“$50 Million was accepted” – Lewis Hamilton was joining Ferrari; what stopped it?

Lewis Hamilton is massively adored by the Tifosi with him claiming that he has often been asked to join Ferrari to bring the glory days to the Maranello squad.

And as it happened, there came a time during the 2017 and 2018 F1 seasons when the Scuderia approached the Mercedes star to join them.

F1 journalist Carlo Vanzini revealed that Hamilton had asked for a salary of $50 Million and that had been accepted. What stopped the inking of the contract was that the Briton had a few more requests that the Italian giants could not satisfy.

TRANS – Nathan Divey is now joining Scuderia Ferrari in 2023 as a mechanic. He was Lewis Hamilton’s number one mechanic at Mercedes. https://t.co/g3cx5N7IdM

— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) November 20, 2022

Also Read: Why Ron Dennis believed it was a gamble to sign a 21-year-old Lewis Hamilton for McLaren in 2007

What were Hamilton’s conditions to join Ferrari?

Aside from the salary, Hamilton had also wanted to bring a series of people to the team. That request was rejected by Ferrari.

“Lewis was close to joining Ferrari in 2017 and 2019. The 50m salary was accepted, but he wanted certain people with him in Maranello, which was not possible.”

— Ferrari News 🐎 (@FanaticsFerrari) May 17, 2022

It makes an F1 fan wonder – what could have been if Hamilton, who has proved himself as the statistically most successful driver and has even elevated the records of Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher, had driven a Ferrari.

Hamilton stayed with the team that financed his career since he was 13 years old and the world has seen the results of his extraordinary talents.

Ferrari could have won a title with Lewis Hamilton

Among other things, Ferrari did not move ahead with the contract with the current 7-time world champion back then because they had Sebastian Vettel. It was not easy for the team to let go of the 4-time world champion with a light heart.

Therefore, Hamilton moved ahead with the Mercedes project and the rest is history. However, Vanzini believes that if the deal with Ferrari had happened, at least one of the two titles between 2017 and 2018 would have made it to the shelf of the Italian manufacturer’s factory.

Vanzini, further recalled, “[Ayrton]Senna used to say that a driver becomes great by either driving for Ferrari or beating Ferrari.”

“Both Lewis and Ayrton have achieved the second option,” he further added.

Also Read: When Lewis Hamilton thought McLaren will drop him from his dream job