Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton switching teams for 2025 season
(WISH) — There was a major bombshell in the world of Formula 1 on Thursday as it was revealed that one of the greatest drivers in the sport’s history would be changing teams for the 2025 season.
Seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton will be leaving Mercedes at the end of the upcoming 2024 season and will join Scuderia Ferrari prior to the 2025 season.
Scuderia Ferrari issued the following statement on Thursday:
“Scuderia Ferrari is pleased to announce that Lewis Hamilton will be joining the team in 2025, on a multi-year contract.”
The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team said that “Lewis has activated a release option in the contract announced last August and this season will therefore be his last driving for the Silver Arrows.”
Hamilton, who turned 39-years-old last month, has been with Mercedes since the 2013 season, winning six of his seven world titles with the team.
Prior to joining Mercedes, Hamilton raced for McLaren.
“I have had an amazing 11 years with this team and I’m so proud of what we have achieved together,” Hamilton said in a statement. “Mercedes has been part of my life since I was 13 years old. 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. I will be forever grateful for the incredible support of my Mercedes family, especially Toto (Wolff) for his friendship and leadership and I want to finish on a high together. 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.”
Hamilton is F1’s all-time career leader in victories, having won 103 grand prix races.
“In terms of a team-driver pairing, our relationship with Lewis has become the most successful the sport has seen, and that’s something we can look back on with pride; Lewis will always be an important part of Mercedes motorsport history,” Mercedes Team Principal and CEO Toto Wolff said in a statement. “However, we knew our partnership would come to a natural end at some point, and that day has now come. 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.”
In light of Thursday’s news involving Hamilton, Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz revealed that he and Scuderia Ferrari will part ways following the end of the 2024 season.
Hamilton will be teammates with current Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc beginning in 2025.
Scuderia Ferrari has not won a Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship since the 2007 season.