Lewis Hamilton is to make a shock move to join Ferrari in 2025 after breaking his 11-year partnership with Mercedes. The seven-time Formula One world champion has agreed a deal with the Scuderia after activating a release clause in his contract.
The 39-year-old has been linked with a potential move to Ferrari in the past but has repeatedly insisted he would stay with Mercedes, suggesting he would see out his career with the team and then take on an ambassadorial role with them.
However, after reports in Italy revealed he was in advanced talks with Ferrari, the Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, and the technical director, James Allison, called a meeting with staff at 2pm on Thursday.
Hamilton is known to have had discussions with the Ferrari chief executive, John Elkann, who has made his desire to bring him to the Scuderia clear and the team admitted they had held discussions with Hamilton about the chances of the British driver joining them in 2019.
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Mercedes confirmed Hamilton’s departure at 7pm UK time on Thursday, saying the driver had activated a release option in his contract. Ferrari confirmed Hamilton’s switch “on a multi-year” contract” shortly afterwards.
Hamilton said: “I have had an amazing 11 years with this team and I’m so proud of what we have achieved together. Mercedes has been part of my life since I was 13 years old. It’s a place where I have grown up, so making the decision to leave was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make.
“But the time is right for me to take this step and I’m excited to be taking on a new challenge. I will be forever grateful for the incredible support of my Mercedes family, especially Toto [Wolff] for his friendship and leadership and I want to finish on a high together.
“I am 100 per cent committed to delivering the best performance I can this season and making my last year with the Silver Arrows one to remember.”
Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal, said in a statement: “In terms of a team-driver pairing, our relationship with Lewis has become the most successful the sport has seen, and that’s something we can look back on with pride; Lewis will always be an important part of Mercedes motorsport history.
“However, we knew our partnership would come to a natural end at some point, and that day has now come. We accept Lewis’s decision to seek a fresh challenge, and our opportunities for the future are exciting to contemplate. But for now, we still have one season to go, and we are focused on going racing to deliver a strong 2024.”
Hamilton concluded a new contract with Mercedes in August last year to extend his deal with the team through 2024 and 2025.
Hamilton has been with Mercedes since 2013 and won six of his seven world championships with the team. However, since 2022 their car has been well off the pace of the dominant Red Bull and he has been unable to challenge for the title. He has made his disappointment and frustration at their performance clear but always insisted that he was confident the team would come back. This season they are bringing an entirely new design to attempt to bridge the gap.
A move to Ferrari will not guarantee success, however. They too have struggled under the new regulations, finishing third in the constructors’ championship last year, behind Red Bull and Mercedes. They have not won a drivers’ title since Kimi Raikkonen did so in 2007 and have not won a constructors’ championship since 2008.
At the Monaco GP last year Hamilton responded to rumours about a move to Ferrari by denying he had been in talks with the team. However after his new contract with Mercedes was announced he did concede he was already thinking of his future in the sport. “In terms of long-term, I’m thinking about my next contract, what that will look like, how long that will be. I plan to be here for a while,” he said. – Guardian
