05 February 2024 , 12:15
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Jenson Button has claimed he came "very close" to signing for Ferrari himself - as he reacted to news that Lewis Hamilton will soon make that move to Italy.
Next year, Hamilton will become the first Briton since Nigel Mansell to race in Formula 1 for the Scuderia. But the gap might have been much shorter if things had gone slightly differently for Button.
He was team-mates with Hamilton at McLaren for a spell until the latter left for Mercedes ahead of the 2013 season. Speaking about his old ally's latest big move, Button recalled a time when he too was of interest to the Italians.
"I think for all of us, we were all little kids one day, a long time ago! And you see the red Ferrari and you think, 'I want to race for that team', he told Sky Sports. But, as he went on to clarify, it was a move that never materialised for him.
Button added: "I didn't get the chance to race for Ferrari. It was very, very close - contracts almost in hand. But this is a special one for him. We're looking into the future too far but I just hope it goes well for him, because ending your career when you've had such highs. Ending it with a team and you don't perform there, it's tricky.
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"But I look forward to seeing Lewis and I think Lewis is in a place where he's got a lot of confidence at the moment in himself. I think he's driving at his best and if he can carry that over to Ferrari, we're looking forward to a great fight between him and Charles [Leclerc]."
There is still a full season to be played out before Hamilton makes his move, though. And Button wonders how that is going to affect the intra-team dynamic at Mercedes as George Russell realises that he will soon be out of the shadow of the seven-time world champion.
The 2009 world champion said: "It's a big deal and I cannot wait to see how he goes in the Ferrari. The weird thing is that it is quite an early call, though, to mention it this early on. It's a year before he'll be stepping into the Ferrari, so how is that atmosphere going to be at Mercedes?
"It's not easy. What do they hold back from Lewis? I mean, he knows the ins and outs of this team very well anyway but, when they get down to the nitty-gritty, are there going to be certain things they hold back from Lewis? Possibly.
"For George, he's got to start thinking about a new team-mate again. Is it going to be someone like one of these karting rivals - Alex Albon - or is it going to be Fernando Alonso, the guy that just doesn't go away? He's always there fighting for the top spots in the top teams. So who knows?"