I don't often see motorsports news posted here but reading the headlines that Lewis Hamilton is set to drive for Ferrari in 2025 I am once again pondering something that has been on my mind a lot watching our rivals win a championship. How far would you let your team go to win a championship?

For context Lewis Hamilton is the winningest driver in the sport with a joint 7 championships alongside Michael Schumacher. Being a lifelong Ferrari fan and admitted Hamilton hater this news is taking some time to process. My formative memories of being a sports fan were from watching F1 with my grandpa in the early 2000s and being amazed by the bright scarlet car driven by Schumacher as he would inevitably win every race it seemed. Michael would eventually retire with a total of 7 world championships and be recognized as one of the greatest drivers off all time.

Since then it has been rough going for Ferrari as our last drivers championship came in 2007 followed by our last teams championship in 08. A drought that was kicked off by Lewis himself, winning his first championship in just his second year. McLaren would then fall off during the early 2010s during the time Michael Schumacher returned to represent his country driving for the newly formed Mercedes team until he would unfortunately have a major skiing accident in 2012 from which he is still recovering with few details known of the extent. Mercedes the following year brought in Hamilton to fill the vacant seat to moderate success in 2013. 2014 brought a new hybrid engine to the F1 grid, of which Mercedes developed a monster and would go on to win the next 8 team championships, Lewis would see the most success adding 6 championships of his own and being the first driver to pass 100 wins. Ferrari would mount occasional challenges, particularly in 2018 but poor team management and driver errors left them settling for second, and we all know what that means in racing. A new regulation change for 2022 has seen Ferrari somewhat gain the advantage over Mercedes but both have been overshadowed by the newly dominant Red Bull Honda.

While I will always be a ferrari fan, they are second only to Buckeye football for me, I cannot help but feel a betrayal in bringing in someone who has been such a fierce rival and source of disappointment for the entirety of his career. While the team dynamics of F1 are a bit different than most other team sports I still have to make the choice to root for my team knowing I will also be rooting for my heroes legacy to be passed by my biggest rival.

I am left wondering what a similar scenario could be to make me question my Buckeye fandom and what are some of your ideas of a realistic player or coach change that would push your limits of team loyalty?