When the going gets tough the tough show how loyal they are.
I hope he has as much success as when Michael joined Mercedes.
Ferrari should have kept Carlos
I think the situation with Carlos had become untenable for Ferrari - if he hadn't been swapped out for Lewis, he'd have been swapped out for someone else. Towards the end of last season, Sky UK got told by someone at Ferrari that Carlos was only doing things that he regarded as being to his benefit. Since he was only able to get victories if his team-mate gave an inordinate amount of assistance (in a car where said team-mate nearly won with no assistance from him), sulked when he didn't win and he nearly took Ferrari over the budget cap with crashes that were too late in the season to fully compensate (Abu Dhabi, I think, was the one that lost him his loyalists), the vacancy was inevitable. The only question was who was going to fill it.
If staying with a team for 11 years doesn't count as "loyal", then nobody on the F1 grid is loyal. Even Verstappen hasn't been with the same group that long yet (if we're counting the entire Red Bull system as the group to which he's loyal), and he's got the next-best claim on the grid. Sometimes one has to mix things up otherwise one might as well walk. Maybe it'll work and maybe it won't, but at least he's likely to not time his crashes quite so awkwardly (on the basis that he rarely crashes in the first place). He's also capable of independently winning if the car's good enough.
As for the moaning… point taken. However, one cannot have everything.
What this brings up is the question....why is this being announced now...before we have even seen the 2024 car launches?
There is still a whole lot to mileage to be driven before this event so why now?
What advantage will this give Lewis this year? Or Ferrari?
There must be a psychological advantage to this for Lewis that will help him.
Lewis is all about mentally winning before a wheel has turned.
It also make me ask how he will now be treated by Merc in 2024?
The advantage is the the seat was still available and secrets aren't easy to hide at Ferrari. Especially with Carlos' circle apparently leaking this one several hours in advance as it was. (They clearly kept it secret for some time, though, because Lewis had time to tell Toto the day before. For Ferrari there was the additional advantage of not having to waste time coming up with excuses to not negotiate further with a driver that it didn't want (and risk having it spoilered weeks/months ahead of schedule and angering the Italian press).
Now everyone can concentrate on 2024, except for Carlos (who would have had to have pursued a 2025 drive anyway - he simply gets more options, including the Mercedes seat that's probably a better fit for him in any case. Carlos' ways are a good fit for a team that thinks in the British style, in a way that they didn't fit especially well at Ferrari. If Carlos plays his cards right, he'll be happier and better off for this too).
I think Liberty is quite happy about this, but on sober reflection might have preferred the revelation to be next week (because in the circles I'm in, the Horner situation is causing more material damage than the Andretti rejection).
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