According to sources who should know, a Lewis Hamilton-to-Ferrari Formula 1 deal for 2025 is agreed. This will bring to an end an unprecedented partnership between Hamilton and Mercedes.
The 2024 season will be Hamilton’s 12th with AMG Mercedes F1 and all 17 seasons of his F1 career have been with Mercedes power.
Although he recently extended his contract with Mercedes for two years, it would now seem that the second year was an option on Hamilton’s side, leaving him free to accept the advances of John Elkann, the corporate boss of Ferrari.
Hamilton has in the past speculated that a stint at Ferrari would be a fitting way to end his career, but had since said he expected to remain with Mercedes until retirement.
Sainz is contracted at Ferrari only until the end of this year, which will be his fourth season there. During his tenure at the Scuderia he has so far scored two grand prix victories and proved an effective team-mate to Leclerc, whose contract was recently extended for several years.
A Hamilton-Leclerc line-up at Ferrari is an exciting one for F1 itself off the back of an off-season in which not a single driver changed teams. But it’s a bold move for Hamilton in competitive terms, with question marks around Ferrari’s ability to compete with Red Bull and in being measured at 40 years old directly against Leclerc, who is routinely cited as arguably the sport’s fastest driver over a single lap.
At times in 2001, Michael Schumacher’s assertion that brother Ralf was his biggest future F1 title threat didn’t look beyond the realms of possibility. One such occasion was at the Nurburgring – a race that’s the subject of the latest episode of our Bring Back V10s classic F1 podcast.
Lewis Hamilton’s bombshell move to Ferrari for the 2025 Formula 1 season is untangled in detail in the latest edition of Another champion? A ‘Bottas’ equivalent? Or a rising star? We look at the routes Mercedes might take to fill the void Lewis Hamilton will leave.
Signing Lewis Hamilton for 2025 is a major coup for Ferrari. But forget about that for a moment; Hamilton’s Mercedes exit, before he’s even had a chance to drive its latest W15, is a devastating vote of no confidence in his current F1 team.
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes seemed like a relationship that would last far beyond his Formula 1 racing career. Instead he’s off to Ferrari. Yes, it’s selfish in a way, writes Scott Mitchell-Malm, but it deserves respect above all else.
Lewis Hamilton’s shock exit from Mercedes to join Ferrari for the 2025 Formula 1 team season and beyond has been formally acknowledged by both teams.
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