Mercedes F1 SHUTDOWN after shock announcement

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Mercedes

Mercedes F1 SHUTDOWN after shock announcement

Lewis Hamilton announced his departure from the team last year

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 20 January 2025 20:57 Updated: 13:18

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A Mercedes 'shutdown' has been revealed, following the shock news that Lewis Hamilton would be joining Ferrari.

Hamilton announced his decision to depart the Brackley outfit at the beginning of last year, but still had a full season with Mercedes to navigate first.

F1 HEADLINES: Mercedes in shock announcement as F1 champion RETURNS

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That season saw the seven-time world champion banish his win drought by claiming victories at the British and Belgian grands prix, but ultimately saw his worst ever championship position, down in seventh place in the drivers' standings.

Still, his Mercedes career spanned 12 seasons and yielded 84 race victories, six drivers' championship titles and eight constructors' titles for the team.

Lewis Hamilton is officially a Ferrari driver

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Hamilton's stunning Ferrari announcement

Now, as Hamilton joins Ferrari for the 2025 season and beyond, a Mercedes insider has revealed a shocking truth about his signing announcement.

The Brit had not long signed a new contract to stay with Mercedes until at least the end of the 2025 season, but that clearly had exit clauses written into it.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff recently admitted that he had known a few days before the official announcement that the move was likely to happen, but was caught almost as off-guard as the rest of the F1 world.

Now, Matt Whyman, who spent a year with the team as he wrote his book Inside Mercedes F1: Life in the Fast Lane, has spoke of the shockwaves that reverberated around the team in the immediate aftermath of the news breaking.

"I was as shocked as everyone in the team. It was the last thing I expected to hear. And I think there was an awful lot of sort of uncertainty about what was going to happen next, because the team shut down for 24 hours," Whyman revealed on The Fast and the Curious podcast.

"I think that was deliberate in terms of their sort of outward communications. It was just like 'we need to sort of regroup and figure out what we're doing, and we need to inform everyone within the team first. That's our priority'.

"Very soon after that, was the Silverstone shakedown. I think everyone showed up at that, because that was probably the first opportunity that a lot of the team had got to see Lewis after the announcement, and it was almost a little bit like the elephant in the room initially, because everyone was there slightly before Lewis was and then his entourage arrived, including his mother.

"But then as soon as Lewis showed up, he was just same as ever, really. I think in that sort of moment, attention just sort of dissipated really quickly and it was business as usual."