British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) driver Nicolas Hamilton has revealed how his older brother, Lewis Hamilton, told him about his Ferrari move.
The world was left stunned last Thursday when it was announced that the seven-time World Champion will be leaving Mercedes at the conclusion of the 2024 Formula 1 season, to complete a dream transfer to Ferrari.
Hamilton will replace Carlos Sainz at Maranello in 2025, with the 103-time race winner having signed a “multi-year” contract.
Most view it as the biggest switch in the history of the sport and it’s easy to see why.
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To ensure that his family didn’t find out about the move via social media, the Mercedes driver called his loved ones, including his brother.
Nicolas revealed on Instagram that his brother kept messaging him asking if he could call, although it was initially delayed as the BTCC driver was at dinner.
However, he finally managed to speak to Nicolas, who found somewhere quiet to talk where nobody was around.
“So, if anyone doesn’t know, I do public speaking, right,” Nicolas said during an Instagram live.
“So I was doing a public speech actually for Coke yesterday, Coca-Cola.
“Lewis called me the night before and I was at dinner, so I said: ‘Hey bro, I’ll call you back when I can’ and then I called him later at night and he didn’t pick up and he told me that he was in bed, so I was like ‘ok, no worries.’
“And then he said: ‘are you around?’ I said: ‘oh, I’m just heading into work, I’ve got a speech to do.’ I said I’ll catch you later tonight because I’ll be free.
“And he was like: ‘I could really do with speaking to you now.’ And so, I was like: ‘ok, give me five minutes’ and then he said: ‘are you in a place where you can talk?’ And I said yeah.
“But [Lewis said] can you talk without anyone hearing? And I was like yeah.
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“Then he said: ‘So, I’m going to Ferrari in 2025.’ I was like: ‘Woah! Oh my god! Are you joking? That’s crazy!”
Lewis and Nicolas are very close, with both drivers having been seen in each others garage on several occasions.
Nicolas actually had his brother in attendance when racing at Donington Park last year, where he achieved his best result in the UK series.