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Scuderia Ferrari director Fred Wasser has confirmed an earlier report by the British “Guardian” that Lewis Hamilton and the Italian team signed their multi-year contract, which starts in 2025, earlier this year in record time.
News of Hamilton’s deal with the Scuderia broke on February 1, 2024, just months after the seven-time Formula 1 world champion signed a two-year extension with Mercedes F1 in September 2023.
But in the process it turned out that the Briton’s new contract with the Brackley team was for 1+1 years, with the option in Hamilton’s hands to leave in 2025. And indeed the 39-year-old took the option, and accepted Ferrari’s offer of to take the place of Carlos Sainz next year.
Toto Wolff recently revealed that he had been informed by Saint Sr. about the Hamilton-Ferrari deal about two weeks before Lewis himself, at the end of last January, visited the Austrian in person at his home in Oxford to inform him.
Everything happened very quickly, and in fact, in the days after the announcement, the British newspaper “The Guardian” wrote that Hamilton’s agreement with the Scuderia was reached in record time.
In particular, the publication stated that “negotiations were extremely and unusually brisk, and one lawyer said that this contract was the fastest he had seen in F1. Ferrari was obviously excited from the first moment of the discussions between the two sides and was not afraid to commit.”
And now, speaking to Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, Fred Wasser has confirmed Hamilton’s 2025 Ferrari signing “basically it wasn’t difficult. OR Ferrari it was always in his thoughts, somehow, and now the stars have aligned. But he comes to win, not to vacation. And I’m convinced they have what it takes to try.”
Lewis Hamilton at the 2024 Azerbaijan GP
SULAY KELLY / MERCEDES-BENZ AG
In the days after the signing was announced, Hamilton admitted that Ferrari had always been a dream for him, later confirming the excellent relationship he has had with Vasseur since his days in the lower classes. And that undoubtedly played its part in the negotiations.
“I have a great relationship with Fred”Lewis explained. “Of course I competed with him in formula 3, and we have had amazing success in Formula 3 but also in GP2, and that was where the foundations of our relationship were laid.
We always kept in touch. I thought he would make an amazing manager and move on to Formula 1 at some point, but at that time he was not interested in such a thing.
It was very nice to see him go up to the Alfa (Romeo F1) and then, when he got the job at Ferrari, I was so happy for him, and I believe now the stars have aligned. I don’t think it would have happened without him, so I’m very grateful and very excited to be a part of the work he’s doing there.”Lewis Hamilton concluded.
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