LEWIS HAMILTON almost started his F1 career at a different team than McLaren.
The iconic British driver won the first of his seven World Championship titles with the team.
Hamilton, 41, drove alongside the likes of Fernando Alonso, Heikki Kovalainen and Jenson Button while with the Woking outfit.
He left for Mercedes at the end of the 2012 season and went on to win six more world titles.
However, Hamilton’s career path could have been very different if a loan deal had not fallen through ahead of his Formula 1 debut.
Former Sauber Formula 1 team owner Peter Sauber has revealed that he was almost their driver at one point.
He insisted that the team lawyer had met with Hamilton, his dad Anthony and McLaren‘s delegation over a deal.
Speaking to Swiss-German outlet Blick, he said: “Hardly anyone knows that around 20 years ago, Lewis Hamilton almost drove for us.
“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.”
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The deal fell through due to contract terms as no agreement could be found on the length of the loan.
Sauber added: “The deal fell through because McLaren only wanted to loan him for one year – but we insisted on two.”
Hamilton made his F1 bow in 2007 with McLaren and won his maiden championship the following year.
He stayed with his next team, Mercedes, until the end of the 2024 F1 season.
The driver then made the switch to Ferrari ahead of the 2025 campaign and drove alongside Charles Leclerc.
The move has not been a total success as he only finished on the podium once all season long.
This came when he won the sprint race in China back in March last year.
His other best finishes came in the Emilia-Romagna, Austrian, British and United States grands prix in which he finished fourth.
