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Recent reports have indicated that Ferrari is targeting a Charles Leclerc-Lewis Hamilton dream team for the 2024 F1 season and beyond.
When the news first broke of the Italian squad targeting Hamilton, it led to more questions than answers. The first question was born of the assumption that there was a straight swap in play between the Italian and German squads.
Multiple F1 pundits and fans assumed that Lewis Hamilton would replace Charles Leclerc and partner Carlos Sainz at Ferrari.
However, by the looks of it, this is far from the case, as reported by multiple Italian publications now, Ferrari is pursuing a Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc dream team with Carlos Sainz getting the boot.
On the face of it, the coup looks highly unlikely. There are far too many factors working against it including Ferrari's poor record ever since Lewis Hamilton debuted in F1 in 2007.
Having said that, regardless of the outcome of this approach, the Italian squad deserves all kinds of respect for its latest move.
Ferrari deserves applause for the ambitious Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc bid
The team is in a no-lose situation
One thing that needs to be understood here is that Ferrari is in a no-lose situation. If the team is able to put together a dream team in the form of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, it would certainly be a step up from the current lineup.
Not only that, it will give the team the opportunity to glean knowledge from the driver that has dominated the sport in the last decade.
Having two Alfas is a concern for a team that has a championship-contending car in its garage. In no way does Ferrari have that at the moment and hence both Leclerc and Hamilton can collaborate to push the team forward.
What about assigning a lead driver for the championship? Well, the team can cross the bridge when it gets to it. For now though, with this move, Ferrari has made clear the desire of returning to the top of the sport and it deserves to be applauded.
It is daring to dream big
After Miami, Michael Schumacher's brother Ralf wrote in his weekly column that one area where Ferrari seemed to be struggling this season was its drivers.
Carlos Sainz on one side has not got on top of how to drive the car at full potential while Charles Leclerc has been pushing too hard and crashing too often this season.
There's almost a hint of complacency in Leclerc's driving where he doesn't feel threatened in any which way by his teammate. When(if?) Lewis Hamilton steps into Ferrari, all bets are off. The battle for being the Alfa on the team commences and we will see two Elite drivers pushing each other to get the best result.
This is Ferrari giving the message to Charles Leclerc that he needs to perform at his 'A-game' because the competition is ramping up in the second cockpit.
Not only that, if Lewis Hamilton is coming to Ferrari, the Italian brand is breaking the bank and offering a record salary to bring him on board. This is the sign of a team daring to dream big and not shy of spending some extra dough in order to succeed in the sport.
It is securing the present and the future
In Leclerc, Ferrari has the future of F1 within its ranks. Having said that, the young driver has still not smoothened some of the rough edges. If Lewis Hamilton joins the team, Ferrari will have a true elite of the grid within the team. Not only that, the team is hiring arguably the most successful driver in the history of the sport.
A combination of Leclerc and Hamilton is the embodiment of Ferrari securing the services of the present and the future of F1. With Hamilton in the team, Leclerc will be forced into smoothening the rough edges that have proved to be an impediment to his growth.
If Leclerc does not smooth out those edges, it's hard to doubt how much of an advantage Lewis Hamilton is going to enjoy over him in that case. What Ferrari has done now is that it has not only attempted to sign a star driver but it has also given its current driver a wake-up call to go after.
If Ferrari pulls off this coup, the team has a secured lineup for the next three to four years, most importantly, this lineup will arguably be one of the best on the grid.
In F1 one thing has not changed, if you have to be successful, you have to spend a lot of money to make it happen. Ferrari should be applauded for doing just that by forming a dream team in Hamilton and Leclerc.
