Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari next year and replace Carlos Sainz in a shock move; Hamilton signed a two-year contract with Mercedes which expires at the end of 2025 but he will spend just one more season with the team; watch every F1 race in 2024 live on Sky Sports F1
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.
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.
Charles Leclerc signed a new contract with Ferrari last week and will be Hamilton’s team-mate at Ferrari from next year.
The new 2024 F1 season begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix from February 28 to March 2 – live on Sky Sports F1.
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.
In May 2023, Charles Leclerc gave a diplomatic answer when asked about reports linking Lewis Hamilton with a move to Ferrari
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.
Sky Sports News understands Mercedes employees in Brackley will be made aware of the news today before an announcement. Mercedes will launch their 2024 challenger on February 14.
Ferrari and Mercedes declined to comment when contacted by Sky Sports.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell reflect on the 2023 F1 season, which eventually saw Mercedes secure second spot in the Constructors’ Championship
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.
Rewind to the 2018 Singapore GP as Anthony Davidson looked at Lewis Hamilton’s ‘magic lap’ which helped secure pole position
He failed to win and take pole position for the first time in 2022 and continued his winless streak in 2023.
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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