Lewis Hamilton is set for a sensational move to Ferrari for the 2025 season, all the major news outlets are reporting in a story that sounds unbelievable but if confirmed will be the F1 news of the season.
BBC, Skysports, Motorsports.com, report on Formula 1 transfer bombshell, that of Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes to Ferrari. The news started from Italian and Spanish media, but it is also carried by the British cited sources.
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BBC: Lewis Hamilton’s transfer announcement likely today
The BBC reports: “Several sources say claims of links between the seven-time champion and Ferrari should be taken seriously. A deal could even be announced today. Ferrari wants Lewis Hamilton to partner Charles Leclerc for the 2025 season.”
“BBC Sport has confirmed that this is a serious possibility,” reports the British network. Sources have told BBC Sport that all members of the Mercedes team have been invited to a team briefing with boss Toto Wolff and technical director James Allison at 14:00 GMT today. It is possible that Lewis Hamilton’s retirement will be announced there.”
The 39-year-old signed a new two-year contract with Mercedes for 2024 and 2025 last summer, but it appears, the BBC reports, that there is provision to break it in the first year if he so wishes.
And adds the BBC: “Supposing this to happen, the move will send a shockwave through F1 – similar to the one caused by Hamilton when he chose to leave McLaren for Mercedes for the 2013 season.”
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Sky Sports: Lewis Hamilton leaves Mercedes for Ferrari
Sky Sports carries the news as a given, that Lewis Hamilton is going to Ferrari from 2025 and reports that a meeting has indeed been convened in Brackley in which the departure of the 7-time world champion will be announced before the official announcement is made.
Motorsports.com reports the news with caution, saying it’s not clear a final contract has been signed but “motorsports is aware that negotiations are at an advanced stage and could be completed by the end of this week.”
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How Hamilton moves to Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton has won six of his seven world championships with Mercedes. The last three years have been dramatic, however. 2021 was marked by the Briton’s agonizing loss at the final round of the world championship in Abu Dhabi when race director Michael Massey read the rules in his own way resulting in Hamilton clutching an 8th championship to take the title at the last turn Max Verstappen.
And while everyone thought that since Lewis Hamilton had decided to stay in Formula 1 he would go for the rematch in 2022, Mercedes completely misread the rules for the new cars as a result of which their car faced serious problems and for the first time after a unrepeatable streak of eight years of not being able to claim the championship. Unfortunately, the same was repeated last year, while this year everyone hopes that Mercedes will present in a few days a car that will be able to claim victories again.
The 39-year-old Lewis Hamilton, the “king” of the sport, the driver with the most wins, pole positions and podiums in the history of the sport and with 7 titles, as many as Michael Schumacher, clearly wants to break the only record he has left, that of 8th world championship.
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And he himself may have previously expressed his desire to end his career at Mercedes, but at the same time he has made no secret of his desire to wear red.
Before signing his current contract with Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton told ESPN in May 2023 that it would be “a lie” to say that “I have never thought about ending my career anywhere else”. “I was thinking and watching the Ferrari drivers on TV, on the track and of course you wonder what it would be like to be in red”, he had added at the time, however, saying that Mercedes is his “home” and that he is happy where he is.
Rumors about his transfer to Ferrari started last May. That report about the contacts being there had been debunked, but as it turns out now they were true.
“They wanted him like crazy,” a source in Italy said today of those late spring talks, according to the Daily Mail.
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This story was denied by all parties, including Ferrari team principal Fred Wasser.
Discussions between the two sides have been ongoing apparently since then and on the one hand this was one of the reasons why – inexplicably – the signing of Lewis Hamilton’s contract with Mercedes was delayed leaving everyone wondering why and on the other hand this was the reason why suddenly Ferrari’s talks with Carlos Sainz to renew his contract beyond 2024 came to an abrupt halt last December.
“There is no doubt that driving for Ferrari has been an obsession that has been in Hamilton’s mind throughout his career,” comments the Daily Mail.
The flirtation between the two sides has been perennial and Lewis Hamilton has been to Maranello in the past.
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According to the Daily Mail John Elkann, the chairman of Ferrari, led the initiative to bring Hamilton in for what, if the transfer eventually materializes, will likely be the final chapter of a glittering career.
Elkann, writes the Daily Mail, is attracted by the stardust that surrounds Lewis Hamilton as the only Formula 1 driver with a truly transcendent reputation around the world.
So nothing would be better for Lewis Hamilton than winning an eighth title with Ferrari…
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