Lewis Hamilton Signs Ferrari Contract for 2025 F1 Season, Will Leave Mercedes.
Legendary Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes at the end of the 2024 season and join Ferrari.
Mercedes and Hamilton confirmed the split Thursday.
“I have had an amazing 11 years with this team and I’m so proud of what we have achieved together, Hamilton said. “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 for his friendship and leadership and I want to finish on a high together. 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.”
Hamilton will replace Carlos Sainz Jr. at Ferrari, who confirmed he will part ways with the team at the end of his contract following the 2024 season.
Sainz finished seventh in the F1 standings last season, and he has finished 10th or better in each of the past seven campaigns.
Hamilton will be teammates with Charles Leclerc, who finished fifth in the standings last season following a second-place finish in 2022.
According to Sky News, Hamilton told ESPN last May that he would be “lying” if he said he didn’t ever think about driving with a team other than Mercedes before adding: “I thought about and watched the Ferrari drivers on the screens at the track and of course you wonder what it would be like to be in red.”
Hamilton made his F1 debut in 2007 for McLaren, and after six seasons with that team, during which he won an F1 title, he made the move to Mercedes in 2013.
It was there that Hamilton established himself as one of the greatest drivers in Formula One history, winning six championships in seven seasons from 2014 through 2020.
Overall, the 39-year-old is first on the F1 all-time race wins list with 103, putting him well ahead of Michael Schumacher’s 91 wins in second place.
Hamilton is also tied with Schumacher for the most career F1 points titles with seven.
While Hamilton’s place in F1 history is undeniable, the past couple of years have been a bit of a struggle for him and could explain his decision to leave for Ferrari.
Hamilton finished second in the points in 2021, followed by sixth in 2022 and third last season. While he won eight races in 2021, he has no wins in two seasons since then.
That has put Hamilton in unfamiliar territory, as he won at least one race in each of his first 15 Formula One seasons.
Hamilton is still a great driver capable of running up front and contending, but he is banking on the idea that Ferrari will help take him from contending back to winning races regularly once again.
