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Lewis Hamilton to Scuderia Ferrari in 2025 shook up the sporting world.
The rumours broke on Thursday morning and later it was revealed that at 7pm GMT, there will be an official announcement from Mercedes.
The official announcement came and it confirmed that Hamilton would be leaving the Silver Arrows in 2025.
Second later Ferrari confirmed that the seven-time World Champion will be joining them next year, while Carlos Sainz confirmed his departure at the end of 2024.
The big question now is, who will take Hamilton's sit in Mercedes? Let's take a look at possible candidates.
Top 5 drivers who could replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes
Carlos Sainz
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Sainz to Mercedes could be the obvious swap deal. The 29-year-old has been driving next to Charles Leclerc for Ferrari. He has 2 race wins and 18 podiums during his career and will be out of contract at the end of the season.
Sainz has become unavailable for Mercedes as he signed a contract with Williams.
Lando Norris
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Lando Norris proved last season that he is capable of winning races. Although he is still searching for his first win, the youngster has 13 podiums. However, a few days earlier he signed a new contract with McLaren and if Mercedes come for the 24-year-old they will have to spend serious money to sign one of the fastest drivers on the grid.
Alex Albon
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Albon has been having an impressive season with Williams. He finished 13th last season with 27 points and helped his team to finish 7th in the constructors championship. The 27-year-old could be a good fit to drive Mercedes.
Sebastian Vettel
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If Vettel ever decides to come back it would be the ultimate comeback if he signed for Mercedes. However, this might seem unrealistic but again the news of Hamilton joining Ferrari seemed unrealistic too until it became real.
Max Verstappen
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Max Verstappen to Mercedes? This is a rumor that has been circuling around on the internet following the Chris Horner allegations at Red Bull. Horner has become a subject of a misconduct allegation made by a female employee at Red Bull. Although the allegations were cleared after an investigation, but the saga continues. According to some reports, Verstappen's father Jos Verstappen has met up with Toto Wolff, while it has also been reported that the three time World Champion would be willing to leave Red Bull and join Mercedes.
It remains to be seen whether these rumours are just rumours or there is a little bit of truth in it.
If Verstappen ends up joining Mercedes, the fight over World Championship title between Mercedes and Ferrari will heat up even more.