The surprise team Lewis Hamilton nearly made his F1 debut with
It has been claimed that Lewis Hamilton could have made his F1 debut with another team.
Lewis Hamilton could have made his F1 debut at Sauber instead of McLaren, it has been claimed.
Former Sauber F1 team owner Peter Sauber has revealed Hamilton was close to signing with his Swiss-based signed nearly 20 years ago.
According to Sauber, negotiations about potentially signing Hamilton, who was part of McLaren’s young driver programme as he rose through the junior ranks, fell through.
Had talks been successful, Hamilton could have driven for Sauber as early as 2005, or the following year.
Sauber said a possible deal ultimately collapsed because McLaren were only willing to consider a short-term deal.
"Hardly anyone knows that around 20 years ago, Lewis Hamilton almost drove for us," Sauber told Swiss-German publication Blick.
"The Briton belonged to McLaren, and they wanted to send him to Hinwil for his Formula 1 apprenticeship. So the McLaren delegation met with Lewis and his father, as well as our in-house lawyer Monisha Kaltenborn and myself at Kloten Airport.
"The deal fell through because McLaren only wanted to loan him for one year – but we insisted on two!"
Hamilton would instead go on to make his F1 debut with McLaren in 2007, one year after winning the GP2 championship.
The Briton finished runner-up in his rookie F1 season as he missed out on the title by a single point, before claiming his first of seven world championships in 2008.
Hamilton left McLaren to join Mercedes at the end of 2012, a move which paved the way for a run of F1 domination that saw him win a further six drivers’ world titles between 2014-2020.
After 12 seasons with Mercedes, Hamilton completed a blockbuster switch to Ferrari for 2025.
The now 41-year-old Briton struggled to adapt to his new team and endured a miserable debut campaign with Ferrari as he failed to finish on a grand prix podium during a season for the first time in his career.
Other than winning the sprint race in China, Hamilton’s best finishes came at the Emilia-Romagna, Austrian, British and United States grands prix, where he took fourth.
Hamilton ended the year sixth in the 2025 drivers’ world championship, one place and 86 points behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.
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