Lewis Hamilton has revealed he had little time to make his choice to go away Mercedes and be a part of Ferrari subsequent yr.
The Mercedes driver informed his workforce late final month he would go away them on the finish of the season to hitch Ferrari. Hamilton mentioned he had little time to contemplate a proposal from Ferrari workforce principal Frederic Vasseur earlier than taking it.
“It occurred very quick,” he told the BBC. “I’ve recognized Fred for a very long time and for me, I used to be excited for a brand new yr, however probably not realizing what the longer term would maintain, probably not realizing how lengthy I used to be going to race for, however realizing that I felt super-driven and excited to proceed to race.
“The chance simply popped up and I used to be like, ‘okay, I’ve received to assume for a second’. I didn’t have numerous time to assume, and I needed to simply go together with my intestine feeling. And I made a decision to take the chance.”
Mercedes have powered Hamilton’s automobiles in each certainly one of his 17 Method 1 seasons so far. He mentioned the choice to go away them for Ferrari was one to make with “your intestine and your coronary heart.”
“I didn’t communicate to anyone,” he continued. “I didn’t inform my dad and mom ’til the day of it being introduced. So nobody knew. I actually wished to do it for myself. In the end, I needed to discover out what was going to be one of the best for me.”
Hamilton has solely moved groups as soon as earlier than in his profession, when he left McLaren to hitch Mercedes in 2013. He mentioned he’ll nonetheless root for his two former groups when he joins Ferrari.
“It was the toughest choice. After I left McLaren it was a really, very arduous choice additionally as a result of it was like my household. You are feeling such part of the household and clearly Mercedes has been such an enormous a part of my life and we’ve achieved a lot collectively.
“The factor is, I’ll all the time be a Mercedes fan, and we’ll all the time have this unimaginable historical past collectively. Even now, all these years after I’ve left McLaren, I all the time examine the place they’re and I’m usually all the time supporting them. And that can all the time be the case for me right here additionally.”
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