Lewis Hamilton’s departure to Ferrari has been informed to Mercedes officials in Brackley - Reports

Lewis Hamilton's departure has reportedly been made official at Mercedes and the crew has been informed at the HQ in Brackley.

It was earlier reported by Sky Sports that Lewis Hamilton will be leaving Mercedes at the end of the 2024 F1 season to join Ferrari in 2025 despite his contract with the team.

In a more recent update, Sky Sports' Rachel Brookes has confirmed that the staff at Brackley has been notified about the seven-time world champion's exit.

When asked about the reports by Niharika Ghorpade of Sportskeeda, Mercedes declined to comment on the situation. Furthermore, there has been no other official statement from either of the teams.

Lewis Hamilton has been racing for the Brackley-based team since 2013, winning six World Championships. His contribution also helped the team win eight constructors' championships throughout the years of their domination. It was anticipated that the driver would end his F1 career with the team itself, but it doesn't look like a possibility anymore given the events that have transpired throughout the day.

Although the Brit signed an extension with Mercedes till the end of the 2025 season, Lewis Hamilton is free to make a move in the season after 2024. Doing this, he will replace Carlos Sainz whose contract is set to expire with Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season. Hamilton will then be racing with Charles Leclerc who recently signed a multi-year extension.

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Mercedes' competitiveness could be a major factor provoking Lewis Hamilton's reported move to Ferrari

One of the major factors considered for this reported move is the current competitive state of the team. Hamilton has not won a race in the past two seasons, while Mercedes has managed to win only one with George Russell (Brazil, 2022).

Although they managed to finish as runners-up in the 2023 championship, they only led Ferrari by three points. Furthermore, the upgrade the latter had made in their challenger was remarkable given how they started the season. Sainz managed to win the Singapore GP, making it the only race to be won by a non-Red Bull driver throughout the season.

The 'zero pod' design on Hamilton's W14 during the Bahrain GP (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Mercedes has not been in a competitive state in the new aerodynamic era for multiple reasons. It was earlier mentioned that the zero-pod design of their challenger was to blame.

Although they stayed with the design initially in 2023, they arrived at Monaco with a new design for the side pods. Later during the season, however, Lewis Hamilton again struggled with the car.

Updated side pod design on the W14 in Moncao (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

At that time, he revealed that the car's floor was not efficient enough to generate enough downforce which makes it hard to go through the corners at higher speeds.

These factors could have influenced Hamilton to switch to the Italian outfit, which he had been interested in for a very long time.