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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Alex Young

Lewis Hamilton explains how 'gut feeling' led to Ferrari move

New gear: Lewis Hamilton - (AP)

A gut feeling drove Lewis Hamilton to sign for Ferrari, Formula One's most successful driver told LinkedIn on Thursday.

The seven-time world champion this week, almost a year after confirming his decision to leave Mercedes, made his track debut for Ferrari as he looks to help return the sport's most successful team to former glories.

"Ultimately, every new opportunity is a total leap of faith. None of us can predict the future so changing jobs, or in my case teams, is always going to come with some level of risk," Hamilton said in an interview for LinkedIn's ‘Get Hired’ newsletter on Thursday.

"But I believe there's more of a risk in staying somewhere you're comfortable and in getting complacent."

The 40-year-old completed his first test drive for the Italian team, who have not won a world driver's title since 2007, at their home base in Maranello.

"Call it instinct or a gut feeling, but I knew that signing with Ferrari was the right move for me and that it would give me the challenge I needed," Hamilton said.

"There are so many incredible people in the team that I can't wait to work with, and I have total faith that we'll achieve great things together."

The Formula One season begins with the Australian Grand Prix on March 16.

Additional reporting by Reuters.

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