Lewis Hamilton’s transfer plan to Ferrari has been on the table for over twenty years, his new boss Frederic Vasseur has revealed.

Hamilton has ended his long-standing relationship with Mercedes at the end of the 2024 season, triggering a termination clause in a two-year contract he signed before the season even started.

Hamilton will be Charles Leclerc’s teammate at the revived Scuderia Ferrari under Vasseur’s leadership.

“Hamilton and I have had contact for 20 years”

Vasseur, responding to a question about how difficult it was to convince Hamilton to switch from Brackley to Maranello, said the two had spoken about it in 2004 when they were working together in the junior categories at ART Grand Prix:

“We won more races than Mercedes in 2023 and the start of the season was good.”

“It wasn’t very difficult to convince him that Ferrari was a good project and I think Hamilton has had the idea of ​​racing at Ferrari for at least 22-23 years because we talked about it in 2004.”

“It was a coincidence that there was a vacant seat at Ferrari and the other conditions were right. We started the contract negotiations a year ago and it wasn’t hard to reach an agreement.”

“I’ve been in contact with Lewis for 20 years, but [in 2024] we were more cautious and didn’t talk about technical collaborations out of respect for Mercedes.”

“I have a good relationship with Mercedes and I didn’t want to create a mess. We had some discussions, but they were not about technical issues.”