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Lewis Hamilton’s move from Mercedes to Ferrari, announced last week, which sent shockwaves throughout the Formula 1 world, is a ‘chance to fulfil a childhood dream’, according to the seven-time world champion.
Hamilton had signed a new deal with Mercedes last summer to keep him at the team through 2025 but recently activated a release clause in his contract to depart one year early and join Ferrari on a multi-year agreement.
In a post to social media, Hamilton reiterated that his call to leave Mercedes was “the hardest I’ve ever had to make”, and that he will forever be grateful for his time with the Silver Arrows, where he has claimed six of his seven world titles.
“It’s been a crazy few days which have been filled with a whole range of emotions,” he added.
“But as you all now know, after an incredible 11 years at Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, the time has come for me to start a new chapter in my life and I will be joining Scuderia Ferrari in 2025.
“I feel incredibly fortunate, after achieving things with Mercedes that I could only have dreamed of as a kid, that I now have the chance to fulfil another childhood dream. Driving in Ferrari red.”
Hamilton had been involved with the Mercedes array of teams since he was 13 years old, and have together won titles, broken records and become arguably the most successful driver-team partnership in F1 history.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has taken the news in stride, noting that while this means their “professional journey comes to an end, he clarified that “it doesn’t mean that our personal relationship ends.”
“I’ve found a friend, we’ve built a relationship over the last 10 years, and he faced a very, very difficult situation, taking a decision of where to drive, maybe for the first time since 10 years without being able to brainstorm with me,” he added.
“And therefore, I will always respect the difficulty of the situation that he faced. And in the future, we will discuss whether this could have been done in a different way or not. But I hold no grudge.”
With Hamilton set to join Ferrari’s darling Charles Leclerc next year, the primary questions on the minds of commentators, fans and across the paddock involve what the world champion’s working relationship with Mercedes is going to be like this year, as well as who might replace him at the team.
While Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris are tied up – along with reigning world champion Max Verstappen – for the foreseeable future, Mercedes do still have a plethora of options available to find a team mate for George Russell.
They could do a straight swap and draft in Carlos Sainz, whose seat Hamilton is taking, or the highly-rated Alex Albon if they can extricate him from a contract that is believed to run to the end of 2025.
Double world champion Fernando Alonso is available, as is Esteban Ocon – whose career is still managed by Mercedes despite him driving for Alpine.
Wolff could even recall Valtteri Bottas, who played a key role in Mercedes’ streak of constructors’ championship, or tempt race winner Daniel Ricciardo. For now, though, Wolff is remaining tight-lipped on their plans.
“We need to say our main focus is on the 2024 season now,” he said.
“We have two excellent drivers, we have Lewis in his final year at Mercedes and George, eager to go back in the car and perform. We need to put the car on the track that has more pace than last year’s car and we know how difficult it will be to compete, not only with Red Bull but also the other ones.”
