Paul Jolly's news and views from world of motors

The world’s most successful Formula 1 racing driver, Sir Lewis Hamilton, has surprised everyone, not least his close friend and team boss Toto Wolff, with the announcement that he is switching from Mercedes Benz to Ferrari for the 2025 season, by which time he will be 40 years old.
His F1 career started at McLaren, with whom he had a close relationship since his karting days as a junior. He astutely changed horses to the newly emerging Mercedes team for the 2013 season and won six further world championships by 2020 to add to his sole championship win with McLaren in 2008. His tally of seven wins equals Michael Schumacher but Lewis has more race wins, pole positions and podium finishes.
He bitterly wants to avenge the 2021 debacle where he was denied the championship due to the race director interpreting the rules wrongly in the final race. An eighth win would put him clear of Michael Schumacher’s remarkable tally achieved nearly 20 years ago. This may have been his reasoning to move to Ferrari since he has probably assessed they have a better chance of getting him a winning car in 2025 than the struggling Mercedes of the last two seasons.
No one saw this move coming as he had recently signed a further deal with Mercedes and had said he was comfortable with his team. But Lewis is nothing if not ambitious, and with the age clock working against him, who can blame him for one last attempt at the eighth title.
The person best placed to judge another team’s potential surely has to be the one who has raced against that team his entire career. One driver who will also have been blindsided in all this is Carlos Sainz, who has lost his Ferrari drive to Lewis.
However, with most of the top drivers already signed for 2025, it is not inconceivable he may just get the now vacant Mercedes drive as he is considered a safe pair of hands and highly talented despite only being 28 years old.
Hamilton says he is “100% committed to the job” he needs to do at Mercedes this year before joining Ferrari in 2025.
F1 has become exciting once more. Thank you, Sir!