Lewis Hamilton leaves Mercedes for Ferrari: Everything you need to know

In a shock announcement overnight, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton activated a release option in his contract with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team and signed a multi-year deal with Scuderia Ferrari.

This marks an end to an 11-year long run with the Mercedes works team in Formula One. “I have had an amazing 11 years with this team and I'm so proud of what we have achieved together. Mercedes has been part of my life since I was 13 years old”, said Lewis.

Together, Mercedes and Hamilton collected 82 wins, 74 poles, and six of his seven world titles, making the 39-year old Briton F1’s most successful driver by the numbers (though a young Max Verstappen is fast closing the gap).

The time is right for me to take this step and I'm excited to be taking on a new challenge

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Where it all started for Lewis and Mercedes | Clive Mason / Getty images

“It's a place where I have grown up, so making the decision to leave was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make. But the time is right for me to take this step and I'm excited to be taking on a new challenge”, Lewis said of Mercedes.

“I am 100% committed to delivering the best performance I can this season and making my last year with the Silver Arrows, one to remember”, he added.

In response, team principal & CEO Toto Wolff said: “We accept Lewis’s decision to seek a fresh challenge, and our opportunities for the future are exciting to contemplate. But for now, we still have one season to go, and we are focused on going racing to deliver a strong 2024.”

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A younger Lewis Hamilton at the 2013 India GP | Paul Gilham / Getty Images

How did Hamilton’s Ferrari deal come about?

Hamilton eventually re-signed with Mercedes in 2023 for the coming season. Rumours were running rife, though, as negotiations took longer than expected.

It was publicised as a two-year deal with Mercedes, but as it transpires the contract was a fixed one-year term with a release clause for Hamilton.

Lewis is no stranger to Ferrari’s new boss Fred Vasseur (who replaced Mattia Binotto in November 2022) having raced under Fred in his GP2 years at ART.

There were reports last year that Hamilton was meeting or dinner with Vasseur and Ferrari president John Elkann and evidently they ran a little deeper than just friendly pasta, with the deal coming to fruition.

For how long is not yet known, only that Hamilton’s is a multi-year contract beginning in 2025.

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What about Leclerc, Sainz, and the free spot at Mercedes?

Providing more discussion points than just Hamilton’s move, though, is what will happen for the rest of the drivers.

Of the 20 filling grid positions, 13 driver's contracts will run out at the end of 2024.

Young talents Lando Norris, George Russell, and Oscar Piastri are all on lock with their respective teams – and Leclerc signed another ‘multi-year’ contract (La Gazzetta de la Sport reports it as another five-year deal) with Ferrari at the end of last year – but there’s plenty of room for movement. 

For Mercedes, it would make sense to elevate Alex Albon into the works team with Russell as he’s been performing well in the Williams car despite its limitations; there’s Alpine’s feisty Esteban Ocon to look at as well as young gun F2 racer Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

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As for Sainz, his Ferrari contract ends this year and there’s no confirmation where’ll he’ll end up in what will be a turbulent contract season.

Coming from a top-flight team, shifting to the teams with contract availability such as Haas, Williams, RB (formerly AlphaTauri) and Alpine will be less appealing. Perez is out of a contract, too, leaving a Red Bull seat open but Daniel Ricciardo is expected to take that chair.

There’s also the option of a straight swap, with the more experienced 30-year-old Sainz heading to Mercedes in Hamilton’s place, though this doesn’t feel quite right. Instead, speculators see Sainz jumping to the Audi squad that will enter under 2026’s new regulations.

It’s therefore possible that Sainz could leap to Sauber for 2025 and use the year to build the team and eventual 2026 Audi race car around him and his driving style. He could even take a sabbatical for 2025 and come back as a refreshed racer in 2026.

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2024 will be the last year we see this pairing on the grid

Ferrari stock price buoyed by F1 news? Not quite…

Who knew Hamilton could have an effect on stock prices? Well, the truth is, he didn't – or at least not in the way that some are reporting.

Ferrari’s stock price instead climbed after a buoyant quarterly report from the Italian marque.

The brand told investors of strong order banks and the likelihood of hitting high-end sales targets in 2026. It also forecast increases in earnings and revenues this year, according to a Reuters report.

This resulted in a significant climb in share prices yesterday (which continues to trend upward) pushing Wednesday’s closing price from US$346.78 beyond US$384.00 and a market cap of US$69.12 billion.