Source: REUTERS/RULA
ROUHANA
[Saba Sports News] In a
recent F1 Nation podcast, F1 official website reporter Lawrence Barretto shared
the details behind Lewis Hamilton’s potential transfer to Ferrari. Hamilton has
maintained connections with top officials at Ferrari and is a close friend of
Ferrari chairman John Elkann. However, their previous conversations had been
informal. During the Monaco Grand Prix in May of the previous year, Elkann
approached Hamilton after the race and expressed Ferrari’s interest in having
him join the team, offering him everything they could provide. However,
Hamilton declined the offer. In the autumn and winter of the same year, Elkann
once again approached Hamilton and presented the possibility of a long-term contract
with Ferrari. At that time, Hamilton had already signed a 1+1 contract with
Mercedes. Prior to renewing his contract with Mercedes, Hamilton had hoped to
secure a three-year agreement, but Mercedes-Benz CEO Toto Wolff initially only
offered a one-year contract. Eventually, they reached a compromise, and a
one-year contract with options was signed. Lawrence Barretto believes that
Hamilton was disappointed with the Mercedes-AMG team at that time. It was
during this period that Elkann shared Ferrari’s future development plans with
Hamilton and revealed the promising development of their power unit for 2026,
which had the support of top technical personnel. Hamilton sees Ferrari as his
last opportunity to win an eighth world title.