It is not the first time Hamilton has taken a huge risk by leaving one team for another. Plenty of questions were asked when he quit McLaren to join Mercedes in 2013, but all the success he and the Silver Arrows enjoyed together shows that it was certainly the right call.Plus, the Monegasque is arguably […]
It is not the first time Hamilton has taken a huge risk by leaving one team for another. Plenty of questions were asked when he quit McLaren to join Mercedes in 2013, but all the success he and the Silver Arrows enjoyed together shows that it was certainly the right call.Plus, the Monegasque is arguably the best qualifier in F1 while Hamilton struggled for one lap pace in 2024, so there’s every chance the Brit could find that aspect difficult to deal with as well. Of all Hamilton’s tests, this is sure to be his toughest. He will take confidence from that and believe that, once again, he has made the decision that he is best for him in the twilight of his F1 career. But there remain some very real barriers that Hamilton will have to knock down in order to achieve what he wants in Italy. Here are the big tests facing Hamilton in the coming months and years. Racing on Italian soil while representing the Prancing Horse will be a whole different kettle of fish, however, and it remains to be seen how he copes with the pressure at both races to be held in Italy this year.
Settling in at Maranello
Other than team principal Frederic Vasseur, with whom he has worked before, and a couple of others, Hamilton needs to get to know everyone at the team. And there is also a language and cultural barrier to be crossed which complicates things further still. They’re F1’s only two seven-time champions in history and five of Schumacher’s triumphs came while wearing Ferrari red. It’s only natural that comparisons will be made, even if it is unfair on Hamilton as he is very much towards the end of his career while the German was in his prime. But the Italian press in particular is going to keep drawing those parallels and Hamilton is going to have to block out that noise.
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Getty Images)
Racing in Italy
Hamilton has just spent 12 years with the same team and surrounded by, with the odd change here and there, the same people. That level of familiarity is certainly helpful when it comes to the environment you need to produce your best work and, initially at least, he simply won’t have that in Italy. As of today, Wednesday, January 1, Lewis Hamilton is officially a Ferrari employee.
Living up to Michael Schumacher’s legacy
It’s hardly something that will be new to Hamilton. And he has had great success at Ferrari’s home race in the past as a joint five-time winner at Monza, sharing the record with Michael Schumacher, though his most recent victory there was back in 2018. He also won the Imola race in 2020.
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AFP)
Beating Charles Leclerc
Catch all the action from Formula One on Sky Sports and get exclusive access to races, qualifying and much more for every Grand Prix. From Max Verstappen to Lewis Hamilton, you won’t miss a lap on Sky Sports. He has now achieved his childhood dream of being able to call himself a Ferrari Formula 1 driver. And in March he will race in red for the first time, in the hope of having a better chance of more title glory than he would have had if he had stuck with Mercedes.
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