Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes will part ways at the end of the 2024 Formula 1 season, the Brackley-based outfit has confirmed amid a switch to Ferrari set for 2025.
Hamilton and Mercedes engaged in lengthy contract extension talks throughout 2023, agreeing on what was originally thought to be a two-year extension before the Italian Grand Prix last September.
However, Hamilton has now activated a clause in his contract that enables him to curtail the two-year period early.
The seven-time champion will race for the Scuderia in 2025, ending an 11-year-long relationship with Mercedes.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO said: “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; 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.
“We accept Lewis’s decision to seek a fresh challenge, and our opportunities for the future are exciting to contemplate.
“But for now, we still have one season to go, and we are focused on going racing to deliver a strong 2024.”
Lewis Hamilton added: “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.
“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.
“I will be forever grateful for the incredible support of my Mercedes family, especially Toto for his friendship and leadership and I want to finish on a high together.
“I am 100% committed to delivering the best performance I can this season and making my last year with the Silver Arrows, one to remember.”
Hamilton joined Mercedes from McLaren in 2013, one year ahead of the hybrid ruleset that revolutionised the outfit into F1’s dominant force.
From 2014 through 2021, Mercedes won eight consecutive Constructors’ titles and Hamilton’s title tally grew from one to a joint record seven.
However, upon the arrival of F1’s ground effect ruleset in 2022, Mercedes has floundered thanks to repeatedly failed attempts to draw performance from its ‘zeropod’ design concept.
Amid Red Bull’s runaway success, Hamilton had the first winless season of his career in 2022, with Mercedes itself only picking up a single GP win.
Despite holding on to second in the 2023 Constructors’ race, Mercedes failed to pick up a win with either driver and Hamilton’s future employers were the only team to win besides Red Bull.
Ironically, it was Carlos Sainz who picked up that solitary win at the Singapore Grand Prix and the Spaniard will now have to make way for Hamilton in 2025 with Charles Leclerc’s long-term future at the Scuderia set for the long-term.
