Lewis Hamilton was forced to agree to unique 'poach' clause when signing contract for Ferrari
When the Formula One 2025 season begins properly in a couple of months time we'll get the sight of Lewis Hamilton decked out in the red overalls of Ferrari.
It might be a strange sight considering he's just done a dozen seasons in Mercedes silver and had six at McLaren beforehand but racing fans will surely get used to Hamilton in red soon enough.
While he'd signed a new deal with Mercedes in 2023 the F1 legend used a clause in that deal to depart the team and signed on the dotted line to drive for Ferrari from this year onwards.
Ferrari will be hoping Hamilton can become the first driver to win a F1 race over the age of 40 since Nigel Mansell pipped Michael Schumacher to first place at the Australian Grand Prix in 1994.
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Yes, it really has been that long.
What does Hamilton's no poaching clause mean?
While Hamilton might have been particularly comfortable at Mercedes given his many years driving for them, a 'no poaching' clause in his contract meant he couldn't bring staff over with him in his move to Ferrari.
It's quite understandable on the part of Mercedes that they'd not want to lose a whole load of their team along with Hamilton, because the crew that makes a F1 car work doesn't exactly grow on trees.
Junior Italian driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli was promoted to take Hamilton's place on the Mercedes racing roster and will drive alongside George Russell for 2025, but there's all sorts of people who make up part of the team who keep those wheels rolling.
Hamilton's race engineer will now be Ferrari man Riccardo Adami, who has prior experience working with Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz Jr.
The seven-time champion will be hoping he's behind the wheel of a faster car than the one which took him to seventh last season, with the driver having won only two races in his past three F1 seasons.
Decked out in Ferrari red, Hamilton will be hoping to break the stranglehold that Max Verstappen has put on F1.
However, he's also planning on changing his name.
The driver revealed back in 2022 that he was in the process of adding his mother's surname, Larbalestier, onto his name.
He said: "I’m really proud of my family’s name: Hamilton. Actually, none of you might know that my mum’s [sur]name is Larbalestier. And I’m just about to put that in my name.
"Because I don’t really fully understand the whole idea of why, when people get married, the woman loses her name. I really want her name to continue on with the Hamilton name."
Topics: Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1, Sport
Joe Harker