Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to turn to Lewis Hamilton’s former performance engineer for Manchester United’s next piece of recruitment.
The Red Devils minority owner and INEOS boss is also an investor in Hamilton’s former Mercedes team.
The 72-year-old is said to be considering hiring an engineer from the Silver Arrows’ setup to help revolutionise Old Trafford’s data analysis.
According to the BBC, Ratcliffe is eyeing Mercedes engineer Michael Sansoni, who is due to leave the F1 team at the end of the year.
The report adds that no deal has been agreed yet, but INEOS’ involvement in both should smooth the process.
Sansoni joined Mercedes in July 2014, first in race engineering, before working his way up the performance simulation ranks.
The University of Southampton undergraduate was promoted to become Hamilton’s performance engineer trackside in January 2023.
He played a key role in helping end the seven-time world champion’s 945-day wait for a race win at the British Grand Prix last summer.
Sansoni’s post-Silverstone celebrations saw him spark his own rumours that he was set to follow Hamilton in leaving for Ferrari.
Sansoni shared a picture of himself alongside Hamilton’s long-time race engineer at Mercedes, Peter Bonnington, better known as Bono.
His caption read, ‘Team Red 44,’ a reference to Hamilton’s F1 race number, but fans also thought it could be a potential nod to his switch to the Scuderia.
While it was soon cleared up that red was in fact Hamilton’s designed colour at Mercedes, with ex-teammate George Russell given blue, Sansoni is now ironically set for another team in red.
In a role reversal, it could be another building block to Hamilton’s seemingly-destined move to join forces with Ratcliffe at Man United.
The motorsport icon is expected to call time on his glittering career once his contract at Ferrari is up, and he has made no secret of his plans to expand on his business portfolio once he stops racing.
Hamilton is already a co-owner of the Denver Broncos, has a film production company and has his own fashion line.
The 40-year-old has put money into Tiger Woods’ and Rory McIlroy’s TGL indoor golf league and made an offer on a Moto GP venture.
However, the Arsenal fan has also long been keen to break into the Premier League market, having been named as part of Sir Martin Broughton’s consortium hoping to buy Chelsea in 2022 before Todd Boehly‘s BlueCo took charge.
Months later, Hamilton set up the prospect of getting in on Ratcliffe’s plans for Man United after the latter became a minority owner.
“I am very close with Jim, so I am aware of where he is at (with United),” Hamilton said ahead of the 2023 Formula One season: “We talk a lot about football as he is very passionate about it.”
“We have great discussions about what his team is doing, we talk about how Arsenal is playing.
“Obviously he is from Manchester, so that is his dream home… where he comes from. But there is no further information I can give you on that.”
Hamilton added: “Jim’s part boss but a partner – I’d say we’re more partners because we’re in this together, and I hope in future to do something with Jim and build with him.
“I don’t know where that will be or what that will be, so I can’t really say. I haven’t had a call from him asking if I want to be involved in [his United takeover bid] just yet…
“But I do want to get more and more involved in teams because I really do believe in black ownership – there is a lack of it in sports – and black equity. Again, there is a real lack of that.”
