Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes at the end of this year to join Ferrari on a multi-year deal, the Italian team confirmed on Thursday.
Mercedes said Hamilton activated a release clause in the two-year contract extension he signed last year. Ferrari then confirmed that the 39-year-old British driver will join in 2025.
Hamilton joined Mercedes from McLaren in 2013 and won six of his seven world titles at the Silver Arrows on his way to a record 103 race wins.
“I have had an amazing 11 years with this team and I’m so proud of what we have achieved together. Mercedes has been part of my life since I was 13 years old,” Hamilton said in a team statement. “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.”
Hamilton has not won the title since 2020 and has not won a race since the penultimate race of the 2021 campaign.
Ferrari has not won a drivers’ title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.
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