Lewis Hamilton announced this past week that he would be leaving his seat at Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team at the end of this upcoming season and driving for Ferrari starting in 2025. Often regarded as one of if not the greatest driver in the history of the sport alongside Michael Schumacher and the late Ayrton Senna, Hamilton has had a storied 17-year career up to this point. That career includes a record 103 race wins and seven world championships which is tied with Schumacher as the most in F1 history.
Hamilton has spent the last decade with Mercedes after moving there from McLaren following the 2012 season, a move that was at the time debated and looked at incredulously given how mediocre the team had been since its re-inception back in 2010. Hamilton’s move proved to be the greatest in the history of F1 as the new regulations in 2014 bringing about the turbo-hybrid era also brought about years of Mercedes domination with Hamilton at the forefront. Pairing the best car and driver on the grid led to six world championships in the eight years of the turbo-hybrid era.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic and with the adoption of new regulations by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), motorsports governing body, Mercedes has struggled as a team to adapt to the new MGU-K era with their cars both lacking power and often struggling with design led issues such as porpoising. Having lost the top spot to RedBull Racing, many of the top figures from Mercedes’ success in the past decade have been poached for jobs at other teams. Strategy Director, James Vowles, was hired by Williams Racing as Team Principal which is equivalent to the role of general manager in Formula 1. Many engineers and mechanics have also been poached by other teams around the grid.
The key however for Hamilton’s departure from Mercedes appears to be the departure of Loïc Serra who is going to be the Performance Director for Ferrari in 2025. Hamilton and Serra’s visions for the cars following the new regulation changes have been at odds with others at Mercedes and the direction of the team appears to have been a key issue in both of their decisions. Their concerns have not been without merit as the issues with the W-13 and W-14 were expansive and have led to a two-year winning drought for Hamilton who before 2022 had won in every season he had raced in Formula 1.
Hamilton’s decision has sent shockwaves through the Formula 1 world and has brought an early start to “silly season”. The British driver who will be 40 by the time he joins the Italian team in 2025 is still among the best drivers in the sport alongside reigning champion Max Verstappen and future teammate Charles Leclerc. His move is an attempt to enter a car more aligned in terms of engineering to his driving style as well as joining a team that is willing to invest heavily into his off-the-track endeavors.
Hamilton looked for a promise of heavy investment into his Mission 44 organization which looks to help people from underserved communities receive a better education and break into fields where there is low representation from their group. Hamilton’s Ferrari deal is reported to make him an ambassador for the brand and its partners with a portfolio value worth north of $250 million dollars alongside an $87 million dollar salary from which a portion will go into funding Mission 44.
Regardless of the positive off-the-track impacts, Hamilton’s move will be looked at from the results on track. A much improved Ferrari team led by Fred Vasseur, who has been key in poaching talent from other teams, will help build a car that will be to the liking of Hamilton ahead of a new set of regulation changes in 2026. Vasseur and Hamilton have a history with one another as Vasseur managed Hamilton early in his career while he was racing in GP-2. It is yet to be seen whether or not Hamilton’s move to Ferrari will succeed in getting him his eighth world championship, however, if his other career decisions are any indication then it will be a very successful stint to end a storied career.
