Lewis Hamilton is one of the most talented drivers to ever be a part of the sport. So it is not a surprise that a lot of teams have shown interest. However, one of those teams has never stopped approaching the British driver.
Ferrari has been trying to get Lewis Hamilton to wear the red outfit for a long time. However, it never came to fruition. Hamilton never admitted to any conversations with Ferrari until recently. The 7-time Champion has finally admitted to holding talks with the Marenello-based team.
During a recent interview before the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton said:
“Okay, we’ve definitely had a few irrelevant conversations. I know a lot of good people there. But I never felt ready to move to Italy. Of course, I want to know exactly what’s in there. It used to be 80 pages long, but now it’s over 200 pages or a darn book. And that takes you days!”
Do you think Lewis Hamilton will remain with Mercedes until the end of his F1 career? 🤔#Hamilton #Mercedes #Ferrari #F1 #Formula pic.twitter.com/i8gnOKX362
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) October 2, 2023
A few years back, driver contracts were much simpler than it is nowadays. Today, there are so many conditions in every driver’s contract. There have been so many instances in the past where drivers are able to find loopholes in their contracts. So teams have started adding more and more clauses in their contracts to their drivers.
Although Lewis Hamilton has had talks with Ferrari, he has never seriously taken it into consideration. The British driver has changed teams only once in his Formula 1 career. He entered the sport with McLaren who helped him during his junior career as well. He made the switch to Mercedes for the 2013 season.
Ferrari’s president reportedly approached Lewis Hamilton a few weeks back before he extended his contract with Mercedes. And this is not the first time Lewis Hamilton was approached by Ferrari.
How many times have Ferrari attempted to sign Lewis Hamilton?
Soon after Lewis joined Mercedes in 2013, he was approached twice by Ferrari to wear the red outfit. Once in 2014 and the other time in 2016. Both times, Hamilton rejected the offer.
At the end of the 2014 season, Lewis Hamilton was the reigning Champion and Ferrari were looking for someone to replace Kimi Raikkonen. In 2014, the Finn driver was outperformed by his teammate, Fernando Alonso. Due to this, Ferrari was looking to replace him. However, Ferrari took another route by replacing the Spanish driver with Sebastian Vettel instead.
Everyone is a Lewis Hamilton fan.
Even Ferrari mechanics. pic.twitter.com/l40fv6kJ8R
— Stefanie (@fastpitstop) September 17, 2023
Hamilton was approached for the second time in 2016 to replace Kimi Raikkonen once again. At the time, Lewis Hamilton was a 3-time Champion and the Mercedes team seemed to be the strongest on the grid. For this reason, the British driver once again rejected the offer to wear the red.
Lewis Hamilton has remained loyal to Mercedes ever since the 2013 season. He most recently signed a contract extension to remain in the team until the 2025 season. Fans and the paddock can be confident that we will never see the 7-time Champion wear any other outfit again.
Could Lewis Hamilton have won 7 Championships if he had joined Ferrari? Post your answers in the comment section below.
