Lewis Hamilton apparently joked to the Ferrari vice-president in 2017 about eventu🧸ally joining - seven years before he actually signed.

Hamilton will swap Mercedes fo🍃r Ferrari in 2025 having actiဣvated a get-out clause in his current contract to pen a multi-year agreement with the Italian team.

It is no secret that Hamilton has always been an admirer of Ferrari road cars and a visit to make a personal purchase💜 resulted in an intriguing conversation with a key figure at the famous brand.

"Perha🌳ps not everyone knows that Lewis has always been sensitive to the fascination ﷺof the Prancing Horse,” vice-president Piero Ferrari told .

"He's a customer of ours💫! More than once he visited the factory.”

But not the F1 team itself.

"No, no,” Piero Ferra꧑ri explaܫined. “He came as a buyer of our cars.

“He's not just a speed ac🐓e. He has a genuine love for supercars.

“In his garage, our cars could not b🎐e missing. On💙e in particular...

"The model that's called LaFerrari.

🍌“Hamilton came to Maranello to give instructions on how to set up the car.

“It was on that occasion that we greeted each o🧜ther cordially.

“And he said something to me that struck me...

"We had Se𓆏bastian Vettel in the team and we were happy with Seb.

“We had just 💯renewed the contract wi♑th the German, which was going well.

“Lewis made a joke: ‘If you waited twelve months, I'd co💟me..."

Vettel renew🤪ed his Ferrari contract in 2017, mid-way through an ulti꧟mately unsuccessful partnership.

Was Hamilton dreaming of Ferrari seven years ago?

"I don't think so,” Piero Ferrari admitted.

“He has liveꦯd and is still living a fantas🌺tic story with Mercedes.

“But cerꦛtainly, as I said at the beginning, he has never been indifferent🀅 to our history.

“He is also very attached to the legend of moto♛ring, as a child he had Ayrton Senna as an idol, in Mercedes in 2013 he took the plac🌌e of Michael Schumacher.

"Well, person꧃ally I'm very 𝄹happy. A figure like Lewis fits perfectly with the Ferrari legend."