The seven-time world champion was the bold gambit Maranello’s top management were willing to make to haul Ferrari back to the top and build a dream line-up alongside Charles Leclerc — even if it meant parting ways with Carlos Sainz, a driver who had consistently delivered and held his own alongside the Monegasque for years.

But the reality of this season has told a very different story, with Hamilton unable to score even a single podium and sitting miles behind his teammate in the standings.

“I honestly don’t know if I ever would have signed him,” Arrivabene told Sky Italy. “It’d be too easy to say no now, at the end of the season. The only truthful answer is: I don’t know. When you bring in a driver of his calibre, the team also takes on huge responsibilities.

Asked whether he’d have taken Adrian Newey instead, Arrivabene didn’t hesitate in his answer: “Yes. I’d have taken him without a second thought.”

The Brit rounded out his season with a solid fightback in Abu Dhabi after being knocked out in Q1 for the third race in a row — something that had never happened to him before.

He eventually climbed back up to eighth, while his teammate ended just shy of the podium and even put the world champion, Lando Norris, under real pressure in the early stages.