Lewis Hamilton is leaving Mercedes and will drive for Ferrari from 2025. A sensational change that makes sense at second glance. For drivers and team.
It has been 17 years since Scuderia Ferrari won a world championship title in Formula 1. It is the only title in the post-Schumacher era – Kimi Räikkönen triumphed in 2007. The fact that Felipe Massa didn’t follow suit the following year was due, on the one hand, to a wild season finale in Brazil and, on the other hand, to the phenomenal debut season of the driver who would later make history and draw level with record world champion Michael Schumacher: Lewis Hamilton.
In a sense, his history and that of the traditional Italian racing team have always been linked. The fact that the paths are now coming together in the 2025 season is nothing less than an earthquake in the premier class of motorsport. And yet it is the logical consequence.
Hamilton and Mercedes – an era is coming to an end
From the season after next, Lewis Hamilton will no longer be a Mercedes driver. An era that was one of the most dominant in Formula 1 history is coming to an end. In 2014 and 2020, Hamilton won six world championship titles, the perfect streak was only broken by teammate Nico Rosberg in 2016. That year and even more so the 2021 season with a dramatic last race of the season, which was later run irregularly by the world association as such, stand between Hamilton and the sole world championship title. Record. Back then, Max Verstappen grabbed the world title in the Red Bull in the final lap.
It would almost be too cheesy if Hamilton said goodbye to Mercedes at the end of 2024 with that eighth title. And given Red Bull’s dominance recently, it’s also unlikely. But if he were to win this long-awaited title even in a Ferrari – and thus end a titleless period of almost two decades for the traditional racing team from Maranello, Italy, it would not only be cheesy – there would simply be no words to adequately describe such a story.
Ferrari has recently been as weak as Mercedes
So is it the sporting prospects that persuade Hamilton to take this step in the late autumn of his career? The Brit recently turned 39 years old and, at the age of 40, will be entering into what the team’s official statement says will be a “multi-year contract”. The chances of keeping up with Red Bull and most likely McLaren in the title fight were just as slim in the Mercedes as in the Ferrari.
At the end of the dramatic 2021 season, Mercedes lost touch, Ferrari was able to compete at the highest level for half a year, then stood in its own way with mistakes on the part of the team and drivers and was recently only able to celebrate sporadic, minor successes.
A question of personal details?
Rather, the decision could be attributed to the personalities of Frederic Vasseur and John Elkann. Vasseur has been the Scuderia team boss since 2023, and Elkann has been president since 2018. Hamilton has a common past with both of them: in 2006, the Briton won the Formula 2 title for Vasseur’s then ART team. “We have always had a very good relationship and talk to each other often,” Hamilton once said. According to his own statements, he has had a “friendship” with Elkann for several years.
These are the relationships that Hamilton has built up at Mercedes over ten years, but which have recently been put to the test again and again, sometimes publicly. The Briton made no secret of being dissatisfied with the sporting and technical developments since 2022. His contract extension at the beginning of 2022 dragged on for weeks and months. With the exit clause he has now activated for 2025, he is making use of a back door that was apparently important to him when he signed.
There are always rumors about Hamilton and Ferrari
Probably also because this thought of Ferrari never really wanted to go away. There were always rumors even during his best time at Mercedes, but the topic never became really serious. Things were going far too well at Mercedes for a long time. Ferrari would always have been a risk, a step backwards.
Sebastian Vettel can tell you a thing or two about it. The four-time world champion dreamed of a move to Ferrari, the myth of Formula 1, from the beginning of his career. But Vettel was never really happy there. Neither he nor the team could close the gap between expectations and reality.
A good deal for Ferrari and Hamilton
Ferrari has never lost its claim to have the best car and the world champion. But 17 years without a title have left their mark on a team that once defined itself through success. The fact that they will have two drivers in the team from 2025 who have world championship potential could also help the team. Charles Leclerc, whose contract was recently renewed for the long term, will drive at Hamilton’s side. The pressure was and is always immense, and this spectacular deal doesn’t change that.
Hamilton can actually only win: If he fails with the World Cup title project in red, he would be one of so many before him – but if he is successful, he will fulfill this long-awaited wish for the Scuderia after almost two decades and would thus be himself also make it immortal in Italy.