It was the end of an era and the biggest driver change in Formula One history.
After 12 seasons, six world titles and 82 race wins, Lewis Hamilton leaves Mercedes for Ferrari.
This is a day that most people thought would never come. Hamilton himself said last year that he wanted to stay at Mercedes “until my last days” and that there was “nowhere I’d rather be”.
But the attraction of a move to Ferrari in 2025, announced on Thursday, was too strong for the seven-time champion, who is seeking a record-breaking eighth world title.
It’s a move coveted by F1 fans and the top figures in the sport itself. Hamilton, the most famous and successful driver in F1, teamed up with Ferrari, the most famous and successful team in F1, and it was a box office success.
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Ferrari is likely to enter the 2025 season with its strongest line-up in F1, with Hamilton set to race alongside young star Charles Leclerc. As the Super Team line-up develops, it’s hard to imagine anything bigger than the incredible prospect of Hamilton teaming up with Max Verstappen.
Whatever the outcome, it will become one of F1’s defining stories in the coming years as Hamilton, 39, writes the latest and possibly final chapter of his illustrious F1 career behind the wheel of Ferrari’s famous red car.
But why quit Mercedes on the eve of the new season, for a team that hasn’t won the title in 15 years?
Hamilton has been inextricably linked with the Silver Arrows since winning his first drivers’ title with Mercedes (and the second of his career). (Darren Heath/Getty Images)
Lost faith in Mercedes?
Hamilton and Mercedes formed one of the greatest teams the sport has ever seen.
Six of Hamilton’s seven world titles came between 2014 and 2020, with his only loss during that period coming to teammate Nico Rosberg in 2016. Hamilton and Mercedes have dominated F1 together, fending off threats from Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel, a duo that had been touted to end the silverware’s years of success from 2017-20.
In the 2021 Abu Dhabi final, Hamilton made a good decision with race control to break Michael Schumacher’s record and win an eighth world championship, but Verstappen was on the restart on the final lap surpassed him and deprived him of his crown.
The controversy set Hamilton on the path to redemption. Spurred on by this heartache, he should be taking back what is rightfully his in 2022, but instead Mercedes has built a car that simply isn’t up to the job. Hamilton knew from the moment he first drove the W13 that it wouldn’t be enough to win the championship. It wasn’t even enough to win a race, leaving him without a win in his first season in F1.
Last year, the struggle continued. Hamilton has often been frustrated by the limitations of his car, which has seen him endure another winless season with Verstappen and Red Bull dominating the field. After the final race of the year in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton summed up his mood as “not too good” and expressed doubts about those chasing Red Bull in 2024: “You can almost guess where they will be next year.”
Since winning his seventh drivers’ title in 2020, Hamilton’s fortunes have begun to decline. (Salih Zeki Fazlioglu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Mercedes had already abandoned its radical “zeropod” concept in the middle of last year and started working on an overhaul of its cars for 2024. Expectations are in check but the team is more confident that this year’s car coming out of Brackley won’t carry the same “malicious” character, in the words of technical director James Allison, that brought Hamilton Better chance of success.
Hamilton won’t have any extended testing time behind the wheel of a Mercedes until pre-season testing begins in Bahrain later this month. When the car is launched on February 14, it will be driven for the first time at Silverstone, where Hamilton will drive a model in a simulator that can tell us what to expect. But only by actually driving a W15 can he truly understand its potential.
The decision to jump ship now points to doubts about Mercedes’ ability to change course and return to the pinnacles of F1 racing it once looked down upon. If Hamilton was completely convinced that Mercedes was the place to win the eighth title he craves, he wouldn’t consider going anywhere else, especially given his emotional connection to the team.
Hamilton and Mercedes will bid a “long farewell” in 2024, the final year of working together and achieving success. But without his involvement, the team will also be embarrassed to plan for the post-Hamilton era, gradually excluding him from senior meetings.
What Ferrari has to offer
That’s a big question mark with the move. Mercedes have shown few signs of being able to seriously challenge for the title over the past two years, but neither has Ferrari.
The team started 2022 strongly under the new F1 rules, going head-to-head with Red Bull before falling back over the race distance. While Ferrari was the only team besides Red Bull to win a race in Singapore last year (thanks to Singapore’s Carlos Sainz), Ferrari’s main battle is with Mercedes. In the end, they lost the competition for second place in the standings by three points.
Like Mercedes, Ferrari has promised to overhaul its cars this year, with 95% of them to be made from new parts. It will form the basis for Hamilton’s first Ferrari F1 car in 2025, the last car under current rules before another major design rule change in 2026. This is the year that has the best chance of ending the dominance of Verstappen and Red Bull.
Hamilton drove for current Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur’s ART Grand Prix team in his early years, and they have maintained close links ever since. (Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images)
Hamilton’s age also needs to be considered. He will be 40 when he joins Ferrari, and although he is still in peak physical condition and expresses zero doubt about his long-term future, he is unable to invest in long-term projects like many of his younger peers.
That means Hamilton will need to succeed immediately upon joining in 2025, but his imminent arrival will only help build momentum for Maranello. The team is on a recruitment drive and the lure of working with Hamilton will only help it attract top technical talent that can help it win another championship.
From a purely competitive perspective, switching from Mercedes to Ferrari looks like a lateral move. But Ferrari offers Hamilton one thing that Mercedes – and, frankly, no other team – can offer.
The romance behind moving
Ferrari has always enjoyed an aura of myth in F1. It’s ingrained in the history of the sport. When you think of F1, you think of Ferrari.
No other team has such prestige and strength. Even during a championship-less break, like now in 2008, it remains a team that most drivers dream of one day racing for. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff even admitted in 2019 that “probably every driver dreams of one day driving for Ferrari.”
Or, as Vettel once said: “Everyone is a Ferrari fan. Even if they say they are not a Ferrari fan, they are a Ferrari fan.”
There was a certain amount of romance behind the gesture. Hamilton owns a Ferrari road car and has a close friendship with Ferrari president John Elkann. Hamilton will also reunite with Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur. Hamilton raced for Vasseur’s ART Grand Prix team when he entered F1, and they have maintained close contact since then.
Hamilton has always had great respect for F1’s history. His passion for Ferrari’s roots and history means he doesn’t lose weight with Ferrari. Many F1 celebrities have driven for the team at some point in their careers.
In many ways, achieving success with Ferrari is the ultimate F1 story, and could be huge for Hamilton’s own legacy. His last hurray in F1 would be with Ferrari and potentially winning a record-breaking eighth world title, which would undoubtedly be the ultimate way to end his storied career.
Another option? Ferrari failed to provide a good enough car to bring Hamilton back to the top. The strategic missteps and missteps that have occurred so often in recent years are frustrating. There is no eighth world champion.
Even in this situation, Hamilton was still able to fulfill the dream of many F1 drivers, but few actually realize racing for Ferrari. Seeing him in those famous red overalls may have taken some getting used to, but now it’s going to be a reality.
It’s worth remembering that when Hamilton left McLaren to join Mercedes in 2013, he had only won one race since returning to F1, a decision that was widely questioned. It turned out to be a masterpiece. He hoped his judgment would be proven correct again.
(Lewis Hamilton Photo: Dan Istitene, Bryn Lennon/Getty Images; Design: John bradford/sports)
