Lewis Hamilton to join Ferrari

(Patria) - Lewis Hamilton will drive for Ferrari from 2025, after deciding to terminate his contract with Mercedes a year early. This news has now been officially confirmed.

Hamilton signed a new two-year contract with Mercedes last summer, after lengthy negotiations, guaranteeing him a driver seat in the team for 2024 and 2025.

However, Ferrari has either managed to convince Hamilton that they are a better destination for a return to winning ways, or he simply had a desire to drive for Ferrari before the end of his career, MAXF1 reports.

Details of Hamilton's current contract with Mercedes for 2024 and 2025 are not known, but it seems the second season of the contract was an 'option' and Hamilton decided to activate a clause that allows him to move to another team.

BREAKING: Lewis Hamilton to join Ferrari in 2025!#F1 @LewisHamilton @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/M5QrB5pM8G

— Formula 1 (@F1) February 1, 2024

The news started this morning from Italian and British media and spread with incredible speed, and throughout the day more and more details emerged, such as an urgent meeting at Mercedes' headquarters in Brackley where employees were informed of the turn of events.

Hamilton has repeatedly stated during his career that he wants to end his F1 journey with Mercedes and be their lifelong ambassador like Stirling Moss, but the call of the longest-standing and most successful team in Formula 1 history was too strong.

It will certainly be interesting to follow how Hamilton, who will turn 40 in 2025, will fare at Ferrari against Leclerc, who will have six seasons of experience at Ferrari by then and is one of the greatest talents of the new generation of drivers.

With this move, Hamilton will reconnect with Frederic Vasseur, the current head of Ferrari's F1 team, who was the head of the ART Grand Prix team in the GP2 series with which Hamilton won the championship title in 2006 before entering Formula 1 in 2007.

The Briton has driven all his Formula 1 races (332) with a Mercedes engine, 110 of which were for McLaren and 222 for Mercedes. He has won seven titles, 103 victories, 104 pole positions, and 197 podium finishes.