Lewis Hamilton is now officially a Ferrari F1 driver having formally left Mercedes.
The bombshell news was announced on February 1st last year with Hamilton triggering a break clause in the new two-year contract he signed in summer 2023.
This allowed him to leave the team after the 2024 season, with Ferrari being his destination, to partner Charles Leclerc.
His Mercedes contract officially expired on December 31st, 2024.
The new Ferrari will be unveiled on February 19th, with RacingNews365 technical analyst Paolo Fillisetti revealing some first details about the new car - which will be the first non-Mercedes-powered F1 car Hamilton will have raced, following spells at McLaren and then the Mercedes works team.
It is expected that Hamilton will test the 2023 machine for his first outing in Ferrari colours, most likely at Fiorano, although a firm date for this has yet to be decided.
The seven-time champion will work with team principal Fred Vasseur once again, with Vasseur's ART Grand Prix outfit guiding Hamilton to the GP2 (now F2) title in 2006 before his promotion to F1 in '07.
Hamilton was replaced at Mercedes by Andrea Kimi Antonelli - the first rookie to race for Mercedes in the world championship since Karl Kling in 1954, alongside new team leader George Russell.
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