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At a glance
Lewis Hamilton’s move from Mercedes to Ferrari was publicly confirmed on 1 February 2024. Ferrari announced that he would join in 2025 on a “multi-year contract”; Mercedes said he had activated a release option in the extension announced the previous August. The teams did not publish the contract’s full terms.
- Mercedes extension31 Aug 2023line-up through 2025
- Departure announced1 Feb 2024release option activated
- Ferrari start2025multi-year contract announced
- Public contract detailLimitedduration and value undisclosed
What was confirmed on 1 February?
Ferrari’s dated team statement said Hamilton would join Scuderia Ferrari in 2025 on a multi-year contract. Mercedes separately announced that he and the team would part ways at the end of the 2024 season. Mercedes said Hamilton had activated a release option contained in the contract extension announced in August 2023.
Those statements establish the essential sequence: the Mercedes deal had been publicly presented as covering 2024 and 2025, an exit provision allowed an earlier departure, and Ferrari’s new agreement began in 2025. The exact private clauses were not released. “Multi-year” does not tell readers the full term, compensation, performance clauses or any other commercial provisions.
| Date | Announcement | What the public record says |
|---|---|---|
| 31 August 2023 | Mercedes extends its driver line-up | Hamilton and George Russell are announced for 2024 and 2025 |
| 1 February 2024 | Mercedes confirms Hamilton’s departure | He activated a release option in the contract announced the previous August; 2024 would be his last Mercedes season |
| 1 February 2024 | Ferrari announces Hamilton | Joining in 2025 on a multi-year contract |
| End of 2024 | Mercedes partnership concludes | Hamilton completed his final season with the works team |
| 2025 | Ferrari contract begins | The announced start season; private financial and duration terms remain outside the statement |
Why the announcement mattered
The chronology is important for interpreting the 2024 season: the public news arrived before the first Grand Prix, but the contract change did not put Hamilton in a Ferrari for that year. He competed for Mercedes throughout 2024, so season results and team statistics for that campaign belong to the Mercedes pairing. The sources establish the announcement and stated timing, not private negotiations or the competitive motive.
The timing made the move unusually visible: it came before the 2024 season had started, although Hamilton remained a Mercedes driver for that entire campaign. Ferrari’s announcement was about a future seat, not an immediate mid-season transfer. Mercedes also said Hamilton was committed to delivering his best performance in his final year with the team, a point that matters when interpreting his 2024 results.
In a sport where driver contracts are often discussed before teams publish formal statements, it is useful to separate confirmed terms from speculation. Ferrari’s release confirms the destination, start season and a multi-year duration description. Mercedes confirms the release option and end date. Neither statement supplies a salary figure or full contract text. Rumoured figures reported elsewhere should not be repeated as facts unless the parties disclose them or a reliable document verifies them.
The move also changed both teams’ publicly known line-ups for the following season: Hamilton would join Ferrari, while Mercedes would need a replacement. That consequence is clear, but the original announcement did not establish every future seat or operational detail. This article records the information available in the official releases and treats later developments as separate events.
For an article with comparable season context, read our Hamilton–Russell comparison and visit the Lewis Hamilton topic page. Our F1 News hub collects dated announcements alongside regulation and calendar updates.
“Multi-year” confirms a term longer than one season but does not identify the final season. We preserve the teams’ published wording instead of filling that gap with an unconfirmed contract end date.
Sources and method
Primary announcements: Mercedes driver-line-up extension, 31 August 2023; Mercedes departure statement, 1 February 2024; and Ferrari team statement, 1 February 2024. The timeline reports only terms in those public statements. No salary, exact contract end date or private clause details are inferred.