LONDON: Seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton will make a surprise switch to Ferrari next year, after Mercedes announced Thursday he would leave the team at the end of the 2024 season.
“Lewis has activated a release option in the contract announced last August and this season will therefore be his last driving for the Silver Arrows,” Mercedes said in a statement.
“I have had an amazing 11 years with this team and I’m so proud of what we have achieved together. Mercedes has been part of my life since I was 13 years old. It’s a place where I have grown up, so making the decision to leave was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make,” said Hamilton.
“But the time is right for me to take this step and I’m excited to be taking on a new challenge.”
Ferrari subsequently confirmed the arrival of the 39-year-old Briton, who is due to partner their current driver Charles Leclerc, according to a number of reports in Britain and Italy.
“Ferrari is pleased to announce that Lewis Hamilton will be joining the team in 2025, on a multi-year contract,” the Italian team said in a statement.
The BBC reported that Mercedes team staff were called to a meeting with boss Toto Wolff at their UK headquarters on Thursday to be told Hamilton will leave at the end of the 2024 season and head to one of Formula One’s most storied names.
A move to Ferrari raises eyebrows because Hamilton had signed a two-year contract with his current team Mercedes for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, but that deal contained a clause allowing him to leave after one season.
Several reports say Hamilton’s agreement with Ferrari was put together hastily as the team was in talks with Spanish driver Carlos Sainz, whose deal runs out at the end of this season, about a contract extension.
Hamilton won the last of his world titles in 2020 but lost the 2021 championship in controversial fashion to Max Verstappen when the race director ignored the safety car rules in Abu Dhabi, effectively blocking the Briton’s route to victory in both that grand prix and the championship.
The Dutch Red Bull driver, who is 13 years younger than Hamilton, has dominated the F1 scene ever since.
Hamilton finished sixth in the drivers’ standings in 2022 and third in 2023.
Ferrari, who have admitted they held discussions with Hamilton in 2019 about joining them in the future, declined to comment on the reports they were negotiating a switch for the 2025 season.
Hamilton has never hidden his anger at the 2021 incident in Abu Dhabi, believing he was robbed of an eighth title that would have put him ahead of Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher.
He has made clear his frustration with the performance of his Mercedes car in the last two years and might believe a move to Ferrari would enable him to reignite his challenge for that elusive history-making title.
However Ferrari have also suffered patchy form in the last few seasons although they seemed to find momentum toward the end of last season.
That improvement was not enough to prevent Mercedes beating them to second place behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.
Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025
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Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025
- When contacted by The Associated Press, Mercedes and Ferrari declined to comment on if Hamilton will join Ferrari
- The move would surprise many F1 observers because the 39-year-old British driver signed a new two-year deal last summer until 2025
Morocco part company with coach Regragui as World Cup looms
RABAT: Morocco parted company with coach Walid Regragui on Thursday, three months before the World Cup, with the country’s football federation naming Mohamed Ouahbi as his replacement.
Regragui leaves despite having led the Atlas Lions to the World Cup semifinals in 2022 and to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations at the beginning of this year.
“I leave my post with loyalty, gratitude, and the certainty that I have served my country,” he declared during a ceremony broadcast live on television, confirming weeks of persistent rumors that he was on his way out.
Ouahbi, 49, is promoted to the role having overseen Morocco’s triumph at the Under-20 World Cup in October, with the federation describing the move as “a strategic transition” in the run-up to the World Cup in North America in June and July.
“It’s a desire not to waste time and to take a different direction,” a source close to the Moroccan Federation told AFP.
“By appointing Mohamed Ouahbi and welcoming top-tier reinforcements, we are raising our standards and our demands,” the source said.
Morocco will be in Group C at the World Cup along with five-time winners Brazil, Scotland and Haiti.
They begin their campaign against Brazil at the MetLife Stadium just outside New York City on June 13 and will be hoping to make a big impression at the tournament before co-hosting the 2030 edition with Spain and Portugal.
“Our ambition is to consolidate our place among the best nations in a sustainable way and to perform well from this summer, as well as in 2030,” the leader of the Moroccan federation, Fouzi Lekjaa, said recently.
Regragui was hailed in 2022 after Morocco became the first African nation in World Cup history to reach the semifinals, beating Spain and Portugal along the way.
However, Regragui likely paid the ultimate price for the manner in which Morocco lost the recent AFCON final to Senegal.
His team were beaten 1-0 after extra-time at the end of a match marred by the Senegal team’s decision to walk off the pitch in protest at the award of a controversial late penalty to the hosts.
The penalty award with the game goalless sparked trouble in the crowd involving Senegal fans, 18 of whom were jailed following the disruption.
Real Madrid star Brahim Diaz eventually took the penalty after a long delay but his kick was saved and Senegal went on to win the game.
