Ferrari confirmed Thursday that the team was signing seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton to a multi-year contract. Hamilton will leave Mercedes at the end of the 2024 season, putting both top teams on wildly different trajectories going forward.

“The time is right for me to take this step and I’m excited to be taking on a new challenge,” Hamilton said. “I will be forever grateful for the incredible support of my Mercedes family … and I want to finish on a high together.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also commented on Ferrari’s announcement, alluding to the team’s ambitious plans to move on from Hamilton in 2025.

We knew our partnership would come to a natural end at some point, and that day has now come,” Wolff said. “We accept Lewis’s decision to seek a fresh challenge, and our opportunities for the future are exciting to contemplate.”

For the last two seasons, Mercedes has teamed veteran Hamilton with rising star George Russell, and it seemed that that arrangement would continue when Wolff and Russell recently signed extensions. Now, Hamilton will only be around for another season, giving Russell the opportunity to become the team’s lead driver in 2025.

To replace Hamilton, Wolff will likely sign a younger driver to accompany Russell. Though it’s far too early to accurately speculate, Alex Albon has worked with the team in the past and has been impressive as a Williams driver over the last two years.

While Mercedes embraces the future through Russell, the dynamic at Ferrari will likely be more complicated. Hamilton has been the lead driver on McLaren and then Mercedes for the vast majority of his F1 career. But at age 40 next year, he will be the new face on a team already commanded by talented competitor Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc, 26, has been Ferrari’s star driver for several seasons now, and the team has repeatedly chosen to invest in him over other drivers. The Monegasque driver signed an extension with the team through 2026, leaving current Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz as the odd man out with Hamilton’s impending arrival. Leclerc and Sainz have repeatedly butted heads while vying for support from team leadership, and it is unlikely that this dynamic shifts when Hamilton replaces the latter driver.

Sainz, a capable driver with one career win and 15 podiums, will almost certainly find another team for 2025. But Ferrari could continue to face challenges as Hamilton vies for attention alongside Leclerc. For a team that has become notorious for poor and disorganized decision making in recent seasons, managing Hamilton correctly will be extremely important as the team looks to re-enter championship contention.

Sebastian Vettel, the four-time Formula One champion, will no longer be a part of the Ferrari team after the 2020 season, the team announced early Tuesday morning. For the last six seasons, Vettel has been driving as a member of team Ferrari with his most recent championship in 2013.

Vettel’s contract was expected to end after this season and it appeared, at least up until recently, that the two sides would work on a new contract. Vettel says that the reason for this split had nothing to do with money, but one has to wonder that it might as Vettel was reportedly offered a contract by Ferrari. That contract was a one-year deal on a reduced salary making Vettel the number two driver to Chris Leclerc, who signed a five-year deal with Ferrari. 

In a post on Twitter, Leclerc posted a two-part appreciation post for what appears to be his now-former teammate in Vettel.

In a statement, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said that this split is mutual between the company and Vettel. “This is a decision taken jointly by ourselves and Sebastian, one which both parties feel is for the best. It was not an easy decision to reach, given Sebastian’s worth as a driver and as a person. There was no specific reason that led to this decision, apart from the common and amicable belief that the time had come to go our separate ways to reach our respective objectives.”

At least as it appears right now, it does not look like the 32-year old Vettel would receive the title of the top driver at one of the elite F1 teams, barring something crazy like Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes. 

Vettel says that given the situation the world is in, he has had a lot of time to reflect on the future, which is partially responsible for leading him to this decision. “What’s been happening in these past few months has led many of us to reflect on what are our real priorities in life,” he said. “One needs to use one’s imagination and to adopt a new approach to a situation that has changed. I myself will take the time I need to reflect on what really matters when it comes to my future.”

Formula One’s season is expected to start its season on July 5 in Austria.