How F1 champion stopped Hamilton to Ferrari move happening sooner

It's reported that Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari - he will join the Italian team in 2025 - could have happened years ago if not for the presence of Sebastian Vettel.

Signing a deal with the Scuderia in 2017 tied the four-time champion to the team until 2020, after which he ended up moving to Aston Martin.

In the midst of a championship battle with Mercedes, both sides were pleased with their driver line-ups, but it appears that Lewis Hamilton may have teased Pierro 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.

READ MORE: Red Bull boss Horner investigated for 'inappropriate behaviour'

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.

The possibilities are endless, while one imagines that it’s almost impossible for this fairy-tale not to end the way that most picture it.

READ MORE: What the 2025 F1 grid looks like after MASSIVE Hamilton move

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