Lewis Hamilton has revealed that his move to Ferrari could have happened long before his eventual arrival in 2025, explaining that talks took place during Stefano Domenicali’s time in charge at Maranello and suggesting Fernando Alonso’s powerful position within the team was an important obstacle.
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion finally joined the Scuderia after spending the first 18 seasons of his career with McLaren and Mercedes. During the 2026 Italian Grand Prix weekend, however, Hamilton explained that Ferrari had been on his mind for considerably longer and that he did not want to reach retirement still wondering what might have happened had he never made the switch.
Why an earlier Lewis Hamilton Ferrari move never happened
Hamilton explained to Sky Sports F1 at Monza that Ferrari had always generated a different feeling for him compared with the other teams in the paddock. When he passed members of the Italian team, he recalled regularly receiving enthusiastic encouragement to come and race for Ferrari.
That interest was not confined to casual paddock exchanges. Hamilton revealed that he had spoken with Stefano Domenicali on a couple of occasions while the Italian was Ferrari team principal. Domenicali led the Scuderia from 2008, the season in which Hamilton claimed his first world championship, until his departure in 2014.
Fernando Alonso was at Ferrari for much of that period, having joined the team in 2010. According to Hamilton, the Spaniard enjoyed veto rights and held the position of clear number one within the team. Hamilton believes Alonso probably had little desire to become his team-mate again following their notoriously tense season together at McLaren in 2007.
Hamilton therefore felt that the circumstances required to make an earlier Ferrari move happen never came together. Alonso partnered Felipe Massa during his first four seasons at Maranello, with the Brazilian effectively occupying the supporting role as Ferrari built its championship challenge around Alonso.
Hamilton wanted to avoid ending his career with a Ferrari what-if
Although those earlier discussions never produced a move, the possibility of racing in red remained significant to Hamilton. He explained that there would not necessarily have been deep regret had his career ended without a Ferrari spell, but there would always have been a lingering question over what could have happened.
That helps explain the importance Hamilton attached to finally joining the Italian team in 2025. The switch ended an extraordinary period spent exclusively with McLaren and Mercedes and allowed him to pursue what he had described as a long-standing ambition before the end of his Formula 1 career.
Fred Vasseur eventually played a major part in making that possible. Hamilton and the Ferrari team principal had known each other since the Briton’s junior-category career, giving them a relationship that long predated their reunion at Maranello.
Hamilton’s eventual arrival also placed him alongside Charles Leclerc, creating one of Formula 1’s highest-profile driver pairings and a very different internal situation from the one Hamilton believes existed during Alonso’s years with Ferrari.
Fernando Alonso revelation highlights how Ferrari’s hierarchy has changed
The structure Hamilton described from the early 2010s contrasts sharply with Ferrari’s current approach. Neither Lewis Hamilton nor Charles Leclerc holds the same level of authority Alonso was described as possessing, while driver influence over decisions concerning the other side of the garage is considerably less apparent.
Even if Leclerc had objected to Ferrari replacing Carlos Sainz with Hamilton, for example, there is little indication that such an objection would have changed the decision. Fred Vasseur’s approach during the 2026 season has instead centred on maintaining competitive parity between his two drivers, despite an increasingly intense battle between them.
That question has become particularly significant around the Italian Grand Prix. After qualifying at Monza, the Briton strongly indicated that Ferrari should consider maximising his championship prospects because he held a points advantage over Leclerc. The comments added to the wider discussion about Hamilton’s position in Ferrari’s internal hierarchy.
Leclerc has nevertheless continued to receive an equal opportunity to compete. Ferrari has resisted establishing a firm number-one driver, with Vasseur maintaining that the moment to impose a definitive hierarchy has not yet arrived. His position became particularly relevant after the two drivers fought aggressively at the start of the Italian Grand Prix, an encounter that sent Hamilton through the gravel.
The incident intensified scrutiny of how the Scuderia manages its drivers when they meet on track. Vasseur subsequently addressed the question of Ferrari team orders between Hamilton and Leclerc, while Leclerc also moved to dismiss suggestions of a feud with Hamilton following their Monza confrontation.
Hamilton’s recollection of his earlier Ferrari discussions therefore provides an intriguing contrast between two eras at Maranello. During Alonso’s time, Hamilton believed the established number-one driver possessed enough influence to complicate the prospect of them becoming team-mates again. In the current Ferrari structure, Vasseur has so far chosen a markedly different path, allowing Hamilton and Leclerc to compete on equal terms even as their own championship interests increasingly collide.
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