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Apparently 2025 is a done deal, but a move for 2024 is not out of the cards yet. That would be pure mayhem.

Is this the end for Toto as Tp?

I did a proper double-take when I saw the headline. The 2024 silly season suddenly went from nothing to everything.

The factory has been told that Hamilton is leaving at the end of this year.

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Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

So, with that out of the way, let´s start speculating who would get the Mercedes seat.

Vandoorne has been out for too long.
Wolff can´t go a day without saying how fantastic Mick Schumacher is, but would he take the gamble to actually give him a seat?
Does anyone know what Alonso´s plans are?

suddenly everything has happened in less than 18 hours haha

funny how the Andretti thing has backlashed good for F1, Bernie might been laughing a lot reading the opinions

now about Hamilton, he's about 40, but Alonso kept his mojo well and is still capable of making it happen, let's see if Ferrari will be able to fulfill the red dream for Sir Lewis or he's just going to coach Leclerc into being the long awaited dreamed Ferrari champion built in house

about the Mercedes seat, Andrea Kimi Antonelli already has the superlicense points. Perhaps one good season in F2 is enough to promote him

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Motorsports trend for 2024: everything is a bad taste joke now

I'm sure Alonso is making calls already to inform about that Mercedes seat

Even in regards to FIA sanctioned series... in Formula E, Andretti has one championship (albeit not team, but the 2022-2023 WDC). McLaren has none.

(And yes, I know Andretti's been with Formula E a lot longer than McLaren... The Formula E championship is just an additional "wut?" data point in calling the Andretti Autosport organization “uncompetitive”. They're not just an Indy-only organization anymore and they've been quite successful in many other disciplines. But, everyone knows that "uncompetitive" wasn't the real reason FOM rejected Andretti, so...)

[tweet]https://twitter.com/fastpitstop/status/1753039186716692931[/tweet]

Yeah I know, it's Maurice Trintignant's car and his actual number, but of all the vast library of Ferraris to use...

Just have this feeling that Mercedes are gonna go after Albon for that 2nd seat. My reasoning for this is:
- Russell is still an unproven entity when it comes to fighting for a title. They're going to want someone experienced to keep him honest, but fast enough to contend for wins if Russell chokes.
- This basically rules out putting in a rookie. Let's not forget that Mercedes left Russell in Williams for 3 seasons before giving him a shot, despite him having a stellar F2 season.
- Even if they did put in a rookie (long shot given Mercedes philosophy), it would likely be Vesti over Antonelli.

It's Antonelli, pretty certain.

Something must have happened at Mercedes then.

Also, interested to see how Ferrari will bottle it and how he will handle that

Are you guys distracted yet?

Mercedes has just confirmed Hamilton will leave at the end of the season.

Strangely, for me this feels like Senna going to Ferrari finally happening

Official announcement. As expected, he triggered the optional release.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1753130989054763178[/tweet]

And Ferrari have now made it official as well.

Few interesting tidbits. Ferrari's announcement confirms it's a multi-year contract.
Sainz has also come out with his own announcement. Hard to deduce much from it, but at first glance it appears that he's been pushed out, rather than deciding to jump first. Which will make it interesting to see how he does with the team this season and the level of support/reliability.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Carlossainz55/status/1753134900129956343[/tweet]

so he's off to soon to be Audi Stake Sauber Kick former Alfa Romeo/BMW Sauber

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Motorsports trend for 2024: everything is a bad taste joke now

Hmm...