Lewis Hamilton is poised for a shock move from Mercedes to Ferrari for the 2025 season, BBC Sport understands.
A number of sources say a deal for Hamilton to join Charles Leclerc at Ferrari from 2025 has been agreed but both teams have refused to comment.
The move, one of the most seismic events in Formula 1 for years, could be announced as early as Thursday.
The 39-year-old signed a new two-year deal with Mercedes last summer but he is set to leave just one year into it.
The possibility of Hamilton moving to Ferrari in 2025 was reported in the Italian and Spanish media on Thursday.
BBC Sport has since verified the information and a number of senior sources say the move will happen and will be confirmed in the near future.
There have been intermittent rumours of Hamilton moving to Ferrari for years. Until now, these have turned out to have little substance, but a number of sources say this is different.
Sources have told BBC Sport that all Mercedes team members have been called to a team briefing with boss Toto Wolff and technical director James Allison at 14:00 GMT on Thursday. This is likely to be to announce Hamilton is leaving.
The Hamilton deal has happened quickly. Ferrari were in negotiations over a contract extension with Carlos Sainz, whose deal runs out at the end of this season.
But Ferrari president John Elkann then discovered that Hamilton was a possibility and moved to secure his signature. The two are friends and have met each other socially on a number of occasions in recent years.
Hamilton won the most recent of his seven world titles in 2020 and signed his latest two-year Mercedes deal in August, which would extend his period with the team to 13 years.
Ferrari admitted to holding talks with then-reigning world champion Hamilton in 2019 about joining them in the future.
Red Bull have dominated the sport over the past two seasons since the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when Hamilton lost out to Max Verstappen after former FIA race director Michael Masi ignored the rules in operating a late-race safety car period.
