“It was never really on the cards for me”: When Lewis Hamilton rued why ‘dream’ Ferrari move never happened during his Mercedes days
During his time with Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton revealed how he believed that joining Ferrari was something that was never going to happen for him. The British driver also revealed that he wasn't sure about the reason why the opportunity to drive for the Scarlet team never came up.
In an interview with Sky Sports Italy in October 2021 at Monza, Lewis Hamilton talked about his desire to be a part of the Italian team, but accepting that it wasn't something that seemed to be a part of his career path.
"It's definitely going to be crazy to think that I never drove for Ferrari"
"Of course I look at the colour and the red, it's just... it's still the red. I have a couple of Ferraris at home, so I do get to drive a Ferrari, just not the one!", the driver added
Hamilton, who had won his seventh world championship title just the year before, also spoke about how driving in red is something that every driver would like to do and yet wasn't sure why it hadn't worked out for him.
"For everyone that's a dream position to be in. It was just never really fully on the cards for me."
"I'll never know fully exactly why, but I wish them all the best and I'm going to spend the next bit of my time stopping them from winning the championship!" [via SkySports]
In July 2021, a few months before he talked about missing his chance to be a part of Ferrari, it was announced that Lewis Hamilton signed a two-year contract with the Brackley-based team, choosing to stay with them until 2023.
The 2021 season ended with the Briton scoring a second-place finish in the standings, after a controversial end to the season, which saw him finish eight points behind first-time world champion, Max Verstappen.
When Lewis Hamilton opened up about the idea of retirement
Speaking with Sky Sports Italy in 2021, Lewis Hamilton revealed that there were times when he thought about retiring. At the time, Hamilton was 36 years old, and he spoke about what would tip him off that it was time to step away from the driver's seat, while also highlighting his awareness of what he's giving up to be in the sport.
"There's definitely plenty of times I've had over the last four or five years where I've been like, I don't know if I want to keep giving or sacrificing the training and my personal life,"
"In the bigger scheme of things, it's a little of your life. There's a long, long time retired.
"So I'm trying to find the right balance. If I'm still hungry, if I can still train myself as I did as a kid, which I do now, and still achieve great results... then great.
"If I start getting slower, I can't be bothered to train and I'm not as driven, then I know that's when I need to stop."
Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari for the upcoming 2025 season, which will be the now 40-year-old's 18th season in Formula 1. He will be driving for the Scarlet team alongside teammate Charles Leclerc once the season begins in March.