Lewis Hamilton tipped to avoid critical Sebastian Vettel mistake at Ferrari

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel congratulates Lewis Hamilton after the Mercedes driver sealed his fifth F1 title at the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton will reportedly not arrive at Ferrari “alone” with the doors open for fellow Mercedes defectors to create a “safety net” which Sebastian Vettel never had when he moved from Red Bull.

After years of speculation that it could happen, now it is confirmed that Hamilton will become a Ferrari driver as of 2025, his bombshell exit from the Mercedes team where he has raced since 2013 confirmed after one final season with the eight-time Constructors’ champions.

Hamilton will therefore look to succeed where a fellow multi-time World Champion in the form of Vettel once failed, that being to restore title glory to the iconic Ferrari team.

Lewis Hamilton will have Ferrari ‘safety net’ that Sebastian Vettel lacked

Vettel won four World Championships in a row with Red Bull between 2010-13, before making the jump to Ferrari for 2015 in a bid to make himself a Ferrari legend and end their wait for fresh title success, ongoing since 2008.

Vettel did ensure his status as one of the most successful Ferrari drivers, scoring 14 Grand Prix wins, but was never able to add to his title tally in Ferrari red, something which seven-time World Champion Hamilton will hope does not ultimately apply to him.

However, according to Formu1a.uno, Hamilton will carry an important distinction to Vettel’s approach, as it is ‘certain’ that Hamilton ‘will not arrive alone’ in switching from Mercedes to Ferrari.

The publication reports that Ferrari wishes to please Hamilton and ‘open the doors’ to ‘welcome’ figures who wish to follow him from Ferrari to Mercedes, with the likes of former Mercedes performance director Loïc Serra and their head of trackside performance Riccardo Musconi recently linked with mirroring his team swap.

Respected Italian journalist Roberto Chinchero, appearing on the F1 Nation podcast, revealed that Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur had been speaking last year about the interest in signing Hamilton, describing him as a “present” to attract the best engineers.

“I think for Fred [we] should be saying it’s a kind of victory, because he would like to have Lewis he said last year a couple of times,” Chinchero recalled.

“He said to me, ‘To have Lewis is something that helps you to have also the best engineers. If you have Lewis, it’s like a present card for the best engineers, a guy we are really pushing hard [for] now’.

“And I think also from this point of view, it’s a very good deal for Ferrari.”

Hamilton will partner Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz now searching for a new team to call home come 2025.