Update (2:05 p.m. et): Mercedes has now officially confirmed that Lewis Hamilton will leave the Brackley-based operation following the 2024 season.
“Mercedes has been part of my life since I was 13,” Hamilton is quoted as saying in the press release. “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.”
“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,” team co-owner/CEO Toto Wolff said. “Lewis will always be an important part of Mercedes motorsport history. However, we knew our partnership would come to a natural end at some point, and that day has now come.”
A few minutes following Mercedes’ announcement, Ferrari confirmed that Hamilton would be moving down to Maranello following the upcoming season.
Carlos Sainz has also confirmed that he will be leaving Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season in a separate announcement.
Original story as follows: The 2024 season may truly mark the end of one of the greatest driver-team tandems in the history of auto racing.
According to a report by ESPN, sources close to seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton state that he is done with Toto Wolff and Mercedes. He will take his resume of excellence to the red-and-yellow of Ferrari at the close of the 2024 F1 season.
Both constructors declined to comment to ESPN at this time.
If the deal is eventually confirmed, Hamilton will reportedly take over the seat currently held by Carlos Sainz. It would also mean that the deal he signed for two more years with Mercedes last season likely will have been a one-year deal with an option for a second on Hamliton’s part. Hamilton will race alongside Charles Leclerc, who recently re-signed with Ferrari in a multiyear agreement.
Hamilton was rumored to be interested in joining Ferrari last season before signing a deal to return to Mercedes, but it appears that Ferrari chairman John Elkann was finally able to land the big name driver he’s been looking for.
Ferrari is one of the sport’s most storied teams with legendary names like Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen having raced for them throughout their near-75 seasons in the sport. It also would presumably give the team their best shot at their first championship in nearly 20 years.
Obviously, Hamilton leaving will cast a huge shadow over at Mercedes. Together, Hamilton, Wolff and the rest of the team won 6 drivers’ championships and 8 consecutive constructors’ titles from 2014-2021.
About the author
Garrett joined Frontstretch as a news writer in 2023, and became a fantasy racing and betting writer in 2024. Hailing from the heart of coal country in southern West Virginia, he's a married father of three and currently enrolled in the Physical Therapy Assistant Program at New River Community Technical College in Beaver, WV.
Follow on X @Cook_g9
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.
If he thinks he will be number one or even co-number one at Ferrari he hasn’t been paying attention to how Ferrari operates. Talk to Sainz and others. The green grass he thinks he sees is going to be a dark brown very quickly.
With the way things have been going recently, I’m not sure Mercedes seems him as their number 1 anymore either.
I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying, but I can’t believe that Ferrari, or any team for that matter, would ever place LeClerc as a number one driver over Hamilton.
I don’t know if Hamilton even cares at this point in his career if he’s the number one or number two. I’m sure he wants to win a few more races, and probably one or two more championships, but I have to wonder if that’s the reason behind this move. Ferrari has always been that mystical place that every F1 driver hopes to end up someday. For most drivers Ferrari is still the pinnacle of the sport and a special team to drive for, even in their down years. He’s won more races and poles than anyone else, and won championships with both McLaren and Mercedes, so what’s left for him to do except drive for the most storied team in Formula One?