Lewis Hamilton admits his childhood Ferrari dream stems from Michael Schumacher

Lewis Hamilton has expressed that his aspiration to race for Scuderia Ferrari originated in his youth, during the times he played as Michael Schumacher in Formula One video games.

The Formula 1 community was taken aback earlier this month when news broke that Hamilton would be exiting his contract with Mercedes one year early to join Ferrari in 2025.

Since Kimi Raikkonen clinched the drivers’ championship over Lewis Hamilton in 2007, Ferrari has been without a title, with its last dominant era occurring during Michael Schumacher’s reign from 2000 to 2004.

Lewis Hamilton, in an Instagram post earlier in the month, described racing for Ferrari in F1 as a “dream since childhood,” a sentiment he further detailed in a press conference during preseason testing on Friday.

“I think for every driver, I think growing up, watching the history, watching Michael Schumacher in his prime, I think probably all of us sit in our garage and see the screen pop up, and you see the driver in the red cockpit, and you wonder what it might be like to be surrounded by the red,” he explained – “You go to the Italian Grand Prix, and you see the sea of red of Ferrari fans, and you can only stand in awe of that.

“It’s a team that’s not had huge success really since, mostly obviously from Michael’s days, but obviously since 2007, and I saw it as a huge challenge.” – the Mercedes driver continued.

“Without a doubt, even as a kid, I used to play on Grand Prix 2 [a computer game] as Michael in that car. So it definitely is a dream, and I’m really, really excited about it.”

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Lewis Hamilton, since his entry into Formula One, has been the owner of three Ferrari road vehicles, among them a Ferrari 599 GTO purchased in 2010. However, he mentioned that he had never made a visit to the renowned Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy.

“I bought my first Ferrari in 2010, I think. That was my first present to myself, but I don’t have it anymore,” Lewis Hamilton added.

“But I didn’t get to go during that time, being with [McLaren] Mercedes, I didn’t think it was a good look to go at the time.” – the seven-time Formula One world champion concluded.