Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton stunned the motorsports world on Thursday by announcing that he will leave Mercedes at the end of the current season to join Ferrari. Ferrari had made attempts to sign Hamilton before his most recent contract extension with the Silver Arrows. It wasn’t until the end of August that Hamilton and Mercedes agreed to a two-year extension. The 39-year-old British driver’s new contract has a release clause that allows him to join Ferrari in 2025, according to Mercedes, which was activated on Thursday. “I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished as a team, and I have had an incredible 11 years with this group. Since I was thirteen years old, Mercedes has been a part of my life, Hamilton stated in a team statement. “Leaving was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make because it is a place where I have grown up.” However, I’m eager to take on a new challenge and I feel that the time is right for me to make this move.
Following his 2013 switch from McLaren to Mercedes, Hamilton won six of his seven championships with the Silver Arrows. His 103 race wins set a record in Formula One, but his last triumph came in the season’s penultimate race in 2021, as Mercedes has been unable to match rival Red Bull’s new car’s speed. Hamilton’s move was first reported early on Thursday, but the teams didn’t respond to the rumors until later in the day. After Hamilton and team principal Toto Wolff finally confirmed Hamilton’s departure, Mercedes released a statement. Shortly after, Ferrari released a statement announcing that Lewis Hamilton would join the team in 2025 for several years.
Hamilton acceptance
After switching from McLaren to Mercedes in 2013, Hamilton has won six of his seven world titles there during a time when both the driver and the team have rewritten the record books in Formula One. Hamilton turned 39 in January and will be 40 when he begins his new career in Italy. George Russell has a contract in place to fill Hamilton’s vacancy until the end of 2025, so Mercedes will now start looking for his replacement. “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,” said Toto Wolff, manager of Mercedes.
Hamilton and Ferrari finally tying the knot
There have been sporadic rumors for years about a high-profile marriage between the most famous driver in Formula One and its most famous team, but Hamilton’s decision to sign a two-year Mercedes contract extension last August seemed to end their hopes of becoming husband and wife. Hamilton will turn 41 on August 31. Although Hamilton owns a Ferrari road car and has expressed admiration for the brand and its history in the past, he had previously stated that he would be happy if his record-breaking career ended without him behind the wheel of the most recognizable red car in sports history.
In 2019, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes gave a perceptive response to the question of whether he would feel unfulfilled if he never drove for Ferrari. Hamilton’s connection to Mercedes began in 1998, when, at the age of 13, he joined McLaren, a team that was then partially owned by Mercedes. In 2019, Hamilton acknowledged that “when you are part of Mercedes you are part of a family for a lifetime, provided you stay with them” and discussed the significance of those enduring relationships. However, he also made a caveat: “Loyalty is a very, very key part but if there’s a point in my life where I decide that I want a change then that [joining Ferrari] could potentially be an option.”
“Dedicated”
Hamilton, who feels he was denied an eighth championship that would have placed him ahead of Ferrari great Michael Schumacher, has never concealed his rage over the Abu Dhabi incident from 2021. He has expressed his dissatisfaction with the Mercedes’s performance over the past two years, and he thinks a transfer to Ferrari will allow him to rekindle his pursuit of the elusive history-making championship. Even though they appeared to pick up steam toward the end of the previous season, Ferrari has also had inconsistent results in recent seasons. Mercedes beat them to second place in the constructors’ championship, behind Red Bull, despite that improvement.
“I will be forever grateful for the incredible support of my Mercedes family, especially Toto for his friendship and leadership and I want to finish on a high together,” Hamilton stated. “I am 100% committed to delivering the best performance I can this season and making my last year with the Silver Arrows, one to remember.”