If anyone had Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari on their 2024 bingo card, congratulations! The seven-time world champion surprised everyone by activating his release clause from Mercedes, with Ferrari later announcing Hamilton will join the team in 2025.
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All the excitement got us thinking: Will F1 24 include Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari move?
Silly season begins
We haven’t even seen a car reveal yet in 2024 (minus McLaren’s sudden photo dump of course), yet the silly season has already begun. Lewis Hamilton is leaving Mercedes to join Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz squeezed out the door to make way.
This will no doubt trigger an entire domino effect of driver movements, with Hamilton’s replacement at the Silver Arrows surely coming from the existing F1 grid. Sainz also needs to find a new team for next year, with rumours already swirling about his destination for 2025.
With 2024 seeing no new drivers at any of the 10 teams on the grid, with the only changes being in team names, it’s at least exciting to see there will be some big movements coming next year.
This does, however, present a problem for Codemasters’ F1 series. Or does it? With drivers now on the move, this could be the catalyst for an interesting new game mechanic.
Shifting the grid
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), F1 23 has already given us a glimpse of Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari racing suit. From leaping out of his Mercedes in black before his suit transitions to red as he runs to his Ferrari mechanics, it may take some time to get used to Lewis in a new team.
Despite looking good in red, the question remains as to whether Hamilton to Ferrari will be included in F1 24.
Of course, Hamilton starts 2024 in a Mercedes, but with both Career and My Team modes spanning multiple seasons, what happens at the end of 2024 when drivers can start moving teams? As it turns out, this question may have already been answered in the Football Manager series.
Musical grid
In Football Manager 2024, players have the option to begin a new career with already-agreed transfers baked into the game. Even if that transfer isn’t happening until the end of the first season, it will still happen in this mode.
A similar system could be used in F1 24. Once a driver is confirmed to be moving teams, that transfer could be coded into the game to happen at the same time. So both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz will be programmed to leave Mercedes and Ferrari respectively at the end of the first season.
With this just being the start of the silly season, we could end up with a full game of musical grids in our career modes and the end of season one, but that extra touch of realism would definitely keep players engaged while adding a much-needed new feature to Career and My Team.
Who's ready for a Hamilton Pro Challenge in 2025?
Do you think Hamilton’s shock Ferrari move should be included in F1 24? Let us know in the comments below!
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