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Irvine: Hamilton Should Consider Ferrari Move

Eddie Irvine advised Lewis Hamilton to reconsider his position on staying a McLaren driver for his entire Formula 1 career, stating that Ferrari is the best place for a star driver to succeed in the Great Circle. The British ace, former teammate of 7-time world champion Michael Schumacher, insisted that Ferrari should start making the necessary adjustments in order to welcome the young Brit at Maranello as soon as possible.

“He may win a couple more (titles) with McLaren and he's loyal to Ron Dennis but he's got to move to Ferrari at some point. Having been there, I've seen what it's like and it's a different situation to being with any other team,” Virgin Media quoted the 42-year old Ulsterman as saying earlier this week.

Irvine started his F1 career with Eddie Jordan's team in 1995 and later joined the Scuderia as teammate of Michael Schumacher. Despite being overshadowed by the German for most of his Ferrari years, the British driver was close to securing his first world title in 1999, finishing runner-up to Mika Hakkinen in the season. His only shot at the title came as a consequence of Schumacher's injuring himself in the second part of the season, which resulted in him taking the No 1 status in the team.

Irvine – who was the only British driver close enough to winning the world title from Damon Hill onward – insisted that Ferrari should become an option for all drivers at a certain points. Fernando Alonso, double world champion in Formula 1, has also admitted earlier this season that he fancies a Ferrari move in the near future, despite still committed to Renault for the time being.

Hamilton was actually linked with a move to Maranello in 2007, following his tense relationship with teammate Alonso. He was then reportedly considering a move to rivals Ferrari should Alonso continue with the Woking-based team in 2008. Fortunately for Ron Dennis' team, Alonso chose to leave Mercedes' works team at the end of the season and Hamilton signed an extension to his contract for the following 5 years.
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