Lewis Hamilton sat on bathroom floor in shock after crunch Ferrari call

Lewis Hamilton has shed more details about the key phone call which initiated his move to Ferrari.

After three days of F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain, Hamilton has further acclimatised to his SF-25.

Ferrari, last year’s runners-up in the constructors’ championship, helped both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to grand prix wins in 2024.

They hope to deliver Hamilton a car capable of winning his eighth drivers’ title in 2025.

Although Hamilton spoke to Ferrari president John Elkann as far back as 2018, he admitted to conceding he would never drive for Ferrari by 2020.

But a phone call, when Hamilton was in his Colorado home in December 2023, changed everything.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur, who had worked with Hamilton when he was a junior driver, had got wind of a clause in the star’s latest Mercedes contract which could tempt him away.

Vasseur asked Hamilton on the phone to join Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton recounts key Ferrari call

“I remember getting off the phone and, like, almost shaking,” Hamilton told TIME.

“I was like, Oh God!”

Hamilton claimed that he and his friend sat on the bathroom floor in a state of shock after the phone call.

“I was like, Holy sh-t,” said Hamilton. “I literally just signed with Mercedes.

“It was a lot to take in, and my emotions were really high. So I honestly had to go for a walk.”

Hamilton first walked for an hour to think. He then spent several days meditating.

“My eyes felt really calm and present,” Hamilton reflected.

“This is the right thing for me.”

He added about moving teams: “You can’t stand still for too long.

“I needed to throw myself into something uncomfortable again.

“Honestly, I thought all my firsts were done. Your first car, your first crash, your first date, first day of school.

“The excitement I got by the idea of, ‘This is my first time in the red suit, the first time in the Ferrari.’

“Wow. Honestly, I’ve never been so excited.”

Lewis Hamilton on Mercedes' future

Hamilton told his long-time Mercedes colleagues that he was leaving during a team bonding paintball outing.

Hamilton admitted that, although they were supportive, he took a battering in the subsequent paintballing game.

“There is no bad blood,” Hamilton confirmed.

“Absolutely not. We won so many championships.”

He said about his former team: “They have all the ingredients to win world championships, and they will win more world championships. I have no doubt.”

George Russell has become Mercedes’ senior driver in 2025.

Last year, Russell comprehensively out-qualified Hamilton in a serious statement of his ability.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, feted by Toto Wolff as a big star of the future, has replaced Hamilton.

Mercedes hope that their W16 has ironed out many of the problems faced by Hamilton last year.