In the maelstrom of the buildup to the new Formula One season, which opens in Melbourne next week, one figure stands at its heart, preternaturally calm as the crescendo builds around him. Lewis Hamilton, the sport’s most successful driver, now in a Ferrari, the sport’s most successful team, promises to make F1 in 2025 unmissable, his grand, romantic challenge playing out to the backdrop of what may be the most closely fought season in more than a decade.
Hamilton, now 40 years old and with seven titles, has nothing to prove but is set on securing the greatest achievement in his career. To return a record-breaking eighth title with Ferrari, who have not won the drivers’ title since 2007, would be a feat to rank among the greatest of them all. Watching him try will be as gripping as McLaren trying to steal his thunder.
For Hamilton this is the culmination of a journey that began as a child playing video games as Michael Schumacher and dreaming of driving for the Scuderia. The Briton played his own part in the McLaren story with his first title and then spent 12 years with Mercedes, claiming six more championships with the team where he was expected to see out his career.
Hamilton has always defied expectation and the change has done him the power of good. He is a driver renewed, still in mighty physical form, psychologically as strong as ever and talking of driving on for some time to come. Indeed, he is motivated such as he has not seemed in several years and has hurled himself into his new challenge with abandon. Can he win? Since joining Ferrari he has given his all to the new venture.
The pleasure he takes in wearing the scarlet of Ferrari is palpable. He has described catching a first glimpse of himself in his new race suit in a bathroom mirror and stopping to take in its significance. He barely slept the night before his first test run in a Ferrari at Fiorano.
During pre-season, he took his motorhome to Maranello and parked it outside the farmhouse that was once Enzo Ferrari’s office to avoid wasting precious time on travel. He walked the length and breadth of the vast facility, shaking hands with every one of the 1,500 staff and invited his engineers back to his temporary home for dinner.
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“I want people to know that I’m willing to go above and beyond to be able to blend in and to contribute to my fullest potential,” he said. “Everyone here dreams of winning with Ferrari, every single person. The energy that I’m receiving from the team, there’s magic here.”
Hamilton and Ferrari are not relying on F1 alchemy alone. His chances look better than ever. Ferrari were second to McLaren by 14 points last year and finished with a car on the up. The SF25 is an evolution of that ride and should suit Hamilton better than the recalcitrant Mercedes.
The regulation changes of 2022 did not fall in Hamilton’s favour. The low ride heights curtailed one of his strengths, being late on the brakes, but he still enjoys a strong turn-in to slow corners, controlling the rotation of the car as it moves from slow to high speed. The Ferrari has a level of oversteer that overcomes this which will suit Hamilton and his teammate, Charles Leclerc, who will prove a formidable challenge.
Adjusting to the new team will be a task in itself, not least in plotting with his new race engineer, Riccardo Adami, to come up with a phrase to supplant the “hammer-time” exhortation of Peter Bonnington at Mercedes.
The team are in rude health under Fred Vasseur, who ran Hamilton in his ART team in GP2 in 2006 and has delivered a no-nonsense sense of direction at the Scuderia, controlling the rollercoaster of the blame culture that came with it, exemplified by the calm way the team dealt with the misstep when a new floor set them back mid-campaign last season.
He has also used outside talent in the form of the former Mercedes designer Loïc Serra, promoted to technical director of the chassis, and Jérôme d’Ambrosio, the former driver and also Mercedes alumnus as deputy principal, crucially both of whom Hamilton knows well.
Ferrari have got absolutely every ingredient they need to win a world championship – it’s just about putting all the pieces together
Hamilton has also rehired his former long-term trainer, Angela Cullen, who left his side in 2023. “They’ve got absolutely every ingredient they need to win a world championship,” was his assessment of Ferrari. “It’s just about putting all the pieces together.”
Whether the pieces come together this season is not entirely in his hands. For all that Hamilton stands centre stage, a host of other players wish to make their mark too, not least McLaren.
The team are favourites to be in front in Australia. Their car looked to be the strongest in testing, building on finishing 2024 as constructors’ champions. Quick in race simulations and on a single lap, if a little twitchy in the rear, it is reliable and will be rapid out of the blocks, the opening salvo they need after recent campaigns took too long to come up to speed. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have played down any advantage, but it is hard not to read quiet satisfaction behind the poker faces.
They look to have a nose in front but will not be alone. Alongside Ferrari, Mercedes should be in the mix too, with optimism they have delivered a more predictable and stable car than last season and one with a decent touch of pace.
Equally, Red Bull and Max Verstappen will be expecting to vie for the lead from the off, though perhaps with some work to do as they look to solve the balance and understeer issue that plagued them for the second half of last season but from which the Dutchman still emerged with his fourth title. If he is to be denied it is guaranteed he will go down fighting.
All four teams must be considered contenders and if Hamilton is among it at the sharp end, Melbourne will be but the aperitif to a mighty repast indeed.
