F1 pundit rejects suggestions of Lewis Hamilton attracting Adrian Newey to Ferrari

F1 pundit Ted Kravitz has dismissed suggestions that Lewis Hamilton signing up for Ferrari could entice Adrian Newey from Red Bull. Ever since the Mercedes driver announced that he would be moving away from the German squad and towards the Italian squad, rumors have gone into overdrive.

There have been claims that multiple key personnel from Mercedes are coming along with Lewis Hamilton. At the same time, claims have been made that Ferrari could now prove to be an attractive proposition for Adrian Newey and could trigger a move away from Red Bull. Newey, on his part, has been approached multiple times by the Italians.

Whether it was due to the timing or his loyalty to Red Bull, he never moved away. When Ted Kravitz was asked in a Sky Sports Q&A segment whether Lewis Hamilton could entice a move from Adrian Newey, he declined any such thing happening as he claimed that a driver is not the determining factor for Newey. He said:

“No, I don’t think who’s driving the Ferrari is the motivating factor for Newey. He’s had many opportunities to join Ferrari in the past. Nothing’s impossible, he might join them in the future, but I don’t think it’s got anything to do with which driver is in the car."

He added:

“I think it’s more factors like where he lives, communication with the team, and potential freedoms for him to do his work are more important to Adrian than designing a car for Lewis or Max [Verstappen], or whoever.”

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Kravitz on Lewis Hamilton's last-year dynamics at Mercedes

With Lewis Hamilton already announcing that he's leaving Mercedes for Ferrari and with a season to run, questions have been raised over how the dynamics between the driver and the team are going to be. There have been suggestions that Hamilton could get alienated as the team tries to keep its secrets safe. Kravitz felt that something like this was a non-issue. He said (via Sky Sports Q&A segment):

“I wouldn’t have imagined that there were many meetings that he will expect to be in that he’ll be frozen out of. He’ll be in all the meetings he needs to be to progress this year’s car. But he wouldn’t expect to be in a planning meeting for 2025, so he won’t be."

He added:

“So I think this one will work itself out quite easily. I don’t think there’ll be many times when they’re in an engineering briefing at a racetrack and they stop and say, ‘Right at this point, Lewis, you can leave the room.’ It’s just not going to happen because they’re going to be fighting until Abu Dhabi to try to win as many races with Lewis and George [Russell], as possible. And I think they respect him plenty.”

2024 will end an 11-year association between Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. It will be interesting to see what happens this year as they try to end the partnership on a high note.