Reports claim that Lewis Hamilton won’t be able to work with one of the key figures from Mercedes when he joins Ferrari. These reports were about Mercedes’ former chief technical officer Mike Elliott not being on Ferrari’s radar as the Italian team aims to reform their technical team’s structure.
Back in October 2023, Mercedes announced that Elliott would leave the team after that season and go on a break before finding his next challenge in the world of motorsport. There had been no news about the British engineer for a while after that.
In 2024, however, rumors about Elliott being linked with Ferrari started to pick up pace. As Frederic Vassuer gradually reinvigorated the Italian team’s technical department, reports from Scuderia Fans claimed that he could also lure in the former Mercedes man, particularly to replace Ferrari’s technical director Enrico Cardile.
Hamilton was also moving to Ferrari in 2025, and many reports talked about how the seven-time world champion could have a familiar face in the Italian team when he joins them in 2025.
For almost all his career, Hamilton has worked with Elliott. When the British driver first joined F1 with McLaren, Elliott was in the team as head aerodynamic leader. When Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013, the engineer was already in the Silver Arrows as head of aerodynamics.
According to a recent report in the Formu1a.uno, Elliott is a free agent at the moment, and he has not been on Ferrari’s radar. The report added that Vasseur had no interest in Elliott.
Je cite l'article : "Mike Elliott est la figure principale actuellement vacante, mais l'ancien DT de Mercedes n'était pas sur le radar de Ferrari et nous pouvons exclure qu'il y soit entré, il n'y a pas d'intérêt de Vasseur."
— Scuderia Ferrari FRA (@FerrariF1FRA) August 13, 2024
As of now, neither Elliott nor anybody else has announced anything about the engineer’s future in F1.
Lewis Hamilton’s former F1 team member on taking a brief break after leaving Mercedes
Back in October 2023, Lewis Hamilton’s former Mercedes confidante Mike Elliott talked about how he would like to take a brief break from working, as part of Mercedes’ announcement of his departure at the end of the 2023 season.
In the team’s official statement, he thanked the team for 12 long and successful years. He added that would decide his future in motorsport after a short break, especially since he has been working continuously for 23 years.
“I have decided that now is the right time to make my next step beyond Mercedes – first to pause and take stock, after 23 years of working flat-out in this sport, and then to find my next challenge. I would like to thank my team-mates for a fantastic 12 seasons together and wish them every success for the years to come,” Elliott said.
Elliott is considered one of the top engineers in F1. He worked with Mercedes for 12 years, in which he helped the team create some of the most dominant cars in history. He played a major role in the team, being part of all eight of their world championships.
In 2012, he joined the team as head of aerodynamics. In 2017, he replaced Geoff Willis as technology director of the team. Eventually, he replaced James Allison to take the technical director post at the team in 2021.