Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Istanbul Park, 2020

Hamilton spoke to Ferrari about F1 drive but ‘our positions have never aligned’

2020 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton has shed light on why his past discussions with Ferrari never resulted in him joining Formula 1’s most famous team.

A tie-up between the sport’s most popular driver and the historic Ferrari name would have obvious appeal. And, as Ferrari recently noted on social media, Hamilton’s Mercedes contract has not kept him from driving their road cars.

But although Hamilton’s Mercedes deal expires at the end of this year he is expected to remain at the team. Ferrari has already confirmed its drivers for the 2021 F1 season. Hamilton told La Gazzetta dello Sport he was “never really close” to signing with the Scuderia on past occasions for various reasons.

“We talked on occasion but we didn’t go beyond understanding what options were on the table and they weren’t the right ones,” said Hamilton.

He pointed out part of the reason why a deal had never come together was that the ending of his contract hadn’t coincided with a vacancy at Maranello.

“Our positions have never aligned,” he said. “I think timing matters and things happen in the end for a reason.

“In recent seasons my contract always expired in years different from that of all the other riders. In the end it went like this.”

Drivers, Circuit de Catalunya, 2020
2021 F1 drivers and teams
Earlier this year Hamilton called on Ferrari to “hold themselves accountable” over the diversity of the team’s workforce, which drew a response from the team’s chairman John Elkann.

Hamilton said he had warned Mercedes when he joined them from McLaren in 2013 he wanted greater opportunity to express himself than he had at he previous team.

“At McLaren I grew a lot but they had certain expectations about how a driver should behave and they contrasted with the fact that I have always been an outsider, a nonconformist,” he said.

“Before signing with Mercedes I said: ‘Look, I’m different from others. Let me be myself, let me experience [things] because I have to find out who I am. In any case, I help you and make the brand grow in the world of young people in a better way’. And that’s what happened.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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32 comments on “Hamilton spoke to Ferrari about F1 drive but ‘our positions have never aligned’”

  1. So, nothing any other driver on the grid experiences

    1. Perhaps shows neither party wanted to compromise, which is different to most drivers I’d say. Good outcome I’d say.

  2. Jose Lopes da Silva
    18th November 2020, 12:58

    This is not Super Monaco GP where you trade Madonna for Firenze or ZeroForce just for the fun.

    1. Who will be Hamilton’s G.Ceara ???

      1. Jose Lopes da Silva
        18th November 2020, 17:02

        I don’t know, but if there is one, it will probably appear only in 2022…

  3. Excuse me? Non conformist?
    Lewis is actually as conformist as they come. He takes a cue from whatever is current and popular. That his not to knock him or criticise: Just an honest minority opinion.
    And as far as Ferrari goes, Lewis must go there and show all of us that there is more to him than that unbeatable German car he is currently driving.

    1. Lewis must go there and show all of us that there is more to him than that unbeatable German car he is currently driving

      It’s actually made in the UK.

      1. Think you might find it’s a British car, if only Ferrari were allowed to base their team in the UK, pretty sure they would be doing a bit better

    2. Who wants to drive for another team just like Red Bull, that gives the impression of a bad environment?

    3. Yes, he should go there so he can match the many WDCs who have won championships in three different teams.
      In fact it would be good for Ferrari to sign him. He would only need to win once for half those on here to state that the Ferrari is the best car on the grid.

    4. Lewis is actually as conformist as they come

      Could you give some examples to support this view? In my view he is doing a few things that you could call unexpected from someone in his role.
      1. He doesn’t consider F1 his only focus, and fights for more freedom in his contract.
      2. He stands for equality and fights racism. Doubt FIA would do anything if there wasn’t a push from Lewis.
      3. He cares about the environment, animals and makes steps to become carbon neutral. Maybe not enough talk about their sponsors to degree they need to be talked about but still it’s still better than keeping quiet altogether.

      Its hard to judge him really because nobody else has as much weight as him to be able to push on all these agendas. I’m sure some would too if they could afford it but in most cases they’ll just be dropped by the team.

      1. All three items that you listed are major world-wide and the most popular trends these day. Supporting those doesn’t make one a non-conformist.

        1. Not for average person, of course not but he’s not average. He had different pressures as a driver for a multi billion dollar brand. To go after these items in his position could be called non-conformist. Compare to other F1 drivers that are told what to say, where to be and what to do.

          1. First, an average person does not exist on this planet. Try to google it; you will find scientific explanations.

            If one thinks, like millions people around, if one acts like millions people around, if one says the same as millions people around that makes the person a conformist no matter of wealth and what that person worth. He is exceptional of course, when he drive his Mercedes F1.

    5. Rodber, I still don’t understand this insistence on having to drive for Ferrari – so what if he doesn’t? We don’t diminish the record of other drivers for not driving for Ferrari, and I really can’t see the point when the myth of Ferrari is somewhat overblown.

  4. I just cannot see Hamilton in a Ferrari – actually, has there been a F1 British driver who flourished at Ferrari? I’d forgotten about Mansell’s stint at the Scuderia and I’m sure he probably wants to forget it too :-) John Surtees is another name and he didn’t seem like a happy camper according to Google. But generally speaking the combination of a British driver and Ferrari is not a winning one.

    Obviously, McLaren was the perfect fit for Hamilton until they had enough of winning and self-destructed with Hamilton running for the closest rope like Tarzan extended to him by Niki Lauda and swinging to the nearest Mercedes tree. And what a tree it ended up being, nearly as strong as the Tree of Souls in Avatar.

    1. Obviously, McLaren was the perfect fit for Hamilton until they had enough of winning and self-destructed with Hamilton running for the closest rope like Tarzan extended to him by Niki Lauda and swinging to the nearest Mercedes tree. And what a tree it ended up being, nearly as strong as the Tree of Souls in Avatar.

      Analogy of the week.

    2. @freelittlebirds Well who would expect a German to function well at Ferrari? In fact they were booing Schumacher when he joined. He fit in just fine after he won a race though.

  5. Mike Hawthorn, Eddie Irvine, plus the two you mentioned. American Mario Andretti also did OK there, but his ancestry might have helped. Then there is Jody Scheckter.

    1. Meant to be addressed to @freelittlebirds ….

  6. So his Ferrari is Mercedes.
    I’m not sure how far fetched this idea is but his hero Ayrton never raced for Ferrari..

  7. Some talented « other riders » have failed in the past, or rather Ferrari.
    Even Brawn GP has a most recent world champion.

  8. “The sport’s most popular driver…”

    Eh?

    ‘Polarising’, ‘controversial’, ‘divisive’, ‘enigmatic’ or ‘contentious’ would have been much more appropriate adjectives to use here.

    1. So worldwide you think a number of others are more popular? Who would they be?

  9. There were two recent windows where Ferrari seemed to be in a rush to not sign Hamilton: resigning Vettel a couple of years or so ago (?) and signing Sainz this year. Both times, Hamilton’s Mercedes contract was running out. That seems to indicate Ferrari are the less interested party. On the other hand, maybe it’s just a lack of intermediaries and communication. Ecclestone was famously the one to help engineer these switches.

    1. @david-br
      Hamilton has already extended his contract twice with Mercedes in 2015 and in 2018. In 2015, there was no better option for Lewis than Mercedes, they were light years ahead of the competition.

      In 2018, Ferrari was already on par with Mercedes and the decision on the second seat hasn’t been made yet. Hamilton brought the Ferrari name on the table just to put pressure on Mercedes who succumbed and didn’t call his bluff and eventually signed with him for the 2019 and 2020 seasons in July while Ferrari announced Leclerc after two months in Monza.

      It was technically possible for Hamilton to join Ferrari. Since he is the cash king, he could have made that call worked if he wanted to because Ferrari and all their sponsors would have been desperate to sign someone as marketable as he is remember Vettel doesn’t even use social medias. However, Lewis is smart too he knows that it’s stupid to step down from that Mercedes seat to go to Ferrari just to watch other drivers collect what was his to achieve.

      1. @tifoso1989 2015, definitely. In 2018, there was an interesting moment when Hamilton made a very public remark about Mercedes power versus Ferrari (after winning, Monza itself I think). That to me sounded like a barb armed at Ferrari itself (higher up) after the Leclerc signing, you’re right. Does that fit? Ferrari were pulling level by then, through their engine power ‘boost’, so actually Hamilton could have made the switch, believing he’d make a difference and win the championship over whoever Mercedes put in his seat. Unless, of course, he knew that Ferrari’s engine would be contested at some point? 2020, yes, Ferrari don’t look good right now. Anyhow, I’d quite liked to have seen him at Ferrari but it does seem unlikely now. A switch to some other team, if he continues, would still be good.

  10. ‘Look, I’m different from others. Let me be myself, let me experience [things] because I have to find out who I am. In any case, I help you and make the brand grow in the world of young people in a better way’. And that’s what happened”

    I’m not sure Mercedes’ brand has actually grown to be honest. Their pre pandemic sales figures certainly don’t suggest this. I did initially applaud Mercedes move to target the younger market. I mean, a Mercedes was always your dad’s car, not yours.

    However, in pandering to the youth, they’ve managed to alienate their core customer base, the boomers, your parents, which has translated to low sales. I’m sure it hasn’t helped that their cars look rather ordinary now and the quality is pretty rubbish too. Gone are the days of the W116 and W126.

  11. I’m sure Ferrari would have dropped Massa, Raikkonen, tear up the Sainz contract if he really wanted to drive for them.

  12. Thank goodness it never happened.
    They would have destroyed him and his career!

  13. Ferrari taking ex champions and potential champions and destroying their careers all for the glory of driving for ferrari. Which is better to tell your kid. “look i drove for ferrari, and lost, never win and was pushed out.”or” i was a champion for mercedese. I would go with tthe latter.

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