Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes and join Ferrari for the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Hamilton’s current contract with Mercedes is due to expire at the end of 2025 but he will depart the team after this season and replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari, Sky Sports News understands with official confirmation expected later on Thursday.
Mercedes employees in Brackley will be made aware of the news this afternoon before an announcement. Ferrari and Mercedes declined to comment when contacted by Sky Sports.
Charles Leclerc signed a new contract with Ferrari last week and will be Hamilton’s team-mate at Ferrari from next year.
The seven-time world champion is the most successful driver in F1 history with 103 wins and 104 pole positions. Michael Schumacher is the only other driver with seven world titles.
Hamilton, who has not won a race since December 2021, joined Mercedes in 2013 from McLaren and has won six world titles with the team.
He was linked to Ferrari for this year but signed a new two-year contract last summer, along with Mercedes team-mate George Russell, to stay until the end of 2025.
The new 2024 F1 season begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix from February 28 to March 2 – live on Sky Sports F1.
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One of F1’s biggest-ever moves
Sky Sports News’ Craig Slater:
“We have heard nothing officially, only ‘no comment’ from Ferrari and Mercedes. I’ve been in touch with both teams via official channels.
“But, multiple senior sources within F1 have explained to me that this is a done deal already. I’m absolutely confident this is going ahead.
“What I also know is Mercedes staff have been summoned to a meeting at Brackley at 2pm this afternoon, where I understand they’ll be informed that Hamilton will be leaving them at the end of this season and joining Ferrari for 2025.
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“The expectation is we’ll get some kind of official announcement by the end of play today – that’s what I’m waiting on.
“It’s so hard to finish a sporting career. Lionel Messi has maybe had the World Cup to top it off with, but how difficult is it to exit the stage when you’ve had this glittering career at the top?
“What does Lewis Hamilton do to top off this masterpiece? Certainly a couple of years in red, following in the footsteps of Michael Schumacher, could he win the eighth world title?
“Schumacher won five of his seven with Ferrari – that would really top it off.”
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Hamilton’s past links to Ferrari
Hamilton has been linked to Ferrari several times since his F1 career started in 2007 with McLaren.
He won his first world championship with McLaren in 2008 but left at the end of 2012 to join Mercedes, where he has formed the most successful team-driver partnership in F1 history with 82 victories.
However, since the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton has rarely fought at the front of the pack as Red Bull got on top of the new 2022 regulations and Mercedes fell behind.
He failed to win and take pole position for the first time in 2022 and continued his winless streak in 2023.
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The 39-year-old most recently held talks with Ferrari last year but team principal Frederic Vasseur claimed the Italian manufacturer never offered him a contract.
Hamilton told ESPN in May 2023: “I’d be lying if I said I’d never thought about ending my career anywhere else. I started at McLaren, I’d like to think I’ll always be a part of the McLaren family, I started there when I was 13 years old, so I thought about what it would look like if I was at McLaren one day.
“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… But then I go to my team, to Mercedes, and this is my home. I’m happy where I am. I haven’t signed a contract yet, but we are working on one.”
Reaction to Hamilton’s shock move
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Source : Sky Sports
