The world of Formula 1 was sent into chaos on Thursday evening by the confirmation that Hamilton would be making the switch to Maranello at the end of the 2024 season on a multi-year deal.
The move left fans and pundits alike stunned – and no doubt the Brit’s family, who have been extremely close and supportive during his record-breaking F1 career, especially father Anthony, who managed his career in his early years and brother Nicolas, who races in the British Touring Car Championship.
And the latter spoke on an Instagram live to tell the story of how his brother dropped the huge bombshell.
Nicolas Hamilton reveals family phone call
During the livestream, Nicolas was speaking to his followers when someone asked him about how he found out about the shocking news – and he explained that it was just as last minute as the move itself.
“So, if anyone doesn’t know, I do public speaking, right,” he recounted.
“So I was doing a public speech actually for Coke yesterday, Coca-Cola.
“Lewis called me the night before and I was at dinner, so I said: ‘Hey bro, I’ll call you back when I can’ and then I called him later at night and he didn’t pick up and he told me that he was in bed, so I was like ‘ok, no worries.’
Nicolas telling the story about how he found out Lewis would be driving for Ferrari 😭 pic.twitter.com/RwsM8K54WS
“And then he said: ‘are you around?’ I said: ‘oh, I’m just heading into work, I’ve got a speech to do.’ I said I’ll catch you later tonight because I’ll be free.
“And he was like: ‘I could really do with speaking to you now.’ And so, I was like: ‘ok, give me five minutes’ and then he said: ‘are you in a place where you can talk?’ And I said yeah.
“But [Lewis said] can you talk without anyone hearing? And I was like yeah.”
Nicolas couldn’t help but burst out laughing as he told his fans the exact moment Lewis revealed the news.
“Then he said: ‘So, I’m going to Ferrari in 2025.’ I was like: ‘Woah! Oh my god! Are you joking? That’s crazy!”