Lewis Hamilton’s 2017 Ferrari ‘joke’: “If you waited 12 months, I'd come..."
Piero Ferrari shares a tale from when Lewis Hamilton bought a Ferrari seven years ago
Lewis Hamilton apparently joked to the Ferrari vice-president in 2017 about eventually joining - seven years before he actually signed.
Hamilton will swap Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025 having activated a get-out clause in his current contract to pen a multi-year agreement with the Italian team.
It is no secret that Hamilton has always been an admirer of Ferrari road cars and a visit to make a personal purchase resulted in an intriguing conversation with a key figure at the famous brand.
"Perhaps not everyone knows that Lewis has always been sensitive to the fascination of the Prancing Horse,” vice-president Piero Ferrari told Quotidiano.
"He's a customer of ours! More than once he visited the factory.”
But not the F1 team itself.
"No, no,” Piero Ferrari explained. “He came as a buyer of our cars.
“He's not just a speed ace. He has a genuine love for supercars.
“In his garage, our cars could not be missing. One in particular...
"The model that's called LaFerrari.
“Hamilton came to Maranello to give instructions on how to set up the car.
“It was on that occasion that we greeted each other cordially.
“And he said something to me that struck me...
"We had Sebastian Vettel in the team and we were happy with Seb.
“We had just renewed the contract with the German, which was going well.
“Lewis made a joke: ‘If you waited twelve months, I'd come..."
Vettel renewed his Ferrari contract in 2017, mid-way through an ultimately unsuccessful partnership.
Was Hamilton dreaming of Ferrari seven years ago?
"I don't think so,” Piero Ferrari admitted.
“He has lived and is still living a fantastic story with Mercedes.
“But certainly, as I said at the beginning, he has never been indifferent to our history.
“He is also very attached to the legend of motoring, as a child he had Ayrton Senna as an idol, in Mercedes in 2013 he took the place of Michael Schumacher.
"Well, personally I'm very happy. A figure like Lewis fits perfectly with the Ferrari legend."
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
