On 1 January 2025, Lewis Hamilton walked through the gates of the Scuderia Ferrari factory in Maranello, ending a twelve-season partnership with Mercedes. The move stunned the motorsport world and reshaped the Formula 1 grid before a single lap had been turned.
A contract few saw coming
The British driver’s future had been the subject of quiet talk for months, yet the news still landed as a shock. He left the team that had carried him to six of his seven world titles. The move was made public on New Year’s Day, a clean break with the past.
The Maranello chapter begins
Hamilton arrived in Italy as the most decorated driver in the sport’s history. His record stood at 103 race wins and 104 pole positions, all built with Mercedes power. Now he faced the task of returning Ferrari to the front, a test that had beaten several world champions before him.
The first day inside the Gestione Sportiva was kept low-key. Engineers and mechanics watched a seven-time champion settle into scarlet overalls, the colour he had spent a career racing against. No big ceremony marked the moment; the work started in private.
A legacy built on records
Hamilton had already rewritten the sport’s reference points. He passed Michael Schumacher’s win total with a 92nd victory at Portimão in 2020, then matched Schumacher’s title count in Istanbul later that same year. His 100th pole came in Barcelona in 2021, a number no other driver had reached.
The Ferrari switch echoed a move his childhood idol, Ayrton Senna, once planned. Hamilton already owned the outright records for wins, poles and podiums. But the choice to chase an eighth title in red carried its own heavy history.
A final act in red
Later that season, he would win his first race for Ferrari in Barcelona at 41, the oldest winner since Jack Brabham. But on that January morning, none of that was set. He simply closed one door and, in the quiet of an Emilia-Romagna winter, pushed another wide open.
