Formula 1 hits the headlines

Formula 1 is back in the news for two reasons, firstly because on February 1 it rejected the recent bid from the Andretti racing team to become part of the franchise.

No entry for Andretti

The group is headed by former McLaren driver Michael Andretti and his probably better known father Mario, was 1978 world champion.

They wanted to become the 11^th team on the F1 grid but their bid was rejected on the grounds that as they don’t have their own power unit and don’t expect partner General Motors to create one for several years, they are unlikely to be competitive.

On the same day, motor sports and then international press were buzzing with the rumour that Lewis Hamilton could be on the verge of leaving Mercedes to sign for Ferrari.

Should Hamilton move on

There has been a well-documented on-off relationship with Ferrari who have been trying to poach Hamilton for years but when he signed a new two-year contract with Mercedes in 2023 it was assumed that he was tied in until at least 2026.

It now transpires that insiders believe that the second year was only covered by an ‘in principle’ option agreement and therefore he could join Mercedes in 2025.

Any decision by Ferrari would see the departure of Carlos Sainz whose contract expires in 2024 and it may just be a coincidence that Ferrari has announced that Spanish beer brand Estrella Galicia, a long time sponsor of Sainz has now moved away.

At the time of writing, no comments have been made by either Ferrari or Mercedes.