New Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari development in Binotto signing admission

Lewis Hamilton would not have got his blockbuster move to Ferrari had Mattia Binotto still been there as team principal.

After achieving record-breaking success with Mercedes – collecting six of his seven Drivers’ titles in a period of eight straight Mercedes Constructors’ triumps from 2014-21 – Hamilton will embark on a new career chapter from F1 2025 when he links up with Ferrari.

Mattia Binotto would not have signed Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari

The huge move was announced before the start of F1 2024, Hamilton activating an exit clause in his contract to reunite with current Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur, who was his ART boss on the junior racing scene.

Vasseur replaced Binotto after the Italian’s exit at the end of 2022, but if Binotto – now Audi’s F1 chief – were still calling the shots, the door would not have opened to Hamilton.

Asked by Corriere della Sera if he would have brought Hamilton to Ferrari, Binotto replied: “No. But he did very well to go to Ferrari, I agree with his decision.”

Explaining his reasoning, Binotto said that Hamilton’s future Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc – a Ferrari driver since 2019 after graduating from their academy – should be their centrepiece for an F1 title challenge.

“Because Ferrari had set their sights on other drivers. And if the talent is Leclerc, he is the one who somehow I think should be taken to the target ,” claimed Binotto.

Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari: All the details you need

👉 Your questions answered: All you need to know about Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari move

👉 10 biggest sports deals in history: Where does Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari salary rank?

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, while speaking to media including PlanetF1.com on the morning after Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari was announced, said Hamilton “broke the news” to him that he was going to Ferrari over breakfast at Wolff’s home in Oxford.

And Hamilton recalled how nerve-wracking that experience was.

“It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions from the moment I signed the contract — telling my boss, that was terrifying,” Hamilton told The Times .

“But it is so exciting because I remember as a kid watching Michael. Every driver watches that car and you’re like: ‘What would it be like to sit in the red cockpit?’”

Hamilton will soon find out, while Mercedes has found their successor to the seven-time World Champion having promoted teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli from Formula 2 to an F1 2025 seat.

Meanwhile Carlos Sainz, who Hamilton replaces at Ferrari, has agreed a multi-year deal with Williams.

Read next: Carlos Sainz ‘hijacked my seat’ joke as Franco Colapinto surprises Spanish audience