Before this weekend’s race, a Monaco-based magazine celebrated Lewis Hamilton’s upcoming transfer to Ferrari on its front cover, but not everyone liked the artwork.
The front page of a Monaco magazine featuring Lewis Hamilton dressed like a Ferrari has drawn criticism from Formula 1 fans.
The April–June 2024 issue of The Monegasque magazine has an illustration on the cover showing Hamilton and Charles Leclerc as kids sporting Ferrari race suits. On the Grand Prix track in front of the Monte Carlo casino, they are teasing each other with toys.
It is obviously a reference to the news that Hamilton, a resident of Monaco, will be competing for Ferrari alongside Leclerc, who represents the small nation, starting in the upcoming season. The Monaco Formula One race this weekend is the first to take place in the principality since news broke that Hamilton would be joining the Italian team.
However, he is still a Mercedes driver for the time being, and Carlos Sainz drives alongside Leclerc. Owing to that circumstance, some readers have taken issue with the magazine’s choice to completely omit the Spaniard.
Someone said on social media, “This is really disrespectful to Carlos Sainz.” Before Hamilton officially completes his move, another person said it was “in very poor taste” to ignore Sainz, and a third person said it was “totally unnecessary” to depict Hamilton as a Ferrari driver.
“The cover itself is neat, beautiful, if they were patient and saved it for next year, they’d be needing to print extra copies,” a fan wrote, complaining that the cover had been used a year too soon. But now it seems even more repulsive and useless. An excellent illustration of how poorly chosen timing can sabotage something positive.”
However, not everyone thought it was a huge deal. “I don’t get the outrage as long as Ferrari isn’t doing it,” a fan commented. According to what I understand, it’s a local magazine or newspaper, so they can publish anything they want.” Someone else proposed that the magazine might have just decided to be “deliberately provocative”.
Toto Wolff, the team manager, needs Hamilton to perform at the highest level as he will be competing in his final Monaco race as a Mercedes driver this coming weekend. “The little step forward we took in Imola was encouraging,” stated the Austrian. Our latest updates were successfully implemented by the team after much hard work, and there was a noticeable improvement in performance. Having said that, others have also advanced.
“There is still a lot of work to be done because we are still lagging behind the top three teams. Still, we have a clear course to follow and exciting things in store. Now that we have a stronger foundation upon which to build, we are optimistic that we can eventually pull ahead of the pack.
“This weekend in Monaco, that work continues. The team and drivers will find this particular circuit to be an amazing challenge. Although it is never easy to forecast performance, we will aim to maximize the car we have and have a clean weekend.”
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