F1 | Mercedes background: Hamilton can't take engineers away

The very first phase of the Hamilton-Ferrari 'earthquake' has subsided, at least on the media front. The latest assessments have concerned some macro-effects that Lewis' arrival in Maranello could entail, including the possibility that the seven-time world champion could be followed by some trusted men with whom he has worked for years at Mercedes. We talked about the historic track engineer, Peter Bonnington (the “Bono” who became famous for team radio) as well as the track operations manager Andrew Shovlin.

Even assuming that Hamilton is of this opinion, in reality the operation will not be possible. According to what Motorsport.com has learned, in the voluminous contract that Lewis signed with Mercedes last August there is a clause that protects the team on this front. In England it is called the “non-poaching clause”, a note that is attached to managers' contracts to prevent an action aimed at inviting former colleagues to follow the same path in the event of termination of the relationship with the company, proposing employment in another workplace.

Mercedes used the same approach with Hamilton, who is expressly prohibited by contact from even proposing to his current collaborators to follow him towards Maranello starting from 2025. It is a measure that several Formula 1 teams have introduced in the contracts of the top -manager and in some cases (like this one) also of some pilots, in order to avoid hemorrhaging of personnel. Poaching (literally 'poaching') has been a topic that has long been present in the contracts of technical directors and team principals, as well as in those of top drivers, figures who can have an important influence on the team.

A similar case occurred at the end of the 2014 season. Fernando Alonso, after his divorce from Maranello and his subsequent move to McLaren, managed to be followed by the then track engineer Andrea Stella. The same operation was not possible for Sebastian Vettel (who replaced Alonso at Ferrari) because the contract signed with Red Bull included a 'poaching' clause which prevented Guillaume “Rocky” Rocquelin (Seb's engineer in the four world championship seasons) from following Vettel in his new adventure in 'red'. Obviously a transfer is always possible with the consent of all parties, but it doesn't seem like the current scenario for Mercedes, taken by surprise and certainly not enthusiastic about Hamilton's departure.