Lewis Hamilton enjoyed a “very pleasant meeting” with Ferrari president John Elkann shortly after sealing his seventh F1 World Championship with Mercedes in 2020, it has emerged.

Almost a year after his shock move from Mercedes was announced, Hamilton officially commenced preparations for his first season as a Ferrari driver last week.

Lewis Hamilton met Ferrari president after last title-winning season at Mercedes

After visiting the team’s Maranello factory to meet his new colleagues, the seven-time World Champion completed 30 laps behind the wheel of the 2023 car in a private test at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track.

Hamilton described the test as “one of the best feelings of my life” and, in an address to Ferrari staff, revealed that he had been waiting “forever” to link up with his new team.

Ferrari are holding their second private test of the winter in Barcelona this week, with Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc both in action on Tuesday.

The running is expected to conclude on Thursday, with Ferrari set to stay in Spain to participate in a Pirelli tyre test next week.

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Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was announced on February 1 last year, less than six months after he had committed his future to Mercedes by signing a new two-year contract extension on the eve of the 2023 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

The British driver had been persistently linked with a move to Ferrari in the months before signing his new Mercedes deal, with reports in May 2023 claiming Elkann – believed to be an instrumental figure in the signing of Hamilton – had made it his mission to secure the services of the F1 icon.

At the 2023 season finale in Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, Hamilton found himself at the centre of claims that he had approached Red Bull with a view to joining F1’s dominant team.

Hamilton denied the claims, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner later revealing Hamilton’s father Anthony had been in touch over a potential switch from Mercedes as his son reached the end of a second successive winless season.

Horner went on to claim that Hamilton “definitely” held “serious” negotiations with Elkann around the time of that year’s Monaco Grand Prix.

A report by respected Italian publication Auto Racer has suggested that the idea of a move to Ferrari may have been planted in Hamilton’s mind after a meeting with Elkann at the end of the 2020 season.

It is said that Hamilton and Elkann enjoyed a “very pleasant meeting” around that period in which they gelled over their shared interests in “fashion and research.”

If true, the supposed meeting would have come a short time after Hamilton equalled Michael Schumacher’s long-standing record of seven Drivers’ titles, becoming the most decorated driver in F1 history in the process.

After surpassing Schumacher’s tally of 91 race wins at the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix, Hamilton was crowned a seven-time World Champion three weeks later at the Turkish Grand Prix.

The 2020 campaign proved to be the most dominant season of Hamilton’s F1 career as he claimed 11 victories, 10 pole positions and 14 podium finishes in 16 starts in total.

Hamilton would miss out on a record-breaking eighth title 12 months later, losing out to Red Bull driver Max Verstappen in highly controversial circumstances at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

He went on to suffer two winless seasons in a row across 2022/23 as Mercedes struggled to adjust to the new ground-effect regulations.

Hamilton returned to winning ways in 2024 with victories Silverstone and Spa, but was heavily beaten by George Russell over in one-lap conditions, qualifying behind his team-mate at 19 of a possible 24 races.

It prompted Hamilton to concede at the penultimate round of the season in Qatar that he is “not fast anymore”, raising doubts over Ferrari’s decision to sign the 40-year-old.

In a clip released by Ferrari to mark Hamilton’s first day at Maranello last week, the driver is seen warmly embracing Elkann as he says: “So, so grateful, buddy. Thank you so much.”

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November 2023, Hamilton lifted the lid on the nature of his relationship with Elkann, revealing the pair had remained in touch after meeting at an event in Sicily some years ago.

And he also opened up about his personal bond with Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur, who oversaw Hamilton’s title-winning GP2 season as boss of the ART Grand Prix team in 2006.

He said: “I know John really well.

“We met years ago in the Google camp. I went to a Google camp in Sicily and that’s when our friendship started and we’ve always remained in touch.

“I’ve known Fred since 2005 and we’ve always had a really great relationship and we would talk often, particularly since he’s been in Formula 1.

“Because after I left his team, we would talk all the time obviously when I was in his team, and I came to Formula 1 and you have less contact with the Formula 2 series.

“But since he’s been back [in F1] we’ve met, we’ve had more [conversations], we’ve travelled together with Toto [Wolff, Mercedes team boss].”

Hamilton then downplayed rumours that he was targeting a move to Ferrari, adding: “That’s really as far as it goes.”

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At the end of last year, Wolff revealed that he was first alerted to Hamilton’s imminent move to Ferrari by the father of Carlos Sainz, the driver forced to make way for the seven-time World Champion.

Wolff revealed that he welcomed Hamilton to his Oxfordshire home for breakfast in January 2024 and attempted to catch the driver off guard by disclosing the news that Mercedes had signed former Ferrari technical boss Simone Resta.

Hamilton then admitted that he would be heading in the opposite direction for F1 2025, with the deal communicated to the public around 36 hours later.

Appearing on the High Performance podcast, Wolff said: “I heard the bells ringing two weeks before. The old man Sainz called me and said: ‘This is what’s happening.’

“Then a few drivers’ dads rang me up that didn’t before. So I thought: ‘OK, there’s something going on there.’

“And then I sent a text to Fred Vasseur saying: ‘You’re taking our driver?’

“Didn’t get any response. Very unusual for Fred, he’s a good friend. So I saw it coming.

“When Lewis arrived in the house, like he did so many years before, we had a bit of a small talk like we always do about the Christmas holidays and all of that.

“Then I said: ‘Well, we’re recruiting from Ferrari now. We got this guy.’

“And Lewis [said]: ‘Oh, there’s something I need to tell you…”

“When he said that, that initial moment was a little bit of: ‘So this is really happening?’”

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