As it is still winter break there has yet to be a race to comment on. However, there have been a lot of new updates that have broken since the last blog.

Starting with the car launches that we have seen so far, Haas was the first to show off their new vehicle for the season. The car for the most part looks the same as their 2023 livery, but we will see if it still performs the same at pre-season testing. Next, we saw launches from Williams and Stake. The big difference here was the new neon green present on the Stake car. And finally, the Alpine car made its debut, looking almost identical to the 2023 car. Overall, the launches have been uneventful, and the main teams will be set to reveal later in the month.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton – 2025 and 2026 Ferrari teammatesThe biggest news this week so far has been the announcement of Lewis Hamilton’s switch from Mercedes to Ferrari in 2025. Changes in contracts and negotiations are usually set to occur during the summer break, thus it being dubbed “silly season”. So, the announcement of the big switch came as a surprise to everyone. Lewis Hamilton has been loyal to Mercedes since 2007, and six of his 7 world championships were won with them. It was inevitable that he eventually made the switch to a different team, but to me, Ferrari was a surprising choice. Ferrari has had a terrible track record for the past couple of years when it comes to strategy and car design. They have been weak and usually have many hiccups during the season. On the other hand, it is a very powerful and special team to drive for. All of the greats have driven for Ferrari at some point in their life, and it will forever be one of the, if not the, largest names in Formula One. If Lewis is at the end of his career, which I suspect he is, driving for Ferrari would be an invaluable experience. The announcement of this move affected many more besides Lewis. The news came as a complete shock for Ferrari’s second driver Carlos Sainz. His contract only extended to the end of 2024, so currently, he is without a seat for 2025. Since Lewis made the announcement so early Carlos will have to drive the entire season knowing his seat is being taken away no matter what at the end of the year. This always has a great impact on the performance of drivers, and Ferrari should have considered that before making the announcement. Most importantly this leaves a much-wanted seat open at Mercedes. Rumors have circulated about who will occupy the open seat, but the one I have seen that sounds the most accurate is Fernando Alonso. Alonso is one of the greatest drivers in the sport, and while many argue that he should be retiring soon, I think he would be a fantastic option to fill the seat while they look for a rookie to join. George Russell their current second driver to Lewis Hamilton has only been in F1 for a short period, so an older driver would most likely benefit him. Now there have been rumors circulating that the contract Mercedes gave Lewis for 2025 was a 1-year contract with no ambassador seat. The one Ferrari proposed was a 3-year contract with an ambassador role. If this is true then it is obvious why Lewis made his decision, and Mercedes made a huge mistake losing one of the greatest drivers of all time.

Just after the Lewis announcement rumors started to come out about Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner. Red Bull launched an internal investigation into a claim of inappropriate behavior an employee made about Horner. It is unclear what the behavior was, but there seems to be strong evidence against Horner. The most recent update is that Horner has voluntarily stepped down from his role as team principal of Red Bull racing.