In what is potentially the most unbelievable turn of events ever, news has broken that Lewis Hamilton will be moving to Ferrari for the 2025 season of Formula 1. Social media has been sent into absolute carnage, with many peoples’ predictions for the 2024 silly season going completely down the drain.
I’m not sure that anybody saw this coming. We saw the rumours appearing on the morning of February 1 across our Instagram and X feeds, but many people (myself included) thought they were complete rubbish. But then, like an oracle sent from above, Sky Sports posted to confirm these rumours. Mercedes and Ferrari have both confirmed the move, and Carlos Sainz has confirmed his departure from Ferrari at the end of this year.
But why has Hamilton done this? We all thought that Hamilton was a Mercedes-til-I-die kind of guy – clearly we’ve been proven wrong. Instead, he’s pulled a Vettel and has chosen to go to the famous team in red for 2025. It seems like the draw to the almost mythologised Ferrari is irresistible – after all, Sebastian Vettel did famously say “Everybody’s a Ferrari fan. Even if they’re not, they’re a Ferrari fan.”
Mercedes had a decent season in 2023, but were far from taking both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships. For a man who got quite used to winning basically every race during the Mercedes glory days, only making the podium a handful of times last year probably wasn’t very appealing to Hamilton. With a move to Red Bull not likely, if Mercedes cannot provide Hamilton with a championship-winning car, it only makes sense for him to move to Ferrari.
Ferrari (despite some interesting strategy decisions) have proven they can fight for the win, especially towards the end of the 2023 season. Sainz took the only non-Red Bull victory at Singapore, Leclerc put himself on pole multiple times, and was battling with Verstappen at Vegas – something which, at the start of the year, was virtually unheard of. If Ferrari can build a solid car for 2024 and Mercedes provide an absolute tractor, Hamilton will want to hop into the famous red car as soon as he possibly can.
But what does this mean for the 2024 silly season? Well, any rumours of Albon to Ferrari have certainly been squashed. Instead, that’s been substituted with a whirlwind of plenty of other rumours, such as Alonso to Mercedes, Albon to Mercedes, or Sainz to Mercedes. But, with the new regulation changes coming in 2026 and Audi entering the grid in the place of Stake, will we see Sainz moving there at the end of the year?
Who will we see partnering with George Russell in the Silver Arrows for 2025? With grid positions for 2025 suddenly becoming incredibly uncertain, I reckon we could see a lot of new faces on the grid, alongside some familiar faces in some new overalls.
I need a lie down now.