F1 News: Why Ferrari will get the very best out of Hamilton

Hamilton, Ferrari, social — Photo: © IMAGO

Why Ferrari will get the very best out of Hamilton

The Brit has had a tough start to the 2024 season, but his Ferrari move could see him return to winning ways

Stuart Telford

Saturday 13 April 2024 01:00

Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari from Mercedes for the 2025 season - a stunning move that should get driver and team back to winning ways.

Hamilton has won a joint-record seven drivers' championships, a mark he shares with Michael Schumacher, while Ferrari are the most successful team in the sport's history with 16 constructors' titles.

But he has had to watch on for the last three seasons as Max Verstappen has swept himself, and Red Bull, to glory, and he trails this year's leader by eight places and 67 points after the most recent Japanese GP, which the Dutchman won.

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Ferrari, meanwhile, haven't enjoyed team glory since 2008, when Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa saw them over the line despite losing to Hamilton, then of McLaren, on an individual level.

Hamilton has unlikely declined - he's been behind a wheel in some shape or form for almost his entire life - and there are older drivers on the grid with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso three-and-half years his senior.

Hamilton is without a GP win since Saudi Arabia in 2021.

Ferrari team principle Frederic Vasseur has a longstanding, symbiotic relationship with Hamilton.

But Mercedes' decisions have impacted upon his success in recent seasons. Their W13 car was guilty of porpoising - bouncing up and down while racing - in 2022. The W14 the next season was an improvement, but by this time Red Bull had roared into the lead.

Hamilton can also have faith in Ferrari's tech for what will likely be the autumn of his career, and his relationship with team principle Frederic Vasseur is key. The two have a friendship stretching back to 2006, when Hamilton was racing for his ART Grand Prix team in Formula 2.

Driving under the Frenchman that year, Hamilton insisted on the wing angle of his car being trimmed to increase straight-line speed for the Istanbul Sprint Race. He span out early on, but eventually climbed from 17th to second.

Hamilton trusts his new team and they trust him. There may be bumps in the road, or even tailspins, but a symbiotic relationship between Hamilton and Ferrari means results for both are likely to improve, and Red Bull should be looking over their shoulder.

Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes McLaren