Ferrari leaked Lewis Hamilton move days ago and no one noticed

Thursday, the Formula One and motorsport world got a shock to the system: Lewis Hamilton will be moving on from Mercedes and joining Ferrari after the 2024 season. Hamilton, who has spent his career with McLaren and Mercedes, the latter since 2013, has become the face of the team and won several titles for them.

Now, he will be onto new pastures, and could close his career with the most recognizable and historic team in the sport. A driver of his magnitude switching sides will surely be consequential for every team, with several dominos sure to fall over the coming weeks and months.

Interestingly, the surprising news appears to have been right under our noses for a few days now...

Ferrari seems to have at least hinted at Lewis Hamilton/Ferrari connection days ago

A few days ago, Ferrari posted some promotional imagery for a new sponsorship with Peroni.

Looking back, fans have now realized that the promotional image featured a Ferrari car with the number 44, which happens to be Hamilton's number.

Coincidence or massive hint at the news that we now know to be true? That's up for you to decide.

It could surely be a coincidence, with one commenter on the Reddit thread linked above pointing out that Ferrari raced a 44 car from way back. Here's what the commenter said, a fine point on it being a win for Ferrari whether they intended this or not:

"To be fair it could still be a coincidence, because the Ferrari toy in the photo is based on the 1955 Ferrari that raced at Monaco that year, which ran the number 44.

Even if it is a coincidence though, the marketing team at Peroni are probably going to love this unexpected PR win."

If intentional, you have to think Ferrari PR people were losing it over no one recognizing this and starting some whispers.

No matter, fans have noticed, and Ferrari fans in particular have to be pumped about what's to come.