Lewis Hamilton’s transfer to Ferrari will obviously be one of the attractions of the 2025 season. Matt Whyman, who wrote a book behind the scenes of Mercedes F1 (to be released in 2025 by Talent Editions in France), remembers the moment when the seven-time world champion justified his decision.
“I asked him directly what was happening and he simply said to me ‘it’s the dream of every child who gets involved in motor racing to drive a Ferrari, and that’s it, I didn’t want to happen at the end of my career and look back and say, ‘What if?'” Whyman told the Mirror.
“He says he knows when his career will end. He has a very clear plan ahead of him. He said that winning all these races with Mercedes and making this trip was very important to him The only thing he didn’t do was say, ‘I don’t want to walk away and say I wish I had done that.’
On the other hand, the driver also explained to him how difficult it had been to announce this upcoming departure to his close team, the one comprising his engineers and mechanics, with whom he is used to preparing for the season with an outing.
“His team is very important to him – all his engineers, Bono, the whole team, they mean a lot to him. Every year he takes them paintballing, just to bond before the season, and everything was ready for to go paintball. He told me he arrived and saw them waiting to get in.”
“He told me he couldn’t get out of the car for 20 minutes. He wondered what he was going to say to them after all that time. He’s very human. I don’t think he “It’s a robotic decision. I know Lewis can come across as very focused and it’s a focused decision.”
“But he’s a human being, he knows that it has repercussions and, friendship-wise, that’s the thing that mattered most to him. Speaking with his colleagues, I think everyone understands .It’s Ferrari, and he’s a man who’s done everything – that’s the one thing he hasn’t done.”
It was by remembering his state of mind when leaving McLaren for Mercedes, a decision taken in 2012, that Hamilton judged himself capable of making the same choice and embarking on a new challenge.
“He used it as a precedent, so to speak. At the time, he was younger and it was a more difficult decision to make, he didn’t have complete confidence in “He really likes McLaren, but he says it was a bit like growing up in a house with your parents and becoming an adult.”
“You want your independence and your freedom, but you’re still treated like you haven’t gotten to that point yet. His precedent was, ‘I’ve done this before and everyone has asked me this what I was doing. I have to follow my instinct.”
