The major change Hamilton's Ferrari move could have on his F1 legacy

One of Formula 1’s most celebrated drivers of all-time is joining its most feted and romantic team. Time to unravel how this biggest of ‘silly season’ shocks came to fruition

Author Alex Kalinauckas

Updated Feb 12, 2024, 5:23 AM

With a single stroke of a pen, Formula 1 just got tremendously more interesting. Lewis Hamilton signing for Ferrari: even now, a week on, it sounds so exotically strange, a tease of the excitement to come.

That is now going to be studded into the upcoming 2024 F1 campaign too. Every time Hamilton faces the media across his final year with Mercedes, the Ferrari theme will hang in the air. Whether he feels he can’t engage, as a mark of respect for the team where he will have raced for 12 seasons by the end of this year, remains to be seen.

Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.