Sir Lewis Hamilton raised more than a few eyebrows by announcing he'd leave Mercedes for Ferrari ahead the 2025 season. After moving from McLaren in 2012, where its Driver Development Programme had nurtured him from the tender age of 13, Hamilton became a pivotal part of the Mercedes team, winning six of his seven World Championships there and forming a unique bond with its Team Principal, Toto Wolff.
It's a bond that many thought would be unbreakable but, in the end, the lure of Ferrari – F1's oldest and most successful team – and the evocative history that comes with it proved irresistible. “Part of me has always held on to that dream of racing in red. I couldn’t be happier to realise that dream,” Hamilton wrote on Instagram, but it's not a move that comes without risks.
Ferrari's yet to hit a rich vein of form, with inconsistent performances blighting 2024 and the seasons before it, and there are plenty of outside factors to contend with. These are some of the biggest challenges Hamilton faces in red.
Ferrari looked to have put the reliability concerns of 2023 behind it last season, with brake issues in Bahrain and engine troubles in Canada blighting an otherwise trouble-free season. But Hamilton may fear the ghost of 2023 hasn't been exorcised. The SF-23 got off to a terrible start in that year, with electronic troubles leading to a ten-place grid penalty in the second race of the season, while Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc failed to start in back-to-back races in Mexico and Brazil due to fuelling and transmission issues.
Only time will tell if 2025's car mirrors the resilience of the SF-24, but Hamilton will seek solace in the fact that Ferrari avoided the porpoising that proved such a back-breaking issue for Mercedes.
Driving for Ferrari doesn't just guarantee Hamilton an excellent wage package and his pick of the world's greatest company car programme; he gets the backing of the most fanatical support in F1. In Italy, Ferrari drivers don't need to worry about speeding tickets – the Carabinieri are more likely to provide a high-speed escort than fine them – and the days of paying for a meal at the Mecca of good food (not exactly an issue for a multi-millionaire F1 driver) are long gone.
But with this support comes the hopes and dreams of a nation and all the pressure that comes with it for a team that hasn't sampled true success since Michael Schumacher in the early 2000s. Hamilton's existence – a mixed-race man from a humble background – in a sport dominated by rich white men suggests he has all the mettle needed to succeed, as his trophy cabinet already proves.
Media scrutiny is something all F1 drivers have to live with, but it's fair to say Hamilton carries more than most – everything from his fashion sense to the friends he keeps are under the spotlight.
At the same time, he simultaneously bats away the racial prejudices from the likes of Nelson Piquet and the overblown hyperbole of the media storm caused by Totto Wolf’s “everyone has a shelf life" comments. Managing that adds another dimension to what could be one of Hamilton's most demanding tests yet.
The Ferrari garage and its pitwall strategies have often come in for criticism. The team's underperformance in Canada – with Leclerc bemoaning a lack of grip – was traced back to underinflated tyres taking too long to reach their correct operating pressure due to low temperatures and a recently resurfaced track. A problem that put both drivers out of the final stage of qualifying. Meanwhile, Leclerc's podium hopes in São Paulo were ruined when he stopped to fit a new set of Intermediates as conditions deteriorated, while the rest of the field made a free stop for Wets behind the safety car after Franco Colapinto crashed out on Lap 32.
In Las Vegas, the Ferraris were allowed to battle each other to the detriment of both drivers' races and Leclerc's delayed first pit stop destroyed his chances of a podium finish. Having said, Ferrari is not the only team to have self-inflicted tactical blunders, and – as a seven-time champion – Hamilton's experience, and the weight that comes with it, could be the missing piece in the puzzle needed to transform the team into a tactically slick operation.
Hamilton’s no stranger to controversial FIA decisions. Michael Masi's on-the-fly rule changes cost him the 2021 championship, and the 2024 season wasn't without its controversies. Debris on the track is one of the most dangerous situations a driver can encounter, as Felipe Massa found to his cost when he was knocked unconscious by a rogue spring at the Hungary Grand Prix in 2009. Blowouts caused by razor-sharp carbon fibre fragments have proved just as dangerous.
Yet, director Niels Wittich chose not to deploy a safety car at the Qatar Grand Prix race after Alex Albon's mirror fell on the main straight, causing both Hamiton and Carlos Sainz to suffer punctures. Then there's the politics the FIA all too often seems happy to wade into, demanding drivers remove jewellery – which appeared to single out Hamilton – and sanctioning Leclerc and Max Verstappen for swearing like "rappers". It's background noise that has seen drivers like Verstappen, a key asset to the sport, threaten to retire, although Hamilton has risen above these obstacles.
While Hamilton has been grappling with a Mercedes car performing below the team's high standards, the competition has only improved. To win an eighth World Championship, he'll have to conquer his most wily adversary in Max Verstappen, a man who won convincingly in 2024 despite a car that was off the pace for large swathes of the season. Competition will come from teammates past and present, with Leclerc finishing third in 2024 and George Russell taking fifth, ahead of Hamilton in sixth. But it's the rising confidence of McLaren that could be Hamilton's biggest challenge.
Were it not for his inexperience (and stodgy race starts from pole positions), Lando Norris could have taken last year's season, and teammate Oscar Piastri is shaping up to be an ice-cool operator who'll only improve in 2025. And then there are the great unknowns: the likes of Liam Lawson in a Red Bull and Hamilton's replacement Kimi Antonelli. With competition like this and the adjustment needed with the move to a new team, 2025 could be one of Hamilton's toughest tests to date.
And the competition will be all the more worrying because, at the risk of stating the obvious, Hamilton isn't getting any younger – it’s more than 12 years since the fresh-faced racer embarked on his rookie season. At the ripe old age of 43, only Fernando Alonso is older than 40-year-old Hamilton. That matters in almost all sports, but in F1 – where lightning reactions, resilience and recovery are so deeply entwined with the competition – it's even more critical. Throw in thousands of miles worth of travel over multiple time zones, and it's fair to say it is a sport that favours youth.
But Hamilton's experience shouldn't be dismissed. He's one of F1’s great athletes, and his stunning win at Silverstone last year shows his undiminished focus and desire. But above all else, he's a professional who rises above the insider spats and outside noise others are drawn into, and that could prove the key to any future Ferrari success in 2025 and beyond.
Main images courtesy of Getty Images.
Article images courtesy of Motorsport Images.
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