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Cape Town - Eddie Jordan believes 2021 will be "the right time" for Lewis Hamilton to leave Mercedes for Ferrari, and reckons the Brit may also take team principal Toto Wolff with him.
The talk of Hamilton switching to Ferrari has fired up again, with the Scuderia for the first time admitting that they have held talks with Mercedes' six-time World Champion.
Hamilton has confirmed that the future of current Mercedes boss Toto Wolff will play a large part in whether he stays with the Silver Arrows or not after his current contract expires next year, but Jordan has added a new layer to the rumours by suggesting Wolff could join the red brand alongside his star driver.
"It would be the right time for Lewis to go to Ferrari [in 2021]," Jordan told British TV series Top Gear.
"He's coming to the end of his career, but he still wants to win his seven or more titles.
"But the real belief that I think Lewis will go to Ferrari in 2021 is that Toto Wolff's contract expires at the end of next year. He knows Mercedes' long-term future in Formula 1 is not a certainty.
"Indeed, Lewis has mentioned Toto's contract on more than one occasion, which is unusual for an F1 driver to do.
"Lewis would only go to Ferrari if someone could protect him against any possibility that Charles Leclerc could usurp him. So Ferrari would bring Toto along too.
"What they don't have is that person on the pit wall to guide the team, in terms of how they structure the race strategy. Toto knows that. Racing is in his blood, and he'd love to have a name like Ferrari on his CV too.
"I'm absolutely certain that in 2021, Lewis Hamilton will move to Ferrari. Toto goes with him, because as I said, Lewis won't leave himself exposed, and it will be his way of bringing an equaliser.
"Do Ferrari need two number ones? No, but they won't let go of Leclerc.
"It would be a huge feather in Leclerc's cap to potentially beat Hamilton in the same car. He has the potential to be a great."
If all this was to happen, then that would leave Sebastian Vettel without a spot at Ferrari for 2021, and Jordan feels he will either "retire" or join Mercedes, because a Red Bull reunion would see him get "creamed" by Max Verstappen.
"Vettel will retire at the end of 2020. He can't go back to Red Bull because he'd get creamed by Max Verstappen," he said.
"However, if Mercedes did decide to stay on in F1, it might work for Vettel to go there; a consolation prize for losing Lewis."
- TEAMtalk
