“Everybody is a Ferrari fan. Even if they are not, they are a Ferrari fan.” This quote by Sebastian Vettel after the 2016 Canadian Grand Prix holds even today. And what better way to prove it than F1’s most successful driver, Lewis Hamilton, leaving Mercedes for the Maranello outfit? This duo, despite being arch-rivals remained best friends. And when the Briton made the bombshell announcement in February, Vettel was taken aback.

Sebastian Vettel became Tifosi’s hero after he joined Ferrari in 2015. But the void that he created when he left in 2020 couldn’t be filled well by Carlos Sainz. At least, that is what Ferrari thought before they fired the Spaniard to welcome Lewis Hamilton. When asked whether the transfer surprised him, Vettel told sport.de that “initially” he was.

“I thought, now somehow there will be another message, from the ‘I don’t know where’, but then it was confirmed,” Vettel recalled. “I then wrote to him directly and congratulated him.” The 4-time champion even empathized with Hamilton, saying that “it was a very, very difficult decision,” to leave the Silver Arrows after 10 glorious years.

It’s heartwarming to see the German driver still care about his friend even after retirement from F1. Interestingly, a consequence of Hamilton’s Ferrari move was a lot of rumors of Vettel replacing him at Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel addresses rumors of him replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes

Once Lewis Hamilton shook the driver market for 2025, it was havoc. There were speculations around Sebastian Vettel’s return to F1 with Mercedes. Eventually, the German even confirmed exchanging texts with Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff amid all this. Then, he hadn’t spoken about the details of the conversation but now he has.

At his recent Porsche 963 tests, the 4-time Champion was asked about these conversations. “Of course, we also talked about the fact that things are happening at Mercedes, but not specifically that I could take his (Hamilton’s) place,” Vettel replied, as quoted by Krone.

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