December 9, 2024, 8:37 PM
December 9, 2024, 8:37 PM
The move of the seven-time English world champion Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes to Ferrari, a team in which he will replace the Spanish Carlos Sainz, will be the main change, with a view to next year, on the F1 grid, in which in 2025 they will not be at the minus three of the drivers who rode on Sunday in the last Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi.
The news of Hamilton’s signing for Ferrari was the big news bomb at the beginning of the year, even before the start of the preseason, and a hard dish to digest for Sainz, who combined great resilience with his talent and achieved two victories (Australia – two weeks after undergoing surgery for appendicitis – and Mexico) bringing his number of wins in the premier category to four. All of them in his four years with the Maranello team, with which he achieved 25 of his 27 podiums in F1, as well as six pole positions and three of his four fastest laps.
“I am proud of these four years, but I am even more proud of this last one; for having maintained the motivation and determination to push throughout the year,” Sainz, 30, told Efe after competing in his last race with Ferrari in Yas Marina, where this week the talented Madrid driver will get into the Williams; team that will be sponsored by Banco Santander starting next season, as announced this Monday.
The gap that Sir Lewis will leave in Mercedes – a team in which he has captured six of his seven titles – will be filled by the young Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli (18 years old), who already took to the track in the first free practice in Monza (Italy), where The pressure got the better of him.
Sainz goes to Williams, one of the historic teams (9 constructors’ titles and 7 drivers’ titles), in which he will be a teammate of the Thai Alex Albon; who shared these last nine Grand Prix with the Argentine Franco Colapinto, replacement in the Grove team for the American Logan Sargeant from Monza (Italy).
The future of Colapinto – born 21 years ago in Pilar (Buenos Aires) – is uncertain, since, in theory, the grid is closed, but in F1 you can almost never take anything for granted. Some voices place Sergio Pérez – runner-up in the world last season and eighth this year – out of the premier category next year. The Mexican – teammate of the brand new Dutch quadruple world champion Max Verstappen – was quick to remember, as soon as he arrived in Abu Dhabi, that next year he has a valid contract with Red Bull, but after confirming a season to be forgotten with another retirement in the last race of the year, ‘Checo’ admitted that he doesn’t know “what’s going to happen.”
“We will see what happens in the next few days. I have a contract with the team and we have been talking. It is about discussing what is best for everyone; and moving forward,” said the driver from Jalisco, with six victories and 39 podiums in the queen category at 34 years old.
McLaren, which won the Constructors’ World Championship, repeats its formation and the Englishman Lando Norris – second in the championship after winning on Sunday in Yas Marina – ahead of Sainz – will once again form a pair with the Australian Oscar Piastri, fourth in the World Championship. with two points more than the Spanish.
The Asturian double world champion Fernando Alonso -32 victories and 106 podiums in F1-, who continued to shine at the age of 43 with a very weak Aston Martin, will once again form a duo with the Canadian Lance Stroll, the son of Lawrence Stroll, owner of the Silverstone team.
In Abu Dhabi, the Frenchman Esteban Ocon – who is going to Haas – has already been replaced by the Australian Jack Doohan – son of the legendary Mick Doohan, five-time world motorcycling champion -, in Alpine, a team in which the oceanic will be an official driver in 2005.
Ocon will be a teammate of the young Englishman Oliver Bearman – 18 years old, who this year already ran two races, one of them replacing Sainz in Saudi Arabia, when the Madrid native had to undergo surgery for appendicitis – in Haas. A team that completely changes its formation: the German Nico Hülkenberg goes to Sauber; and the Dane Kevin Magnussen said goodbye to F1 with the fastest lap in the race on Sunday in Yas Marina.
Kick Sauber is the other team that replaces the duo of drivers, since Hülkenberg’s new partner will be another debutant: the Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto, who on Sunday certified his final victory in the F2 championship. The Finnish double runner-up in the world Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou, the first Chinese to race in F1, the two drivers of the Hinwil team (Switzerland) during this year, competed in their last race in the premier category on Sunday in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
