F1 boss shares what Lewis Hamilton ‘wants’ after ‘chat’ on Mercedes icon’s Ferrari move

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Williams team boss James Vowles has opened up on his ‘chat’ with Lewis Hamilton after the seven-time F1 champion decided to leave Mercedes for Ferrari from 2025.

Formula 1 stole the spotlight from football’s transfer deadline day last Thursday as Hamilton announced his departure from Mercedes. The 39-year-old activated the release clause in his contract to leave Brackley after the 2024 F1 season and join Ferrari on a multi-year contract.

Hamilton only agreed to sign his latest contract at Mercedes last August that tied him up for 2024 and 2025. But he saw enough from their continued struggles to target a new challenge in Maranello. The Silver Arrows failed to win any races for the first time since 2011 in 2023.

Williams boss James Vowles worked with Lewis Hamilton from 2014 to 2022

Hamilton further scored his fewest points in a season since 2013, when he joined Mercedes, last year. The Briton only secured 234 from the 22 rounds, which was still enough to end the year third in the drivers’ standings. Not since he posted 189 in 2013 had he recorded as few.

The last two seasons further returned his only winless campaigns since breaking into F1 with McLaren in 2007. So, Williams team principal Vowles understands why Hamilton has sought a new challenge and will leave Mercedes for Ferrari following the end of the 2024 campaign.

Lewis Hamilton ‘wants to prove’ he can be a success away from Mercedes

Vowles worked closely with Hamilton throughout Mercedes’ dominance from 2014 to 2020. He worked as the Silver Arrows’ chief strategist and then strategy director from 2019 before moving to Williams last January. Hamilton won six Formula 1 drivers’ titles over those years.

So, after news broke of Hamilton deciding to leave Mercedes for Ferrari from 2025, Vowles spoke with the Stevenage-born star. Now, the Williams boss understands that Hamilton has made the move to prove to everyone that he can be successful again away from Mercedes.

“I had a chat with him [over] the weekend,” Vowles has told Motorsport.com. “It was a hard decision for him. First and foremost, it’s been his home and his family for many years. And it’s the same as any of us when we’re going to change organisations and move elsewhere.

“It causes you to tear inside. But he wants to prove to himself and prove to the world that he can go through one of the hardest things you ever do, which is [to] transition to a new organisation, and still come out successful.

“And he probably had one chance remaining in his career to prove that, and I completely understand the reasons why.”