Lewis Hamilton has been spotted leaving the Monaco apartment of Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff less than a fortnight ahead of his Ferrari F1 debut in Australia.

Hamilton is preparing for his first season as a Ferrari driver having joined the Italian team from Mercedes on a multi-year contract over the winter.

Lewis Hamilton spotted leaving Toto Wolff’s apartment ahead of Ferrari debut

The seven-time World Champion’s move to Ferrari marks only the second team switch of his illustrious F1 career with his only previous move occurring in 2013 when he swapped McLaren for Mercedes.

Hamilton cemented his status as the most decorated driver in F1 history over the course of 12 full seasons with Mercedes, equalling Michael Schumacher’s long-standing record of seven Drivers’ titles in 2020 before becoming the first man to reach 100 race wins and pole positions the following year.

His decision to leave Mercedes, announced on February 1 2024, came less than six months after Hamilton signed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes ahead of the 2023 Italian Grand Prix.

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It followed a second straight winless season as Mercedes struggled to adapt to the ground-effect regulations, with Hamilton previously managing at least one race victory each season between his debut campaign with McLaren in 2007 and 2021.

Following last week’s pre-season test in Bahrain, Hamilton is set to make his Ferrari debut in the opening race of the F1 2025 season, the Australian Grand Prix, on March 16.

And ahead of his Ferrari bow, Hamilton has been spotted leaving Wolff’s apartment in Monaco.

The reason behind Hamilton’s visit is unclear, yet it is the latest indication that relations between the pair remain healthy despite their parting of ways professionally.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com the morning after Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was confirmed last February, Wolff revealed that the driver broke the news over breakfast at the Oxfordshire home of the Mercedes team boss.

In a podcast appearance late last year, the Mercedes boss confirmed that he was first alerted to Hamilton’s imminent announcement by the father of Carlos Sainz, the driver Hamilton replaced at Ferrari.

Wolff said: “I heard the bells ringing two weeks before. The old man Sainz called me and said: ‘This is what’s happening.’

“Then a few drivers’ dads rang me up that didn’t before. So I thought: ‘OK, there’s something going on there.’

“And then I sent a text to Fred Vasseur [Ferrari team principal] saying: ‘You’re taking our driver?’

“Didn’t get any response. Very unusual for Fred, he’s a good friend. So I saw it coming.”

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Wolff went on to admit that he tried to catch Hamilton off guard over their breakfast meeting by disclosing that Mercedes had finalised a deal to bring former Ferrari technical boss Simone Resta to Brackley, prompting Hamilton to admit that he would be heading in the opposite direction.

He explained: “When Lewis arrived in the house, like he did so many years before, we had a bit of a small talk like we always do about the Christmas holidays and all of that.

“Then I said: ‘Well, we’re recruiting from Ferrari now. We got this guy.’

“And Lewis [said]: ‘Oh, there’s something I need to tell you…”

“When he said that, that initial moment was a little bit of: ‘So this is really happening?’”

Mercedes were persistently linked with a move for Red Bull driver and reigning World Champion Max Verstappen in 2024 before deciding on teenage sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Hamilton’s successor.

In the latest series of Drive to Survive, due to be released later this week and reviewed by PlanetF1.com, Wolff reveals that he promised Hamilton to refrain from entering talks with Verstappen while the seven-time World Champion was at Mercedes.

Wolff says: “I haven’t talked to him, because I promised Lewis not to talk to him.

“But I will have the conversation now.

“It’s so difficult with Max. There’s a one per cent chance that Max changes his mind [about staying with Red Bull].”

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