HARDEST DECISION:  After an incredible 11 years at Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team it’s time for Hamilton to start a new chapter in his life

By Ali Mphaki

Lewis Hamilton has taken to social media to offer some more background on his headline-making decision to swap Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of this year, describing it as “the chance to fulfil another childhood dream”.

Hamilton had signed a new deal with Mercedes last summer to keep him at the team through 2025 but recently activated a release clause in his contract to depart one year early and join Ferrari on a multi-year agreement.  It’s a move that sent shockwaves through the sport, with fans, paddock personalities and even Hamilton’s current team boss, Toto Wolff, taken aback by the developments.

Writing on Instagram, Hamilton reiterated that his call to leave Mercedes was “the hardest I’ve ever had to make”, and that he will forever be grateful for his time with the Silver Arrows, where he has claimed six of his seven world titles.

“It’s been a crazy few days which have been filled with a whole range of emotions,” said Hamilton. “But as you all now know, after an incredible 11 years at Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, the time has come for me to start a new chapter in my life and I will be joining Scuderia Ferrari in 2025.

“I feel incredibly fortunate, after achieving things with Mercedes that I could only have dreamed of as a kid, that I now have the chance to fulfil another childhood dream. Driving in Ferrari red.

“Mercedes has been a huge part of my life since I was 13 years old, so this decision has been the hardest I’ve ever had to make. “I’m incredibly proud of all that we’ve achieved together and I’m very grateful for the hard work and dedication of everyone I have worked with over the years and of course Toto, for his friendship, guidance and leadership.

“Together we have won titles, broken records and become the most successful Driver-Team partnership in F1 history. And of course I cannot forget Niki [Lauda, former Mercedes Non-Executive Chairman] who was a huge supporter and who I still miss every day.

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO FORMULA 1

Our beginner’s guide provides all you need to know about the F1 race weekend formats, explaining how they work and looking at how they have developed since the World Championship began in 1950.

How does a Grand Prix weekend work?

The standard Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend sees each event take place over three days – typically Friday through Sunday. On Friday, there are two one-hour practice sessions – Free Practice 1 (FP1) and Free Practice 2 (FP2).

Saturday starts with Free Practice 3 (FP3). This final hour-long practice session gives the teams more time to fine-tune their set-ups before parc ferme conditions begin and most work on the car is banned.

Qualifying takes place on Saturday afternoon, and is split into three stages – Q1, Q2 and Q3 – which last 18 minutes, 15 minutes and 12 minutes respectively.

The five slowest drivers are eliminated after Q1, before five more drop out from Q2 – thereby setting the grid positions from 20th up to 11th.

The ten remaining drivers head into Q3 to determine the top 10 grid slots, with the fastest driver taking pole position for Sunday’s race.

@NEXT WEEK What happens in an F1 Grand Prix?

MOTORING:

Briefs

FUEL PUMP PAINS

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe, Tuesday announced the adjustment of fuel prices for February 2024, which shows consumers will now pay 75 cents more for a litre of unleaded petrol of both grades (93 and 95), while the wholesale price of diesel will go up by between 70 cents and 73 cents.

The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will be increased by 53 cents a litre and the maximum retail price for LP gas is going up by 37 cents per kg.

ONE AUDI RS6 AVANT GT FOR SA

The Audi RS6 Avant GT is lauded as the pinnacle of the model series and is distinguished by a slurry of carbon fibre components and styling cues based on the 90 IMSA GTO concept.  Mated to an eight-speed transmission, the bellowing eight-cylinder powerplant allows the hefty passenger haulier the ability to rocket from a standstill to 100 km/h in 3.3 seconds.

Only 660 examples of the RS6 Avant GT model will be built  and only one of these units will make its way to South Africa.-CARMag

TOYOTA NO-GO ICE

Toyota has reaffirmed it is developing new internal combustion engines as it sees battery-electric vehicle sales limited ‘regardless of technical advances’.

Speaking at the Toyota Group Vision Briefing in Nagoya, Japan, Toyota chairman and CEO Akio Toyoda said as one of only three ‘full-line’ automotive manufacturers globally, the car maker had to assess the ‘energy status’ of customers around the world.  That assessment has concluded that battery electric vehicles will only make up approximately 30 per cent of sales “regardless of technical advances”.-DRIVE

JEEP GOES WAGONEERS

Jeep announced plans to launch its first US-bound electric vehicle, the Wagoneer S, in the fall of 2024.

To go along with the announcement, the brand released a short teaser video, a single image of the car, and a couple of impressive stats: 600 horsepower and a 0-60 time of “around” 3.5 seconds.

The SUV will go on sale in the US first before hitting “key markets around the world” later on.-motor1.com

FROM INDIA WITH LOVE

In 2023 a whopping 42% of all passenger cars sold in South Africa were imported from India, according to statistics released by Toyota recently. This represents a huge increase from the 28% recorded five years earlier in 2019.

The third biggest source country for local cars was China, its representation growing from 3% to 9% in five years, while Germany was down from 10% to 6% over the same period. Spain grew from 3% to 4% while South Korea dipped from 7% to 3%.-IOL

ZIM TOYOTA LAND

Toyota Zimbabwe has more than doubled its market share in the country over the last three years, NewZimbabwe.com can report.

According to data compiled by the motor industry, the Toyota brand has maintained a larger new vehicle market share since 2019 whilst Ford has maintained the least market share from 2018 to 2021. The top four motor brands in Zimbabwe during this period are; Nissan, Ford, Toyota, and Isuzu.

ONE MORE THING…

Germany’s Autobahn is, for many, the only public roads in the world where drivers can flex their car engines without risking a huge fine.

But, as one BMW driver found out this month, that doesn’t mean you can get away with everything. The 26-year-old was caught doing 81 kilometres an hour in a 70 zone in Kulmbach, Bavaria.

The normal punishment? A very manageable 20 euro fine ($32 AUD)  However, a split-second decision to give the middle finger to the speed camera saw that fine thrown out the window.

Oberfranken Police decided they wanted to remind the driver of the importance of good manners.