(all objects shown actual size)
Hambone posted the über-dramatic photo of himself (above, left) with the F-40. Note the trademark narrowed gaze, stern grimmace, Godfather-esque wide stance, overcoat-over-the-shoulders and theatrically clasped hands. I've not seen anyone who is needlessly famous working this hard at pretending to be a tough guy since Justin Beiber.
On seeing this absurd bit of self-promotion, Jeremy Clarkilton (as he then spelled it) countered with the image at right.
Jezza is almost as big a fan of Hambone as am I. Almost. Regarding the move the the Scuderia, he said ...
“Lewis Hamilton is past his prime. He blamed his car for his tail-end qualifying session but his teammate, George Russell, was on the front row. Of course, it’s possible that because Lewis is moving to Ferrari next year, the team are filling his fuel tank with lemon barley water instead of petrol, but that seems unlikely. It’s far more probable that he’s now too old.”
Or maybe because he was never that good to start with, and for six seasons he was gifted with a car so fast that no one apart from his own teammate ever stood a chance of catching him.
But in all likelihood, the truth will come out, sooner rather than later.
It's awfully quiet around here, so ....
Jacky Ickx says that Hambone is a DEI hire at Ferrari.
Of course Ickx is more diplomatic about it, saying that "...Ferrari were tempted to sign Hamilton, probably for marketing reasons...."
"For marketing reasons." "Probably." But what is it that's unique about Hambone that makes him so "marketable?"
He's not the reigning World Driving Champion, so it can't be that.
Not only is he not the fastest driver in F1 (only coming 7th in WDC for the 2024 season), he wasn't even the fastest driver on his own team (finishing the season 9% of points adrift of his teammate, despite the teammate getting zero points at Spa--which he initially had won--DQ'd for his car being 3.3 lbs too light, which was no fault of his), so it can't be that either.
And his music is crap. Of course all cRap is crap, so it's not likely that, either.
So I am hard put to come up with any reason why Ferrari finds him so attractive, apart from the fact that he sells more hair care product and hippity-hop clothes than anyone else in F1. Which comes to the point that Lewis is a DEI hire. If Ickx is right, Ferrari hired him for his ethnicity (even if Jacky didn't phrase it as such).
Which also means Maranello won't be too disappointed if Hambone doesn't win his eighth WDC while wearing their livery because his driving prowess wasn't their principal motivation for hiring him (that, after all, is what Leclerc is for).
And in case you weren't watching, he's already wadded up his first Ferrari F1 car, a serous enough crash that he felt obligated to point out that he didn't get knocked out. And it's not even February yet.