Hamilton to Ferrari? “Maybe there is no logic at all”

The seven-time Formula 1 world champion will sit in the Ferrari cockpit from 2025. At the age of 40, the Brit changed again – and was thus in historical company. But what are his chances of success?

February 1st was supposed to be dedicated to Deadline Day, the end of the transfer window in football – but things turned out completely differently. Because the sports world was shaken up by a sensational report from Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton is moving from Mercedes to Ferrari (you can read more about it here) – a real hammer, in football comparable at best to a move from Lionel Messi to Real Madrid in Barcelona’s heyday.

From 2025, seven-time world champion Hamilton will compete for the Scuderia and represent the famous Ferrari red. Both teams confirmed corresponding reports on Thursday evening. Hamilton will then form a duo with Charles Leclerc at the traditional Italian racing team.

But what does this change really mean?

There hasn’t been such a spectacular personality of this magnitude in Formula 1 for eleven years – and strangely enough, Hamilton was also involved back then.

In 2013, the Brit moved from McLaren to Mercedes, came to the racing team as a one-time world champion, and became a teammate of the German Nico Rosberg. And won six more world titles by 2020.

What makes the move from Mercedes to Ferrari so special: the age of the driver – Hamilton would already be 40 years old in his first season for the Italians. And: the dimension. Because here the co-record world champion moves from one of the largest racing teams to probably the most famous in the motorsport world.

There have only been a few similar cases in Formula 1 in the recent past.

Example 1: Michael sSchumacher. The seven-time world champion sensationally decided to return to the premier class in 2009 after actually ending his career in 2006. From 2010, at the age of 41, the Ferrari legend drove for Mercedes. Despite some notable successes, “Schumi” mostly lagged behind and often lost out in the team’s internal duel with Nico Rosberg. His record: ninth place in the World Championships in 2010, followed by eighth place the following year. In 2012 it was only enough for 13th place, Mercedes decided against extending his contract – and Schumacher finally ended his great career, which was otherwise crowned with so many successes and records.

Example 2: Fernando Alonso. The 2005 and 2006 world champion said goodbye to Formula 1 in 2018, switched to endurance racing and, among other things, won the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans twice. The Spaniard returned to Formula 1 in 2021, driving for the French racing team Alpine. After two solid years (10th place in 2021, 9th place in 2022), Alonso moved to Aston Martin in 2023 – at the age of almost 42. And completely unexpectedly, the traditional British racing team really got off to a flying start. In the first eight races of the season, Alonso finished on the podium six times, took third place four times and even made it to second place twice. At the end of the year, the not-so-old “old star” in the cockpit came fourth in the World Championship standings – a huge success for him and the racing team.

Hamilton’s change, however, has a different significance – because no deserving driver is celebrating his comeback or joining a racing team from the upper midfield. Here a top driver moves from one top team to another top team.

And the fact that Hamilton is still able to be at the top, at least at the moment – even if perhaps no longer with the reliable regularity of previous years – seems undisputed: Although the ambitious superstar has been waiting for a victory since 2021, he achieved it last season in a way that is no longer superior Mercedes made it onto the podium six times, but sometimes despaired of the car’s performance, and the pace was often not right.