The lewis hamilton to ferrari transfer
Ferrari has confirmed that seven-time Formula 1 World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, will be joining the Maranello side in the 2025 F1 season. This news came out after hours of rumours from multiple sources claiming that the Briton was looking for a move from Mercedes.
On February 3rd, word finally broke and the rumours were confirmed to be true, Lewis Hamilton was to drive in scarlet red after 11 years at Mercedes. The news ultimately sent shockwaves throughout the sport as most fans assumed the 39-year-old would retire from the Brackely-based team.
Karun Chandhok, a retired F1 driver, posted on his social media and said: “Ferrari’s share price has jumped 6% today - on a market cap of 66 billion, his (Hamilton) news is worth $4 billion!” However, it was rumoured that the news of Hamilton’s transfer generated a share increase of 10% for Ferrari, earning them just above $7bn, giving the Scuderia an estimated market capitalisation of $69.12bn and getting them onto the New York Stock Exchange.
F1 Journalist at Crash Media Group Ltd, Connor McDonagh, said: “Hamilton’s interests in fashion and other projects outside of F1 mean Ferrari is getting much more than just an incredible racing driver… F1 fans should be excited about this transfer because if Ferrari is Red Bull’s nearest challenger then the fight between Leclerc, Hamilton and Verstappen could be epic”
For Ferrari itself, Lewis will bring in a tonne of sponsors and fans which will help to generate huge amounts of profit for the team. Hamilton arguably has one of the largest fan bases in the sport, who all pay for his merchandise, and tickets to watch him race live, and they’ve even gone to the extent of buying things that Hamilton likes e.g. cars, watches and clothing.
Rachel Stephens, F1 Journalist and Content Creator said: “His (Hamilton) advocacy for social and environmental causes could help Ferrari heal their fading image and connect with a younger, more socially conscious audience”.
Ferrari may have benefited from Hamilton coming in, but Mercedes are the losers of the deal, as they have now lost one of their largest assets. Sam Cooper, Journalist at PlanetF1 said: “It is a big blow for Mercedes, regardless of the way you look at it. He's gone to one of their rivals, and largely left Mercedes in the lurch”.
Mercedes will also have to come to terms with not being front runners anymore. The reason they were such behemoths in the sport was because of the input to development that Hamilton brought to the table.
Connor McDonagh also said: “Mercedes should be worried about losing some of their top engineering talent, should they feel that Hamilton’s departure is a clear sign that the Mercedes dynasty is truly over”.
Mercedes will have to work hard to keep their position at the front of the grid if their top engineers do decide to leave with Hamilton. As for Lewis Hamilton himself, we’ll have to wait and see what he can do in scarlet red…