The German team Mercedes announced this Thursday, February 1, through its social networks that the seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton will leave its ranks at the end of 2024, after the British driver activated a termination clause in his latest contractual extension. , signed last year. The Italian team Ferrari has confirmed that Hamilton will race with his car in 2025.
First modification: 02/01/2024 – 21:10
4 min
After 11 years at Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton changes direction to Ferrari. The acclaimed British pilot confirmed his departure from the German giant with an official statement, where He assures that ending his contract with Mercedes has been “one of the most difficult decisions he has had to make”although he also mentioned that “he is excited to take on a new challenge.”
“I have spent 11 incredible years with this team and I am very proud of what we have achieved together. Mercedes has been part of my life since I was 13 years old,” said Lewis Hamilton in a statement, ensuring that he will end his cycle with the Germans “100% committed”.
In this way, the love story between Hamilton, 39, and the Mercedes Benz team comes to an end.
This is the driver’s biggest move since leaving McLaren for Mercedes at the end of 2012, and came as a surprise despite constant rumors that it could one day happen.
The 2012 change also surprised the motorsports scene, since Hamilton left a team with which he was world champion to join a young team that had a lot to prove on the circuit.
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team and Lewis Hamilton will part ways at the end of the 2024 season. Lewis has activated a release option in the contract announced last year.
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 1, 2024
Now, the oldest and winning team in the sport, the Italian Ferrari, has convinced the Briton to join its teamconfirming that Hamilton will wear red next year through a statement on his social networks.
A decision that turns the sport on its head and seeks to end the drought of the Italians, who have not won a world championship since 2008.
Read alsoHamilton negotiates his signing for Ferrari for 2025, according to several media
A change with a view to the eighth world title
After winning his last race in 2021 and his last championship in a distant 2020, Lewis Hamilton leaves the ‘silver arrows’ team with the ambition of being able to win an eighth world title, feat that would make him the winningest solo driver in history, surpassing the legendary Michael Schumacher with which it remains tied at the top of the automotive Olympus.
The last few seasons of the German team have not been what Hamilton expected for the last years of his career. Admitting a bad car design, Mercedes could only win one race in 2022, led by George Russell, leaving behind Hamilton, who barely managed to sneak onto the podium in six races all year.
“I think it’s gotten to a point where (Hamilton) has probably listened to Mercedes music too many seasons and started to think ‘well, I need to revitalize my last few years in Formula 1, what better way to do that than by driving for Ferrari?” said Damon Hill, 1996 Formula 1 champion.
A dream come true
Another reason for the established driver to choose Maranello as the next stop in his career is the mystique that revolves around the Italian giant.
Ferrari is the oldest, most popular and award-winning team in the history of sports.for which Hamilton has not been afraid to express his admiration on repeated occasions, going so far as to declare that driving a car from the Italian team “is a dream position for anyone.”
FILE: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton celebrated winning his sixth world championship on November 3, after the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin (Texas). Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports/Reuters
Even the team boss at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, recognized the desire that Ferrari provokes in all the drivers on the track, including its star.
“You simply have to admit that it is probably in every driver’s mind to drive in a Ferrari one day. (…) It is the most emblematic and historic brand in Formula 1 and I totally respect if a driver has the desire to drive for Ferrari,” said Wolff in 2019, after specialized media reported on possible negotiations between Hamilton and Ferrari.
What did not happen in 2019 was materialized by 2025. One of the most awarded drivers in the sport will join the most successful team in the history of F1, with expectations of being the team with which Hamilton becomes the first eight-time world champion in motorsport and seals his history as the most successful driver. winner in sports.
With EFE, Reuters and AFP