen team up and dislodge the Mercedes duo then F1 races will become interesting once again.

However I’ll adopt a wait and watch strategy before wagering on Perez, because driving under pressure in F1 is not an easy task, and therefore it’ll be really interesting to see if he can rise up to the challenge.

[aesma]

Hamilton and Mercedes finally have an agreement. Its a contract for 2 yeats and Hamilton got a veto for who will be his teammate.
https://www.reportdoor.com/veto-power-and-2-year-contract-lewis-hamilton-and-mercedes-reportedly-reach-basic-agreement-on-f1-deal/

This not official.
The deadline is the start of F1 preseason test.
The tests will be in Bahrain from 12th to 14th of March, they will be done in the same place where 2 weeks later the 1st race will be done.
Hamilton has 5 more weeks to find an agreement with Mercedes.

They will still agree on where they will go from each other, because the interest in cooperation from both sides is mutual, although all these things related to signing a contract are already beginning to resemble elements of a staged show to attract audience interest to the team in the off-season. Because it seems that thanks to the new co-owner of the Mercedes racing team, there should be no problems with the financial part of the contract.

You're right that it not offical yet but at least the got to an agreement which will lead into a contract.

A lot of old drivers aren't that happy with the clause Hamilton wants in his contract. Especially Bernie Ecclestone isn't a fan of this contruction: https://www.news24.com/wheels/formulaone/everyone-is-replaceable-bernie-ecclestone-warns-lewis-hamilton-20210207

But let's be happy we will see Hamilton driving next year.

Ecclestone says that peace in the team is the most important and that's why he didn't hire Senna in the end. Well, the clause Hamilton is asking for is basically the same thing : don't hire a driver that will make me unhappy.

[coinlocket$]

Ecclestone says that peace in the team is the most important and that's why he didn't hire Senna in the end. Well, the clause Hamilton is asking for is basically the same thing : don't hire a driver that will make me unhappy.

Has proven by Russel, any good driver can win with Mercedes and Mercedes is more important than Hamilton.
Imho, drivers like Verstappen, LeClerc, Riccardo and maybe some more can "easily" win the title with this Mercedes and do better than Bottas.

Hamilton is a great driver for sure but he wants too much power and too much money.

If I'm not wrong the deal is only for 1 year.

[dre1982]

Ecclestone says that peace in the team is the most important and that's why he didn't hire Senna in the end. Well, the clause Hamilton is asking for is basically the same thing : don't hire a driver that will make me unhappy.

Has proven by Russel, any good driver can win with Mercedes and Mercedes is more important than Hamilton.
Imho, drivers like Verstappen, LeClerc, Riccardo and maybe some more can "easily" win the title with this Mercedes and do better than Bottas.

Hamilton is a great driver for sure but he wants too much power and too much money.

If I'm not wrong the deal is only for 1 year.

Correct it's a 1 year deal with an option for another year.

I can't wait till the next season starts. It will be a season with a lot of small battles between team mates. https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.what-will-be-the-biggest-rivalries-in-f1-in-2021-we-take-a-look-at-hamilton.2IyOyaebADxXntGTABb9WG.html

[coinlocket$]

I can't wait till the next season starts. It will be a season with a lot of small battles between team mates. https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.what-will-be-the-biggest-rivalries-in-f1-in-2021-we-take-a-look-at-hamilton.2IyOyaebADxXntGTABb9WG.html

The next year only Redbull can be the outsider.
Mercedes has a temperature problem if they haven't fixed it in this winter when they need to push at 100%.

Honda claimed a huge step for the next year, even if they left the circus in this last year they will upgrade for 2021.

So if they kept their words they can push the battle with Merdedes.

I'm not expecting a Ferrari fight for the title, they can maybe win some races but it will be hard.