How Vettel stopped Hamilton to Ferrari F1 switch happening sooner

Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari journey may have prevented Lewis Hamilton from embarking on a similar challenge with the Scuderia sooner.

After signing a new deal with the Italian outfit in 2017, Sebastian Vettel was tied to the team until at least the 2020 season.

In the midst of a championship battle with Mercedes, both sides were pleased with their driver line-ups, but it appears that Hamilton may have teased Piero Ferrari – the son of the legendary Enzo, into thinking that a move may have been possible if they had waited another year to take a look at the driver market.

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Hamilton teased a move in 2017

Ferrari told Italian journalist Leo Turrini that a visit to pick up a LaFerrari supercar and subsequent joke with the Brit left him wondering.

"We had Vettel in the team and we were happy with Seb,” Ferrari told Turrini. “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..."

Turrini questioned whether Hamilton may have been contemplating a move already in 2017, to which Ferrari replied: "I don't think so, 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 Senna as an idol, in Mercedes in 2013 he took the place of Michael Schumacher..."

Now that Ferrari have secured their driver, they can look forwards to having one of the sport’s all-time elite line-ups from 2025, with Hamilton pairing Charles Leclerc until the end of the 2026 season for now.

READ MORE: Ferrari confirm ICONIC F1 return for 2024

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