Lewis Hamilton’s impending move to Ferrari could trigger problems within his Mercedes team this year, one of his rivals has predicted.
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez said Mercedes will be concerned about the potential for Hamilton to take sensitive information with him to his new team. Hamilton has driven for Mercedes since 2013.
“The dynamics are going to be interesting to watch from the outside,” Perez told media including RaceFans at Red Bull’s launch event last week.
“Having a driver that is moving things, we all know how jealous the teams are on sharing information. Because Lewis has been many years there I think he will be taking a lot of knowledge to another team. So that will be some interesting dynamics to watch from the outside.”
However Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said he isn’t concerned about the transfer of information which will take place when his star driver leaves at the end of the season.
“When it comes to 2025, we will evaluate later in the season what it means in terms of technical information,” said Wolff. “But that’s not something that bothers me at all.
“We have engineers that leave us and go to other teams and the notice periods are sometimes as short as six months. I don’t have any doubt in Lewis’s integrity in terms of sharing information.”
Perez is one of many F1 drivers whose contracts with their teams expire at the end of this year. He said Hamilton’s move will set the driver market in motion as it has created a vacancy at Mercedes next season.
“I’m sure that most of the drivers are going to be willing to get things done a lot earlier in the year,” he said. “But it’s just the approach you have: From my side, I’m just focusing on having a great year.”
Delivering strong results is the best way to secure a favourable driver, said Perez.
“The race always takes care of it. As long as you are performing on track, the rest always comes in play. So I’m not really bothered about it. It’s my fourth season in F1, so for me my main target is keeping it well on track.”
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Formula 1
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