‘It was not his dream 12 months ago’ - Fernando Alonso reacts to Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari switch

Fernando Alonso says he was surprised by Lewis Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari for F1 2025 because he thought his old rival was loyal to Mercedes.

The news of Hamilton’s decision to leave Mercedes at the end of this season and complete a bombshell switch to Ferrari rocked the F1 world and has sent the driver market into a frenzy.

Alonso, Hamilton’s former McLaren teammate and 2007 title nemesis, revealed he initially missed the announcement because he was training.

“I was training actually that day so I missed all the stress from everybody so I was one day late on the news,” the two-time world champion said.

“Probably it was a surprise, I will not lie. But not because of the change itself, it’s just because from the outside it seemed he was very linked to Mercedes and very loyal to them.

“It was a little bit unexpected but I don’t know the reason behind it. I don’t know anything, so it’s more a question for him. I didn’t pay too much attention or spend much time thinking about it.”

Seven-time world champion Hamilton, who has not won a race for the last two seasons with Mercedes, described his impending move to Maranello as being a “childhood dream”.

Alonso could not resist questioning Hamilton's claim, saying: “It was not his childhood dream 12 months ago, no? Or two months ago I guess, because it was a different dream then.”

But the Spaniard did say that Hamilton's move to Ferrari could be the difference in turning the Italian team into championship contenders. 

“I hope he enjoys the experience, I think it’s a very special team. It is more special when you win,” Alonso added.

“That’s the thing - you need to win. It’s a few years already that they have a very fast car and they were fighting for big things and maybe Lewis can bring that extra to fight for the championship.

“Because I think, as I said, I think the car is there. At the end of last year even with a very dominant Red Bull car, Ferrari was still able to match the lap times and be faster than them in most of the qualifying.

“So I think the car should be fast enough.”