Lewis Hamilton put together a dazzling career at Mercedes. Six of his record seven total world championships came while racing with Mercedes, where he has spent the past 12 seasons.
Now, Hamilton's time with Mercedes will come to an end. The English driver is making a stunning switch from Mercedes to Ferrari in 2025, Ferrari announced on February 1. The move could put the legacy Italian racing brand in position to have its first driver title since 2007.
Your 2025 line-up for Scuderia Ferrari! 🤯🤩#F1 @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/EUBpsTnVue
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 1, 2024
Mercedes confirmed the news, announcing Hamilton had activated a release clause in his contract to leave following the 2024 season.
The announcement came as a major surprise for fans of the 39-year-old driver, who signed an extension with Mercedes in 2023 and was believed by many to have spurned Italian teams for the final time, positioning himself to retire with Mercedes.
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The move will pair Formula 1's biggest star with the oldest and most successful racing team in the sport's history. Here's what you need to know about Hamilton's decision to leave Mercedes.
Why is Lewis Hamilton going to Ferrari?
Why Ferrari wanted Hamilton is clear. The iconic racing brand has been looking for a driver to match its illustrious pedigree for some time and has struggled in recent years on the track. Ferrari has not had a driver world champion since Kimi Raikkonen won in 2007.
Ferrari chairman John Elkann wanted to land a big name and has reportedly long been a fan of Hamilton, per ESPN. With Ferrari's no.2 driver Carlos Sainz locked in a contract dispute, that created an opening for Hamilton at Ferrari.
It's not entirely clear what prompted Hamilton's exit from Mercedes. He and Mercedes have endured back-to-back disappointing seasons, with Hamilton having no racing wins in 2022 and tallying only one in 2023. Before the 2023 season had even begun, Hamilton lamented the team was "not where we wanted to start the season."
Despite that, Hamilton still signed the extension with Mercedes midway through the campaign, inking his two-year deal on Aug. 31, 2023, before the start of the Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton has been connected with Ferrari at points throughout his career, including during his 2023 contract negotiations with Mercedes. But Mercedes president Toto Wolff was confident that while Hamilton and Ferrari met, Hamilton would stay at Mercedes.
The allure of racing for the iconic brand of Ferrari, coupled with long-term concerns over winning at Mercedes, may have resulted in Hamilton changing teams. Though Ferrari, like other racing teams, has struggled to keep up with Red Bull, the chance to win with an iconic brand like Ferrari could further build on the historic legacy Hamilton has already cultivated within the sport.
Recent technical issues with Mercedes may have also resulted in Hamilton leaving. Mercedes unveiled a "zero-pod" design on their Silver Arrows in an attempt to take advantage of the new ground-effects rules put in place in 2022, but the design largely struggled, leading to the replacement of the team's technical director in 2023.
Lewis Hamilton Ferrari contract details
Ferrari announced it has inked Hamilton to a multi-year contract. On Friday, it was reported Hamilton's contract will pay him around $100 million per year between his salary, sponsorships, image rights and bonuses, immediately making him among the highest-paid drivers in Scuderia Ferrari's history, according to Formu1a's Paolo D'Alessandro & Giuliano Duchessa.
The report called Hamilton's contract an "upward" contract, which means it has a fixed base salary that will increase each year.
Hamilton signed a contract with Mercedes that was supposed to keep him locked up with the team through 2025.
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes contract
It was not that long ago that Hamilton's future appeared to be locked down at Mercedes. He signed a two-year extension with Mercedes on Aug. 31, 2023, that would keep him racing with the team through the end of the 2025 campaign.
"We dream every day of being the best and we have dedicated the past decade together to achieving that goal," Hamilton said at the time, per Sky Sports. "Being at the top does not happen overnight or over a short period of time, it takes commitment, hard work and dedication and it's been an honour to earn our way into the history books with this incredible team."
Lewis' deal evidently had a release clause in it that allowed him to leave after the 2024 season, per Mercedes' announcement.
Ferrari Formula 1 team
Ferrari's current team is Charles Leclerc and Sainz.
Leclerc signed with Ferrari in 2019 to be the replacement for Raikkonen, leaving Sauber after just one season with the team. The 26-year-old Leclerc has not won a championship but has five wins to his name and 30 podiums. He finished a narrow second to Max Verstappen in the 2022 World Drivers' Championship.
Leclerc inked an extension with Ferrari in 2021. The deal will keep him with the team through to 2024. Just days before Hamilton's reported move to Ferrari, Leclerc agreed to another extension, pushing his deal through the end of the 2026 campaign.
Sainz, the son of double World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz Sr., has bounced around a bit more in his Formula One career. He began with Red Bull in 2015 and has since made stops with Renault and McLaren before replacing Sebastian Vettel on the Ferrari team in 2021. Initially inked to a two-year deal, he signed an extension in 2022 that would keep him on the team through the end of 2024.
With Ferrari, Sainz has won a race in each of the past two years, winning the 2022 British Grand Prix and the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. They are the only two F1 wins of his career. He was the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race in 2023.
What it means for Carlos Sainz
Sainz has been looking for an extension with Ferrari, but with Hamilton reportedly lined up to join the Italian racing team in 2025, Sainz will move on after the 2024 season.
Sainz has spoken publicly about not wanting to race in the last year of his deal without guarantees for the future, and reportedly was looking for a two-year extension that would keep him locked in through 2026. But Motorsport and others have reported Ferrari has been looking for alternatives to potentially replace Sainz.
There will be options for Sainz to join a new team after the season. He was a candidate to join Audi in 2026 or could return to Red Bull with Sergio Perez uncertain for the 2025 season, according to ESPN. With Hamilton leaving, Mercedes also has a spot open to add another driver.
