Seven-time Components One world champion Lewis Hamilton formally started his Ferrari profession this week with a sequence of check runs at Ferrari’s Italian headquarters in Maranello.
“Driving a Scuderia Ferrari HP automotive for the primary time this morning was among the finest emotions of my life,” Hamilton said after completing his first laps, per Laurence Edmondson of ESPN.
“After I began the automotive up and drove by that storage door, I had the most important smile on my face. It jogged my memory of the very first time I examined a Components One automotive. It was such an thrilling and particular second, and right here I’m, nearly 20 years later, feeling these feelings over again.”
Hamilton’s shock transfer to Ferrari has attracted unprecedented consideration from F1 followers throughout the globe. Hamilton’s first Instagram put up with the workforce — taken in entrance of Enzo Ferrari’s transformed farmhouse on the Fiorano circuit — grew to become the most-liked put up in F1 historical past in a matter of hours.
That fan curiosity prolonged to Hamilton’s check drive, too. Hundreds of tifosi — ardent followers — flocked to Maranello to look at Hamilton’s first apply laps in freezing situations.
“I already knew from the skin how passionate the Ferrari household is, from everybody within the workforce to the tifosi,” Hamilton said after the test drive. “However to now witness it firsthand as a Ferrari driver has been awe-inspiring.”
Hamilton’s Ferrari swap is a match made in heaven for each events: He’s chasing his elusive, record-breaking eighth world title, whereas Ferrari is chasing its first driver championship since Kimi Raikkonen received the sequence in 2007. With latest championship-winning sides Pink Bull and Mercedes struggling upfront of the 2025 season, there is a sense of destiny swirling round Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters.
However Hamilton is not the one driver able to successful a championship for Ferrari this 12 months. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari’s Monegasque driver often called il predestinato for his otherworldly talent, will push Hamilton to the restrict in 2025. He has pushed for the Italian workforce since 2019 and will enter the season with a severe benefit: He is aware of the automotive, and the workforce, much better than Hamilton does.
Watching Leclerc and Hamilton battle for dominance of their respective Ferraris must be one of many highlights of the 2025 season. If Hamilton wins, it would reinforce his standing as one of many biggest of all time; if Leclerc does, it would raise him into the higher echelon of recent F1 drivers.
The primary Ferrari check for Hamilton and Leclerc have been run in pattern vehicles from earlier seasons. They’re going to check out Ferrari’s new 2025 car on the finish of February, after they (and the remainder of the F1 grid) journey to Bahrain for official preseason testing.
The 2025 F1 season will start March 16 with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
