Report: Lewis Hamilton to Sign Ferrari Contract and Leave Mercedes in 2025 F1 Season

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Legendary Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton is reportedly expected to leave Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season.

According to Sky News, Hamilton signed a two-year, £100 million contract last summer to stay with Mercedes through 2025, but it is believed he has an out after the 2024 season.

Hamilton has been a Mercedes driver for the past 11 years, but his impending departure is expected to be officially announced at some point Thursday, per Sky News.

The reported expectation is that Hamilton will replace Carlos Sainz Jr. at Ferrari since his contract is set to expire at the end of 2024. Sainz finished seventh in the F1 standings last season, and he has finished 10th or better in each of the past seven campaigns.

Should the move to Ferrari happen, Hamilton will be teammates with Charles Leclerc, who finished fifth in the standings last season following a second-place finish in 2022.

According to Sky News, Hamilton told ESPN last May that he would be “lying” if he said he didn’t ever think about driving with a team other than Mercedes before adding: “I thought about and watched the Ferrari drivers on the screens at the track and of course you wonder what it would be like to be in red.”

Hamilton made his F1 debut in 2007 for McLaren, and after six seasons with that team, during which he won an F1 title, he made the move to Mercedes in 2013.

It was there that Hamilton established himself as one of the greatest drivers in Formula One history, winning six championships in seven seasons from 2014 through 2020.

Overall, the 39-year-old Hamilton is first on the F1 all-time race wins list with 103, putting him well ahead of Michael Schumacher’s 91 wins in second place.

Hamilton is also tied with Schumacher for the most career F1 points titles with seven.

While Hamilton’s place in F1 history is undeniable, the past couple of years have been a bit of a struggle for him and could explain his reported decision to leave for Ferrari.

Hamilton finished second in the points in 2021, followed by sixth in 2022 and third last season. While he won eight races in 2021, he has no wins in two seasons since then.

That has put Hamilton in unfamiliar territory, as he won at least one race in each of his first 15 Formula One seasons.

Hamilton is sill a great driver capable of running up front and contending, but he seems to be banking on the idea that Ferrari will help take him from contending back to winning races regularly once again.