In the aftermath of the shocking news of Lewis Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari, many names have already been linked to the Mercedes seat that becomes vacant in 2025. One surprising name has come forward (with a joke) for the Formula 1 seat: David Coulthard.

Coulthard applies for F1 seat Hamilton

In the past, Coulthard has also jokingly applied for a seat at the then AlphaTauri (now Visa Cash App RB F1 Team), Red Bull Racing’s sister team. So now he reports to Toto Wolff’s team: “Heard you might be looking for an experienced driver next year,” he addresses the team directly in a post on Instagram.

Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari F1 mailbag: What can we expect from the champion in red?

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Formula One fans, how’s your blood pressure after last week?

We went from F1 rejecting Andretti’s entry for 2025 or 2026 to the blockbuster news of Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025. Carlos Sainz, at no fault of his own, became collateral damage and will be a prime target for what was already anticipated to be a busy silly season.

So where does that leave us? The move raises many questions, but one thing is for sure. Once we get past 2024’s 24 grands prix and six sprint races, it’ll be the end of an era. Hamilton will have spent 12 years with Mercedes, and the duo of Sainz and Charles Leclerc formed one of the stronger, more complete driver pairings on the grid.

We got plenty of questions for our post-news mailbag, so buckle up as we dig into the storyline that’ll likely dominate the next couple F1 seasons.

You’re correct in highlighting the enduring appeal of Ferrari, something that would undoubtedly have been a big part of Hamilton’s decision. All drivers will dream at one stage or another of driving those famous red cars someday. So few get to realize that dream.

But it’s still a shock that Hamilton is doing it now, particularly after building such strong ties with Mercedes for close to two decades. He won his first world title for McLaren in 2008 when it was the Mercedes works team, then jumped ship to the Mercedes factory team (which returned to F1 in 2010) for 2013. Their on-track success aside, off-track, Hamilton has always spoken of the team as a family, as well as embarking on significant charitable initiatives together like Mission 44 and Ignite.

The timing is also the shocking part of this. Hamilton has made the decision before even turning a wheel in this year’s Mercedes car, and with no firm idea of how it will stack up against the competitive order. Ultimately, it didn’t matter: Ferrari’s pull was too strong. The idea of Hamilton racing for Ferrari was always regarded as a great ‘what if?’ in F1 circles. Now we’ll get the answer.

Verstappen to Ferrari? Funnily enough, it’s something Fred Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal, was asked about in December. “If you ask the same question to the 10 team principals down the grid, that everybody would say that we would be pleased at one stage to welcome Max into the team,” Vasseur said, before joking: “I think he has a contract until 2045!” (2028, actually, but yes, a long time!)

I personally can’t see Verstappen ever leaving Red Bull. Then again, until last week, I couldn’t ever see Hamilton leaving Mercedes, either! Ferrari being Ferrari, that appeal will always be there. — Luke Smith

The timing of Hamilton’s decision and announcement does set up a really intriguing dynamic going into this season. Right from the car launch planned for Feb. 14, so many of the questions are going to surround his future departure, and how Mercedes lays plans for the post-Hamilton era at Brackley.

But there is still a full season to run. The team has already promised a significant redesign of its car for 2024, which it believes has dialed out some of the worst traits of last year’s model. It’ll want to give everything to maximize whatever performance it has this year, meaning there must remain a high degree of professionalism in everything it does.

It’ll be towards the end of the season that Hamilton starts to find himself moving to the fringes of the team. The meetings he’ll have been an integral part of for the past decade will take place without him, instead focusing on Russell, whom Wolff talked up on Friday as being the next leader for the team.

There won’t be preferential treatment, per se, but I’m intrigued what happens if (or when) Hamilton and Russell have their first close moment on-track. It happened a few times last year, something Russell put down to them being so closely matched for pace. The fact of a driver leaving could mean there’s an extra bit of subtext, regardless of how fairly the team handles things.

Mercedes is focusing on the future – and it’s one Hamilton has decided to not be part of. That’s going to be felt particularly in the closing stages of the year when those plans start to become a priority. — Luke Smith

I feel badly for Carlos Sainz. Where will he end up? Simply Mercedes? Or will there be some major musical chairs going on? — Tom S. 

As things stand, the drivers market for next season should be a hot one. But this was true before the Hamilton-to-Ferrari move was announced. Numerous contracts are set to expire at the end of the 2024 season, but while there are options for major musical chairs to happen, it’s not a guarantee.

Sainz is expected to be a prime player in the upcoming silly season. The two-time grand prix winner is one of the more complete drivers and proven to be more than capable of competing for a top team.

A simple seat swap could be an option, though it’s worth noting 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli is rising through the ranks. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff did say, “I always like change because change provides opportunity. I’m really looking forward to taking the right decisions for the team together with my colleagues in who’s going to be in the seat next year. Maybe it’s a chance to do something bold.”

But there are other options for Sainz, like Sauber, which will become Audi in 2026 and was previously Alfa Romeo. The team did struggle last season and largely flew under the radar, slipping back to ninth in the constructor standings with the duo of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu securing 16 points. With Audi’s arrival coming in the near future, the team could build around Sainz. But there’s a more personal element to this prospect: Carlos Sainz Sr. won Audi its first Dakar Rally victory in January.

One key thing to remember is that the younger Sainz thrives off of stability, and he’ll likely seek a multi-year contract. — Madeline Coleman

What does this year look like? A lame duck season? Does Russell have more pull in the organization? — Danny H.

Let’s start with the last question of this trio. Russell doesn’t just have more pull at Mercedes starting now, he’s the new leader of this team. When asked about this, Wolff basically jumped past the question, signaling how obvious it is. “I couldn’t wish for a better team leader when Lewis leaves, no doubt about that,” he said of Russell. “We have such a solid foundation, such a quick and talented and intelligent guy in the car. We just need to make the right choice for the second seat.”

It’s a prospect Russell will surely relish. He’s not much for deferring to Hamilton’s seniority on track, and while the older Brit outscored him in 2023, Russell had the upper hand in 2022. He’s also the one of the pair who’s won a grand prix in the past two seasons, topping the podium in Brazil in 2022 (and having a real shot at victory in Singapore this past year). As Luke noted in his answer above, this will be a gradual handoff, with Hamilton starting to pull out of meetings later in the season, and Russell taking his place.

As to the lame duck season, I don’t expect Hamilton to bring any less effort to regaining his glorious past than he has the past two years. It seems the switch is less about leaving Mercedes than it is joining Ferrari, so even if he’s not in every meeting or playing a role in every decision, Hamilton will be looking to win. — Alex Davies

How seriously is Hamilton going to challenge Verstappen? — Danny H.

I’ll echo what I said in our The Pulse newsletter over the weekend: kind of seriously? Maybe? But not this year, or 2025.

Hamilton will be 41 in 2026. Fernando Alonso is proof that age doesn’t always beat talent and a good car in motorsports. The key is the F1 design rules. When they last changed in 2022, Red Bull nailed their car design better than anyone. The rest of the grid is catching up, no doubt. Get ready for most of the 2024 car designs to look like Red Bull’s 2023 car concept. It’s natural for the competition to tighten up toward the end of a development cycle. So it’s possible that we will see Hamilton and Ferrari make Verstappen and Red Bull sweat a little in their first season. I think a championship in year one is a bit much to hope for, though.

Everyone’s looking at the next design rule set in 2026 as the chance to end Verstappen’s dominance. By then, Ferrari will have had a 41-year-old Hamilton in the seat for a full year. Hamilton is a unique talent, fueled by losing his eighth title to Verstappen in 2021. So, to answer your question again, the unique, potent combination of Hamilton and Ferrari is something we have to take seriously. The seriousness of their challenge to Red Bull, though, comes down to the next two years of design and development — for both teams. If Ferrari can give Hamilton a great car, it could be all to play for.