Nico Rosberg lets slip ‘one reason’ for Lewis Hamilton Ferrari switch

Nico Rosberg has claimed fewer sponsorship commitments was “one of the reasons” Lewis Hamilton joined Ferrari.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton shocked the F1 world when he announced in February last year that he would be leaving Mercedes after 12 seasons to complete a blockbuster transfer to Ferrari for 2025.

Hamilton has regularly stated that he has now realised a lifelong dream of becoming a Ferrari driver amid what has been a turbulent and underwhelming start to his career with F1’s most famous team.

While discussing George Russell’s ongoing contract negotiations with Mercedes on The F1 Show Podcast, Hamilton’s former Mercedes teammate and title rival Rosberg disclosed a key motive for the Briton’s switch to Ferrari.

“Nowadays, these teams have so many sponsors, paying so much money, and the only way for a team to give back to a sponsor is of course logo space, which is limited. And they want driver time. They want their customers to be able to meet George Russell, and so they’re using the drivers so much,” the 2016 world champion explained.

“I’m not allowed to say it’s painful for us, because everybody watching will be like, ‘shut up, you know, you earn so much money, all you have to do is go to a sponsor event, shake some hands, take some pictures, and I’m saying it’s painful’, but it is really painful!

“The number can go up to like 60 days or something, 60 in 365 days. That’s a lot of days. And some of those 60 days are split into half-days. So it can actually be like 80 days. That’s a lot, like when all we want to do is go to the Nordschleife and go racing in GT3 cars.

“That was one of the reasons for Lewis’s switch to Ferrari, because Ferrari, they don’t use their drivers for sponsor days. They have such a strong brand that they don’t have to offer their sponsors much time with drivers.

“I heard numbers that in [Sebastian] Vettel’s time, it was 10 days that Vettel had to do and that was it. And that really, especially in the twilight of your career, is something that you just value so enormously, and that was part of Lewis’s reason to go to Ferrari also. It was part of the decision making.”

‘Happier’ Lewis Hamilton observed

Writing in his post-Italian Grand Prix column for Sky Sports F1, Martin Brundle noted how Hamilton appeared happier as he finished sixth on his first race at Monza as a Ferrari driver.

“Lewis Hamilton was carrying a five-place grid drop for speeding indiscretions going to the grid in Zandvoort which frankly were a fair cop, and he would start 10th, but once again coming though the pack as he did at Silverstone and other races, we would witness Lewis driving as we remember from years previous,” Brundle wrote.

"All round he looked more comfortable in the car, and seems to have had a mindset adjustment of making the best of what he has instead of being frustrated that he's not got a race-winning car underneath him. He's probably also come to terms with just how fast Charles Leclerc is. It was nice to observe Lewis looking happier.”

Hamilton has failed to achieve a grand prix podium in 16 races at Ferrari as he struggles to adapt to the team’s 2025 car. 

“It was nice to see Lewis having a really solid weekend, feeling comfortable in the car, being quick at times, showing flashes of his brilliance,” Rosberg said. 

“I think that was an important weekend for him, but at the same time it's testament to how bad it was before. Just by him being close to Charles we're all saying 'this is a great weekend', because so many mistakes before and troubles with pace also.

“But anyways, good to see him have a good one and let's hope he can carry it forward. That would be important for him.”