Mercedes race team co-ordinator Stephen Lord was “not at all” surprised by the choice of Lewis Hamilton to head to Ferrari, because he believes it was his “plan all along” in his career.

Hamilton and Ferrari announced ahead of the 2024 season that he would be making the switch to Maranello on a multi-year deal in 2025, ending his 12-season association with Mercedes in the process.

Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari ‘his plan all along’, claims Mercedes colleague

Lord had worked with Hamilton in their stint at McLaren, heading to Mercedes at the same time in 2013 and the race team co-ordinator was personally asked by the seven-time World Champion to take on some of the duties vacated by physio Angela Cullen when she moved on from working with the Briton in 2023.

He has been a consistent presence in Hamilton’s career, and admitted that he had thought a McLaren reunion would have been on the cards – though that was “completely wrong” to predict.

But following a tour of Mercedes’ title sponsor and key headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Stuttgart, Brackley and Brixworth, he has now said his goodbyes and leaves the team with their best wishes as he heads onto a new chapter at Ferrari – which Lord revealed was a topic of conversation previously between the pair, which meant he “wasn’t surprised at all” when the switch did come about.

When asked on the Beyond the Grid podcast if he was surprised at Hamilton’s upcoming move, Lord replied simply: “Not at all,” and when pressed as to why that is, added: “Because I think that’s been his plan all along.

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“A few years ago, it came up in conversation. I actually always thought he might be tempted back to McLaren, but I was completely wrong.

“But yeah, we had a conversation years ago, and he always said that he felt most drivers had a desire to, at least at some point in their career, drive the Ferrari. So I wasn’t surprised at all.

“I mean, we can see through the history of the sport, there is a desire amongst great drivers to go to Ferrari and win World Championships there. Fernando [Alonso] did it, Seb [Vettel] did it. I think that will always remain.

“I mean, they’re the oldest, most recognisable team in the pit lane, the history and the esteem that that marque is held in, I think it’s inevitable that people would want to go there.”

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