The Brit departs a Mercedes team that he has forged a dynasty with across 11 years – including winning six championships in a seven-season span between 2014 and 2020.
Ferrari are in a far better position to challenge Red Bull than any other team on the grid, but former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone still isn’t a fan of Hamilton’s move.
“It was a strange, strange move to make,” he told RacingNews365. “Toto has relied on him an awful lot more and they’ve become close for selfish reasons – both of them.
“I don’t think there was ever a sort of a relationship where you could rely on both parties. There obviously wasn’t because that’s why he suddenly decided to leave,” Ecclestone continued.
“Big surprise in as far as I didn’t understand why he did it, given the year’s notice basically. Why didn’t he wait [to announce it] until later on during the season?
“People thought [Ferrari had] done a clever deal in taking him, but I think it’s a bit of an ego thing that he got latched into it all.”