The ongoing controversy-laden, compelling Formula One season was kickstarted by Lewis Hamilton’s bombshell announcement to Ferrari in 2025. After missing a record-breaking eighth World Championship by a whisker in 2021, two meagre seasons and an uncompetitive ride prompted the Briton to jump ship from Mercedes – the brand he has represented his entire life – to the famous old red car.
Reasonable as his move may have seemed back in February, as the season heads into its mid-season break after this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix in Spa, that picture seems to have blurred.
The dominance of Red Bull and Max Verstappen – a team with several internal fractures of their own – has been massively upended, with the championship suddenly featuring intense competition from McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari. This season alone has seen 7 different winners after 13 races, a stark contrast to last year’s 3 winners when Carlos Sainz was the only non-Red Bull victor.
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McLaren’s one-two finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend strengthened their status as the quickest car on the grid, but Mercedes’ recent upgrades and performances have also buoyed spirits. Hamilton finished P3 in Budapest, making it his 200th podium – following up his 104th race win – and first since 2021 – in the previous race at Silverstone. The Silver Arrows have been on the podium for each of the last five races, and have won two of the last three.
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff expressed his satisfaction at Mercedes’ progress and said that they were “clearly back.” A series of encouraging updates Monaco onwards, including a new front wing, brought the car “balance” and put it in a “better sweet spot”, Wolff said according to the F1 website.
Ferrari, meanwhile, have not had much to celebrate. Charles Leclerc, their number one driver and Hamilton’s teammate for next year, won his home Grand Prix in Monaco to much fanfare in April, but the team has been sliding downward ever since.
True to form, the Brit is yet to express any regret at his decision, even as Mercedes boast of solid race pace. “I think leaving when the chips are down would be the worst feeling for me. Leaving when the chips are up or on their way up… that’s an amazing feeling. So I’m very proud of it and also excited for next year,” Hamilton was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror after winning in Silverstone.
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Yet, if Mercedes’ ascent and Ferrari’s disappointments continue, doubts, even perhaps a little regret, may begin to seep in about his future move.
Gamble worth taking
Hamilton may have initially believed Mercedes had the people, resources, and development to get back to the front, but their prolonged struggles may have raised doubt. Meanwhile, Ferrari presented a compelling plan for 2026 (the next time technical regulations for F1 change), showcasing their development direction and future potential, swaying Hamilton.
He must have compared Mercedes’ recent path with Ferrari’s promises and achievements. While aware of the Scuderia’s failure to win a constructors’ championship since 2008, Hamilton trusts their Team Principal Fred Vasseur, his former boss in junior racing and a close friend. Hamilton values strong leadership, and Vasseur’s progress at Ferrari in just one year may have reinforced his confidence in the team.
Additionally, the seven-time champion might be driven by the iconic status Ferrari holds. Many champions dream of driving for Ferrari, and it was also the dream of Hamilton’s childhood hero, Ayrton Senna, before his tragic death in 1994.
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Hamilton is not afraid of big leaps. In 2012, he left McLaren, the team that brought him into F1 and helped him win his first world title, to join Mercedes, which was then a midfield team. This move was seen as a massive risk, but it paid off with six drivers’ championships and 82 Grand Prix victories over 11 seasons.
However, Hamilton — so accustomed to being the No. 1 driver and having his team revolve around him — will be 40 years old by the time he first races for Ferrari, and will be up against a 27-year-old Leclerc, a driver often cited as arguably the fastest in the world over a single lap in a team which he has made his own. That may rob Hamilton of the special status he received at Mercedes.
Only one other F1 driver has won the world title with more than two teams — Juan Manuel Fangio — by winning for Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes and Ferrari during the 1950s. With the title he achieved at McLaren and the six he has bagged at Mercedes, Hamilton sits alongside F1 icons such as Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher – as a driver to have won with two outfits, but a championship at Ferrari gives him a shot at making it three and standing out further.
Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari may quite possibly be the biggest driver move in F1 history, and it will be extremely special to see a fresh dynamic of the most successful driver in F1 history racing for its most esteemed team, as F1 journalist Mark Hughes says, “the two highest-profile entities in F1 with all the commercial implications that carries.”
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It will be exciting to see how he will fare against the Scuderia’s protégé, Leclerc, since they are, under their soft demeanours, both hard competitors.
In a sense, there’s no losing for Hamilton. He has nothing left to prove on track, having broken nearly every record in the book. But if the competitor in him indeed remains alive, to see the team he is departing excel in terms of race pace, and to see the team he is joining in a slump, will surely be making him uneasy, to say the least.
