Lewis Hamilton took a big leap of faith to ditch Mercedes for Ferrari next season, but has not been afraid to take risks in the past either after trading McLaren for the Silver Arrows just over a decade ago.

The 39-year-old won his first world championship with McLaren but took a gamble in replacing the retiring Michael Schumacher and racing alongside Nico Rosberg. The move was met with scepticism as the team had little history of success, but the Brit went on to claim six more titles under their brand.

In his first season at Mercedes, however, Hamilton finished fourth in the standings. He claimed that the decision to leave McLaren was slated furiously, only to later receive vindication with his critics left with egg on their faces thanks after landing a further six world championships.

Hamilton was asked on the Performance People podcast what the defining moment of his career was, only for him to explain that the decision to head to Mercedes amid criticism stood out.

“It will probably have been when I decided to join Mercedes,” Hamilton said. “I was in Thailand at the time, in between races after Singapore, and that’s when I made the decision.

“And I was like: ‘I want to take the leap of faith and I’m going to go with it, regardless of what people say.’ Pretty much everyone told me to stay, but I went with my gut and my intuition and it was the best thing for me.

“I was with a championship-winning team. I was with McLaren, which had such a great history. Obviously Mercedes used to own half of McLaren, and so it was partly their team, but then they broke away and bought their own team and as they were trying to ramp up, they weren’t having a lot of success.

“I think they were the fifth or sixth-best team at the time, so they were often finishing out of the top 10, struggling to get into the top 10.”

Hamilton even explained further that he was told by many that his career was “over” following the switch, only to emphatically prove them wrong.

He added: “As a world champion, people were like: ‘This is the worst decision you can make, this not a great team and your career is over.’

“All the pundits, all the media outlets, all the fans, everyone was like: ‘Career’s over.’ And then it went well and everyone’s like: ‘Oh, it’s the best decision ever made.’”

Eyebrows were raised once again when he blindsided Toto Wolff to leave Mercedes for Ferrari, ousting Carlos Sainz. But if he can eclipse Schumacher and claim a record eighth championship with the Italian outfit, Hamilton will once again prove any remaining doubters wrong.