Revealed: The failed Lewis Hamilton 2007 negotiations ‘hardly anyone knows’ about

Lewis Hamilton “almost” signed with Sauber for the 2007 F1 season before a loan deal from McLaren fell through.

That is the claim of former team boss Peter Sauber, who says talks collapsed after McLaren rejected his proposal of a two-year loan deal.

Lewis Hamilton ‘almost’ signed for Sauber before McLaren loan deal collapsed

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Hamilton, a product of McLaren’s junior scheme, emerged as a star of the future during his title-winning GP2 campaign in 2006.

McLaren already had one driver signed for the 2007 season after Fernando Alonso put pen to paper on a deal to switch from Renault at the end of his first title-winning season in 2005.

Kimi Raikkonen moved to Ferrari to replace seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher at the end of 2006, creating a vacancy alongside Alonso at McLaren for 2007.

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Hamilton was eventually signed as Alonso’s teammate, finishing his debut season level on points with the two-time world champion.

However, the McLaren pair missed out on the title by a single point as Raikkonen sealed his only championship at the 2007 season finale in Brazil.

Mr Sauber, whose team enjoyed a works partnership with BMW at the time, has revealed that he held talks with McLaren about signing Hamilton on loan for 2007.

Yet the deal collapsed when Sauber insisted on a two-year deal for Hamilton, with McLaren only open to a one-year arrangement.

Mr Sauber told Swiss-German publication Blick: “Hardly anyone knows that, around 20 years ago, Lewis Hamilton almost drove for us.

“The Brit belonged to McLaren and they wanted to send him to Hinwil for Formula 1 training.

“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 years!”

After narrowly missing out on the title in 2007, Hamilton went on to secure his first of seven championships the following season.

He joined Mercedes at the end of 2012, winning six titles in seven years with the Brackley team between 2014 and 2020 before joining Ferrari at the start of last season.

Sauber, meanwhile, collected only one F1 victory with BMW – achieved by Robert Kubica at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix – before the German manufacturer withdrew from F1 at the end of 2009.

Audi completed its full takeover of Sauber in January 2025 with the Swiss-based team set to compete as Audi Revolut F1 Team in 2026.

Mr Sauber’s comments come after Matt Bishop, the former McLaren communications chief, claimed last month that the team overlooked Kubica as a potential teammate to Hamilton partly due to his appearance.

Bishop recalled a conversation with then-McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh following the departure of Alonso at the end of 2007.

He claimed that Whitmarsh ruled out Kubica as a contender due to the size of his nose, with Bishop unable to say for certain if the McLaren boss was joking.

Appearing on his And Colossally That’s History! podcast, Bishop said: “I remember that Whitmarsh said at that time that one of the problems with Kubica, as a possible 2008 driver for McLaren, was that his nose was too big. He said that.”

Asked in jest if Whitmarsh felt Kubica’s nose represented an aerodynamic or aesthetic problem, Bishop laughed: “Aesthetic, I think!

“I think he was joking, to be fair.

“And if you’re listening, Martin, which I’m sure you won’t be, perhaps you can get in touch with us to explain, but I think he was joking.

“But Martin could sometimes be funny like that. He thought drivers should look a certain way.

“And, of course, he’d learned that from Ron [Dennis], who was always very particular about drivers’ appearance.

“Although, to be fair to Ron, I never heard him complaining about Robert’s nose…”

McLaren went on to sign Heikki Kovalainen as Alonso’s replacement for 2008 as the two-time world champion returned to Renault.

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