How did Ferrari get Lewis Hamilton to ditch his $55 million Mercedes agreement for a move to Maranello?

Ferrari's rumored $430 million deal with Lewis Hamilton will see the Briton move out from Mercedes after spending 11 years with the German manufacturers.

How did Ferrari get Lewis Hamilton to ditch his $55 million Mercedes agreement for a move to Maranello?

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari and Mercedes (via X)

In 2007, when Lewis Hamilton had stepped into Formula 1 as a young racer who was merely into his late teenage years, the world hardly knew they were witnessing the start of a great saga. Ever since his F1 debut with McLaren, for the next 17 years, Lewis Hamilton has only given his all towards ensuring the best results for himself and his team. Such as been the Briton’s prowess behind the wheels that in just his second year as an F1 racer, he claimed his debut World Championship win over stalwarts like Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

Lewis Hamilton switched from McLaren to Mercedes in 2014 in hopes of getting better results at the new squad. Then, he simply wrote F1 history with his innumerable achievements with the Silver Arrows. And after 11 years with the team, Lewis decided to walk away and don the legendary Ferrari red suit to become a Scuderia driver. But a lot of talks between the current Mercedes racer and Ferrari CEO John Elkann had reportedly gone on before Hamilton came to the decision of leaving Mercedes.

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According to X user @fiagirly, Elkann had first approached Lewis Hamilton for a proposition for him to join Ferrari way back even before Mercedes renewed his contract for two more years. Hamilton, staying loyal to the Silver Arrows, refused to take up John Elkann’s offer and he agreed to staying at Mercedes for two more years, but this time, the deal was in a 1+1 format, which meant there was an exit clause which permitted Lewis to leave the team after 2024. And that is exactly what the Briton has done as he has activated that clause and decided to shift to Ferrari for the 2025 season.

Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari happened due to the Briton not getting his ideal contract with Mercedes

It has already been mentioned that Lewis Hamilton refused John Elkann’s offer to have him at Ferrari when he was approached the first time around. But then, readers might wonder what made the seven-time World Champion change his mind when John Elkann offered to take him up at Ferrari once again as Lewis broke free of Mercedes’ contract using the exit clause and opted for the job as Charles Leclerc’s teammate. The answer lies in Mercedes’ refusal to allow Lewis Hamilton to sign a multi-year contract extension with them.

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton (Via: Imago)

At 39 years of age, Lewis Hamilton does not want to slow down in his F1 career despite having won zero Grands Prix in the last two season. While many of the pundits have opined that, since Lewis is often retirement age now, he would think of leaving the sport but the Briton wanted a multi-year contract extension with Mercedes. Unfortunately, the German manufacturers refused and they said they could only offer a one-year deal which would allow Lewis Hamilton to race for them in 2024. Finally, the two parties reached a consensus and it was a 1+1 year deal where, after 1 year, Hamilton can leave the squad.

The possible explanation here would be that Lewis Hamilton felt discontent with the fact that Mercedes refused to renew his contract for several more years. It can also be deduced that perhaps he felt his team was losing confidence in him. And being a racer of his repute, with 104 Grand Prix wins and 7 World Championship titles, it is natural for Lewis Hamilton to want his team to agree to all his wishes, which Mercedes did not do. This, most likely, is the reason that led Lewis Hamilton to ditch his old team to move to Maranello as the new Scuderia driver 2025 onwards.

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