As reported earlier by Autosport, Hamilton is set to be announced imminently as a Ferrari driver from 2025 after agreeing a shock switch from Mercedes.
An official announcement on his departure from the German manufacturer to join the Maranello squad alongside Charles Leclerc could be made as early as Thursday night.
Autosport understands that Mercedes staff were informed of the development in a factory meeting at Brackley on Thursday afternoon, which was hosted by boss Toto Wolff and technical director James Allison.
Mercedes will now need to ponder what it does in the long term when it comes to replacing Hamilton, with obvious targets like Lando Norris and Leclerc already contracted elsewhere.
Neither Ferrari nor Mercedes have made an official comment on the developments surrounding Hamilton, which has sent shockwaves through F1.
But the wider impact of Hamilton’s decision has been clear to the wider world with Ferrari’s company value rocketing as the New York Stock Exchange opened.
Off the back of a positive statement regarding its revenue and core earnings, with earnings before EBITDA anticipated to grow to $2.64 billion this year on a healthy orderbook, there was a notable step change in its price.
Having closed Wednesday’s trading with a share price of $346.78, after the opening on Thursday it rocketed to a high of $384.00 soon after, and is anticipated to go even higher over the course of the day.
This gives Ferrari an estimated market capitalisation of $69.12 billion – which is well up on the $62.4 billion that it was worth at close of trading on Wednesday.
The almost $7 billion increase in company value is a huge vote of confidence in Ferrari’s decision to pursue Hamilton, and marks a high point in the Italian sportscar manufacturer’s price on the NYSE.
Ferrari’s current stock price is well up on its 12 month low of $252.17
Last year Hamilton signed a long-term contract with Mercedes that covered the 2024 and 2025 campaigns, but it now appears that the second season was only an option.
It is understood that Hamilton has activated an exit clause that will allow him to join Ferrari in 2025 as replacement for Carlos Sainz , whose current contract comes to an end this year.
