Properly, it’s official – seven-time Formulation 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton will probably be donning purple in 2025 in a sensational transfer from Mercedes-AMG Petronas to Scuderia Ferrari, one which he says was “one of many hardest selections I’ve ever needed to make.” All the important thing gamers have confirmed the information, bringing to relaxation a whirlwind of hypothesis that kicked off yesterday night.

Mercedes was the primary to announce Hamilton’s shock departure, stating that the 39-year-old Briton had activated a launch choice within the two-year contract he had solely simply signed final yr.

“By way of a team-driver pairing, our relationship with Lewis has change into probably the most profitable the game has seen, and that’s one thing we are able to look again on with satisfaction; Lewis will all the time be an vital a part of Mercedes motorsport historical past.

“Nonetheless, we knew our partnership would come to a pure finish in some unspecified time in the future, and that day has now come. We settle for Lewis’s resolution to hunt a recent problem, and our alternatives for the longer term are thrilling to ponder,” stated staff boss Toto Wolff.

Hamilton added: “I’ve had a tremendous 11 years with this staff and I’m so pleased with what we’ve got achieved collectively. Mercedes has been a part of my life since I used to be 13 years previous. It’s a spot the place I’ve grown up, so making the choice to depart was one of many hardest selections I’ve ever needed to make. However the time is correct for me to take this step and I’m excited to be taking up a brand new problem.”

Ferrari then responded with a easy one-liner, confirming it has signed Hamilton on a “multi-year” foundation for 2025 onwards. He will probably be partnering Charles Leclerc, the Scuderia’s North Star and de facto primary driver who himself signed a contract extension with Maranello final week.

In flip, Carlos Sainz Jr – who paradoxically secured the staff’s sole win in Singapore in 2023, the one non-Crimson Bull driver to take action – will probably be vacating his seat subsequent yr to make means for Hamilton. The Spaniard seems to have been simply as greatly surprised by the information as the remainder of us, stating: “Following at the moment’s information, Scuderia Ferrari and myself will half methods on the finish of 2024.

“We nonetheless have a protracted season forward of us and, like all the time, I’ll give my best possible for the staff and for the
Tifosi all world wide. Information about my future will probably be introduced sooner or later.”

The information attracts a line below Hamilton’s unbelievable career-long relationship with Mercedes, which has powered him to all seven of his drivers’ titles – one at McLaren, six on the works staff. His personal bombshell transfer to Mercedes again in 2013 proved impressed, because it executed the seismic shift to turbo hybrid engines to perfection the next yr, kicking off an unprecedented run of dominance.

However the Brackley-based staff dropped the ball with the present floor impact laws, profitable only one race – George Russell claiming the honour in Brazil in 2022 – within the final two years. Hamilton’s departure is a startling vote of no confidence in Mercedes, doing so earlier than what is going to now be his remaining season with the staff has even begun – and having but to show a wheel in anger within the new W15.

At Ferrari, Hamilton will probably be chasing that elusive eighth world championship, righting what he’ll undoubtedly see as an injustice in shedding out to Max Verstappen at that controversial Abu Dhabi race in 2021; he will even be trying to finish the staff’s title drought that stretches to 2008. It’s in no way a straightforward feat, as he will probably be going up in opposition to Leclerc, a devastatingly quick driver that has rebuilt the staff in his personal picture.

Hypothesis over the second Ferrari seat had been mounting ever since Leclerc’s aforementioned signing. The staff had been extensively anticipated to retain Sainz given his robust performances final yr, however it had been dragging its ft with the contract extension – and now we all know why. It’s now probably that Sainz will make the much-anticipated transfer to Stake (née Sauber) forward of it turning into the Audi works staff in 2026.

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