Earthquake in Formula 1. After winning seven world championship titles, a record he holds with Michael Schumacher, including six with Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari in 2025, as part of “a contract of several years”, communicated the Italian team onThursday 1er February in the early evening.
The British driver will arrive in less than a year at Maranello, the headquarters of Scuderia Ferrari, where he will reunite with the Frenchman Frédéric Vasseur, whom he had known in 2005 and 2006 in the ART team and had greatly contributed to his arrival in F1 at McLaren in 2007. He will try to restore Ferrari’s reputation by teaming up with Charles Leclerc, who recently extended his contract with the Italian team. Ferrari has not won a drivers’ championship since Kimi Räikkönnen’s title in 2007
Lewis Hamilton joined Mercedes from McLaren in 2013 and won six of his seven world titles there. “I have had eleven incredible years with this team and I am so proud of what we have accomplished together. Mercedes has been part of my life since I was 13”, Hamilton said in a team statement. “It’s a place I grew up, so making the decision to leave was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. But the time has come for me to take this step and I am excited to take on a new challenge. »
From peak to trough
The seven-time world champion extended his contract with Mercedes this summer until the end of the 2025 season. But he had a release clause, which he will activate at the end of the coming season, the German manufacturer said. . A decision that “accepted” the boss of Mercedes. “When it comes to a driver-team relationship, the one with Lewis has become the most successful the sport has seen, and it’s something we can look back on with pride.”greeted Toto Wolff in the press release.
Switching to Mercedes in 2013, the driver with 103 Grand Prix victories pushed the limits of his discipline by winning six other world prizes, from 2014 to 2020. But after the disillusionment of the title lost during the last race of the 2021 season against the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), the Briton experienced in 2022 the very first blank year of his career: it was without pole position or victory, he who holds the record in these two categories, that the Briton completed this vintage .
In question, a Mercedes which had difficulty adapting to the technical upheaval which came into force at the start of the season. Hamilton has also seen his almost unchallenged domination of recent years undermined by his young teammate George Russell, very consistent in his performance, who finished the 2022 season in 4th place.e place, when Hamilton was only 6e. In 2023, another season without a victory for Hamilton, although he climbed back to 3e place in the world championship behind the untouchable Verstappen and the Mexican Sergio Perez, in the seat of the other Red Bull.
A next Leclerc-Hamilton duo
Hamilton will replace Spaniard Carlos Sainz next year in the ranks of the legendary prancing horse team. Associated with Monegasque Charles Leclerc, he will have the difficult task of seeking a title which has eluded the Scuderia since 2007 among the drivers and since 2008 among the constructors.
The majority of drivers entered this year see their contracts expire at the end of 2024. Among them – in addition to Sainz who could return to Sauber in 2026 (which will then become Audi) – the Thai Alexander Albon, currently at Williams, could claim the seat vacancy left by Hamilton next year. Until then, the 2024 season will begin on March 2 in Bahrain after three days of testing in this Gulf state, from February 21 to 23.