Lewis Hamilton has insisted he has nothing to prove and feels no pressure going into his first race for Ferrari at the Formula One season opener in Melbourne this weekend, with the seven-time champion simply revelling in what he described as the most exciting period of an already long and storied career.
Hamilton, who made his F1 debut in 2007 and is now entering his 19th season in the sport, will make his debut with Ferrari at Albert Park after six years at McLaren and then 12 at Mercedes.
Driving for the Scuderia had long been a childhood dream for the British driver and the interest in his switch to racing for the sport’s most famous and most successful marque has already been intense, reaching an apogee in the buildup to the opening meeting in Albert Park.
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Hamilton, speaking before the teams take to the track for the first time on Friday in Melbourne, conceded he was aware the task facing him of adapting to a new team, based in Italy at 40 years old and coming up to speed in no short order was considerable. But he felt confident in his ability to deliver.
“I’m under no assumptions that it will be easy, it is not,” he said. “But I don’t feel the pressure. The outside pressure, it’s non-existent for me. The pressure is from within and what I want to achieve.
“I’m not here to prove anything to anybody, I don’t feel I have to do anything.
“I’ve been [in F1] a long, long time and done it time and time again,” he said. “I know what it takes to do a good job and that’s what I want to deliver for myself and for my family, for this team that I really believe deserve success.”
Ferrari have not won the drivers’ championship since 2007 and the constructors’ title since 2008, but finished second in the latter last season to McLaren and closed out 2024 with a car very much at the sharp end of the grid. Expectations are that it will be competitive once again this season and Hamilton and his teammate Charles Leclerc will be able to challenge for wins.
Hamilton was cautiously optimistic after pre-season testing but guarded as to how Ferrari stood in relation to the rest of the field, form which will only really be demonstrated in Saturday’s qualifying at Albert Park. He was, however, in upbeat, buoyant form in Melbourne, reinvigorated and highly motivated for the task ahead with Ferrari after three seasons struggling with a recalcitrant Mercedes.
“I’m itching to get going,” he said. “This is the most exciting period of my life and so I’m really just enjoying it, I’m so excited to get in the car tomorrow.”
When Hamilton made his debut in Australia in 2007 he was just 22 years old. Now, starting a new era in his career, he looked back on how much had changed and why his experience gave him confidence he could make a success of it with the Scuderia.
“When I was 22 years old, I wasn’t obviously mature, I didn’t have a lot of foundation around me. It was my dad and my step-mom was booking my flights to come out here,” he said. “They’re here this weekend, so it’s been a long journey with them but I didn’t have any help with prepping for something like this. It was just deep end everywhere and I drowned many times.
“Now, obviously I’m very comfortable in my skin. I know who I am, I know where I’m going. I know what energy and time and effort I need to put in to get there. Obviously when I was 22 I didn’t know that, but what a roller coaster ride it’s been up until now.”
Separately on Thursday, F1 announced that its president and CEO, Stefano Domenicali, would continue in his role for a further five years until the end of 2029. Domenicali took on the role in 2021 and has since overseen the sport’s remarkable growth in popularity, its expansion in terms of fans and races and the financial stabilisation of the costs of competing, leading to a surge in value of the teams.
Domenicali’s tenure has been very well-received within the sport, with his range of experience putting him in a strong position to understand the various differing perspectives involved. He was team principal at Ferrari between 2008 and 2013, then joined the commercial wing of Audi for two years before becoming chair and CEO at Lamborghini.
