Soon after getting his big promotion to Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel confessed that Ferrari is where he wanted to be down the line.

That is the claim made by 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti, who spilled the beans on an airport conversation which he had with the former Red Bull star.

Sebastian Vettel admitted Ferrari goal to Mario Andretti

After impressing on debut in F1 with BMW Sauber, Vettel was quickly snapped up by Red Bull and assigned to junior team Toro Rosso, where his stock rose greatly, the crowning achievement being his shock victory at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.

The following year, Vettel was a Red Bull driver and a year after that, embarked on his run of four straight World Championship successes from 2010-13, an achievement which has since been replicated at Red Bull by Max Verstappen.

However, before Vettel even became Red Bull’s first World Champion, it turns out that he already had his mind set on a future Ferrari drive, according to Andretti.

Vettel did ultimately get that wish, joining Ferrari in 2015 and winning 14 grands prix with the team.

For F1 2025, Lewis Hamilton has become the latest multi-time World Champion to head for Ferrari, and it was after being asked how the seven-time champion will get on at Ferrari alongside Vettel’s former team-mate Charles Leclerc, that Andretti made this reveal.

“I think it’s awesome, quite honestly,” Andretti told Motorsport.com on Hamilton’s Ferrari move. “I fully understand what Lewis’ objectives are.

“He’s been with McLaren and won; he’s been with Mercedes and won, and he did all these things. He’s at the twilight of his career, no question, and he wants to say that he drove for Ferrari and also won with Ferrari. And I think that’s almost something every Formula 1 driver wants deep down.

“I’ll give you an example. I first met Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain [in 2009] when he first went from Toro Rosso to the top level [at Red Bull], and we were at the airport just chatting. And he said: ‘Mario, my ambition is some day to drive for Ferrari as well.’ And he just got the top-level job with Red Bull, but he’s already thinking that in his career he wants to drive for Ferrari! (laughs) So there you have it, that says it all.

“And can you imagine the interest that the fans have just to see what’s going to happen there? How is he going to fare vis-a-vis Charles Leclerc, who has been there for a long time and is very experienced and so forth? But I’m sure that Lewis is not shy of embracing challenges.”

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Hamilton faces some doubters to silence at Ferrari, as he joins the Scuderia off the back of a challenging final season with Mercedes, one which saw him lose the qualifying head-to-head 19-5 against George Russell, with Hamilton going as far as to claim “I’m definitely not fast anymore” after one of those defeats in Qatar.

In addition, Hamilton will find himself up against a driver regarded as one of the fastest in F1 over one lap in Leclerc.

However, Andretti believes that Ferrari will find themselves the big winner in all of this with that driver pairing.

“It’s going to be a challenge for both of them, and that’s what the sport is all about,” Andretti continued.

“Ferrari is ultimately the one that’s going to benefit the most. You have two individuals that I feel are both capable of winning, no question, and what better place to be in if you’re on a team?”

Carlos Sainz made way at Ferrari for Hamilton’s arrival, Sainz duly agreeing a multi-year deal with Williams.

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