Mercedes chief explains what he found most ‘surprising’ about Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari

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Lewis Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari is one of the biggest stories of the year, not least because it seemed unthinkable a few years ago at the height of his dominance with Mercedes.

The driver and team combination took six Drivers’ Championships and seven Constructors’ titles between 2013 and 2024, in what has been one of the most successful partnerships in F1 history.

Hamilton had initially committed his future to Mercedes through to the 2026 season, but there was an option in his contract that enabled him to leave based on certain performance targets.

After activating that clause in February this year, it was duly announced that Hamilton would be joining Ferrari in what many expect to be the swansong in his F1 career as he attempts to win an eighth title.

Discussing the news in an interview with German publication Champ1, Mercedes chief communications officer Bradley Lord detailed how the team was ‘surprised’ by the timing of Hamilton’s decision.

Mercedes was ‘surprised’ by timing of Lewis Hamilton Ferrari decision

Hamilton and Ferrari announced their 2025 partnership a year in advance, meaning he went into this season knowing it was his final year at Mercedes.

Lord says he was surprised that the Briton chose the pre-season to make the announcement, without knowing what the state of play would be performance-wise.

“It was surprising because the timing was before we even started this season, before we knew how competitive the car was going to be or not,” said Lord.

“Lewis was given a new option in the last phase of his career and we could already tell that from the contract discussions last year. So the timing was the most surprising at the beginning of February, and then the challenge that was faced to finish this whole season together.”

Will Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari gamble pay off?

As Lord rightly points out, the timing of the decision from Hamilton shows that it was a risky one as Mercedes could have fixed most of their problems over the winter break.

Midway through the season, it looked like Hamilton would have second thoughts on the Ferrari move after Mercedes took three races out of four between the Austrian and Belgian Grands Prix.

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While George Russell was effectively gifted the win at the Red Bull Ring when Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collided, it was Hamilton’s victory at Silverstone that gave Mercedes some traction this year.

After a win in Belgium, this momentum stalled in the second part of the season with Hamilton plagued by car issues in recent races.

Now Ferrari is ahead of them on performance heading into the final three races, and Hamilton’s decision to switch looks somewhat more vindicated.