Though fulfilling a childhood dream in driving for Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton admits that making the decision to leave Mercedes was the hardest ever.
Six of his seven titles were at the wheel of a Silver Arrow, while his first title was in a McLaren powered by the Three Pointed Star.
However, at the beginning of the month, despite having signed a two-year deal with the German team last August, it was revealed that the Briton had activated a clause in his contract to leave at the end of this season for Maranello.
"It was obviously the hardest decision I have ever had to make," he said of the decision to leave his Mercedes 'family'. "I've been with Mercedes for, I think, like, 26 years... they have supported me, and we have had an absolutely incredible journey together.
"We have created history together in the sport," he continued, "and it's something I take a lot of pride in and I'm very proud of what we have achieved. I think ultimately I'm writing my story and I felt like it was just time to start a new chapter."
Shortly after the shock announcement, Hamilton took to social media to admit that driving for Ferrari has been a "childhood dream", and in front of the media for the first time since the news broke, he expanded on that dream.
"I think every driver, growing up, watching the history, watching Michael Schumacher in his prime, I think probably all of us sit in our garage and see the screen pop up, and you see the driver in the red cockpit, and you wonder what it might be like to be surrounded by the red," he said. "You go to the Italian Grand Prix, and you see the sea of red of Ferrari fans, and you can only stand in awe of that.
"It's a team that's not had huge success really since, mostly obviously from Michael's days, but obviously since 2007, and I saw it as a huge challenge," he admitted. "Without a doubt, even as a kid, I used to play on Grand Prix 2 as Michael in that car. So it definitely is a dream, and I'm really, really excited about it."
Of course, over the years other world champions have sought to fulfil their dream at Ferrari, among them Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, but none was able to claim a title with the Scuderia. Indeed, other than the golden era of Schumacher, and that one of title for Kimi Raikkonen, you have to go all the way back to 1979 to find the prancing horse on the drivers' trophy.
Key to Hamilton's decision, he admits, is the presence at Maranello of Fred Vasseur, with whom he won the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2005 and GP2 in 2006.
"I've got a great relationship with Fred," he smiled. "Obviously I raced for him in Formula 3 and we had amazing success in Formula 3 and also in GP2, and that's really where the foundation for our relationship started.
"We always remained in touch," he added, "and I thought that he was going to be an amazing team manager at some stage and progress to Formula One, but at the time he wasn't interested in that.
"It was pretty cool to see him step into the Alfa Romeo team, and then when he got the job at Ferrari, I was so happy for him. I think just the stars aligned, it really wouldn't have happened without him, and I'm just really grateful and really excited about the work he's doing there."
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