In one fell swoop, Lewis Hamilton single-handedly rescued deadline day.
Forget about the transfer window ending with a whimper. The news the seven-time world champion is on the verge of completing a shock switch to Ferrari provided enough fireworks to lit up several New Year’s Eve celebrations.
The Briton is poised to join the Scuderia next year in what would be a fairytale ending to an extraordinary Formula One career.
The bombshell comes less than a year after Hamilton denied talks with the Italian marque over a huge £40million deal.
Instead Hamilton signed a multi-year £100m deal to stay with Mercedes for 2024 and 2025, but it now appears an ‘escape clause’ was inserted into the contract.
Lewis Hamilton is reportedly set to join Ferrari in 2025 in a bombshell switch
The Briton is expected to join Charles Leclerc (right) at the Scuderia after leaving Mercedes
Leclerc signed a new deal with Ferrari earlier this week that will keep him at the Italian team beyond the end of the 2024 season
While the timing of the deal is unexpected, the feeling Hamilton and Ferrari were always destined for each other has always proved hard to ignore.
And with good reason too. Ferrari, for all their recent struggles, remain arguably the biggest name in the sport.
The Italian team hasn’t won a world championship since 2008, but its 16 constructors’ titles remain by a Formula One record by a considerable distance.
To put the figure into context, that is more than Mercedes and Red Bull, the two juggernauts of the sport in the past two decades, have achieved between them.
It is not merely about the crude statistics either, for Ferrari embody Formula One royalty at a level none of their rivals have ever been quite managed to replicate.
Then there’s Hamilton, statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen.
The 39-year-old leads the all-time rankings for most Formula One wins and pole positions and his seven world titles are equalled only by Michael Schumacher, the Scuderia’ greatest hero.
Joining Ferrari would offer Hamilton the chance to finally eclipse the German, who won five consecutive titles with the Italian team.
Hamilton shares a joke with Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur in Azerbaijan last year
Along with Michael Schumacher, Hamilton has won a record world seven world titles
The German won five world titles in a row during an extraordinary run at Ferrari
Hamilton replaced Schumacher at Mercedes at the beginning of the 2013 season after the latter retired for a second and final time
Hamilton was left stunned when he was presented with Schumacher’s helmet in 2020
As Mail Sport reported last year, the Hamilton family have long harboured a nagging ambition to see Lewis drive for Ferrari one day.
His father, Anthony, confided as much when he was still his son’s manager, not long after Lewis made an unforgettable impression on his debut in 2007.
He may also be influenced by the knowledge that his hero, Ayrton Senna, was due to drive for Ferrari in 1995, but for his death at Imola the previous year.
Hamilton was left stunned when he was presented with Schumacher’s helmet in 2020 after equalling the German’s then-record of 91 Formula One wins.
‘Seeing his dominance for so long I didn’t think I’d be anywhere near Michael in terms of records so it’s an incredible honour. It’s going to take time to get used to it,’ he told Sky Sports.
‘I remember sitting with my brother and dad watching races every Sunday, watching Michael storm ahead.
‘We would watch the first half and then at the end me and my brother would race a computer game upstairs and I would be Michael. I was always Michael he was phenomenal.’
While Hamilton and Ferrari have long exchanged interested looks across the dancefloor, the Scuderia’s overtures have become bolder over the past year.
In May, Mail Sport revealed the Italian team were willing to break the bank to land the superstar in a £40million deal.
Conversations over the move went as far as including company president John Elkann, who was in close contact with the British driver.
Hamilton’s family have long harboured a desire of seeing him drive for Ferrari
Hamilton and his father Anthony (right) talk with then Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali at the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2011
Hamilton and Ferrari have long been flirting across the Formula One dancefloor
Hamilton eventually decided to stay put at Mercedes, believing the German team represented the best opportunity to halt Red Bull’s dominance.
But Ferrari were linked with the Stevenage-born star as early as in 2015, just two years after he shocked Formula One by swapping McLaren for Mercedes.
Asked about signing for Ferrari, Hamilton said at the tim: ‘No, don’t be silly. My contract at Mercedes should be done this week. There’s no reason why not.’
Hamilton, who owns one of just 499 models of £1m supercar LaFerrari to exist, put pen to paper on a £20m deal and went on to win five more titles with the Silver Arrows.
But Mercedes’ stranglehold on the sport has since loosened, with Red Bull firmly the team to beat since Max Verstappen clinched his first world title in hugely controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi in 2021.
Hamilton finished third in the drivers’ standings in 2023, an astonishing 341 points behind Verstappen, who claimed a third consecutive world championship.
And after two challenging seasons for Mercedes, it is believed Ferrari have convinced Hamilton he stands a better chance of success with them.
Hamilton’s departure will come as a huge blow to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who signed a new two-year deal with the German team last month
Carlos Sainz could make way at Ferrari with Hamilton joining the team in 2025
The Briton is expected to replace Carlos Sainz, whose contract runs at the end of the season and is yet to sign an extension.
Charles Leclerc has no such concerns, having penned a new deal with the team last week to race with for Ferrari beyond the end of 2024.
The dynamic between the Monegasque and Hamilton is bound to be intriguing, with neither suited to play a secondary role in the team.
Time will tell if the marriage between Hamilton and Ferrari will be a successful one, but it has long felt inevitable.
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