Ferrari’s newest driver believes an eighth Drivers’ title is on the table
Fresh off his public debut as a Ferrari driver at Tuesday’s F1 75 Live season launch event, Lewis Hamilton returned to the team’s factory along with Charles Leclerc as Ferrari unveiled the SF-25 and put the 2025 challenger through its paces at the team’s Fiorano test track.
Speaking with Sky Sports F1 on Wednesday, Hamilton expressed confidence in his new team and put the prospects of another Drivers’ Championship on the table.
“Yes,” said Hamilton when asked if he was more hopeful now of securing that eighth title. “But I’m also aware there’s a lot of drivers that never ever get to win a world championship, first and foremost.
“I’ve been fortunate to work in two teams previously, work with great organizations, and you’ve seen in the history of the sport where you’ve got great teams and things don’t align and they end up, some of them, not winning the world championships,” continued the Ferrari driver.
“But this team already has an insane legacy and they’re not short of how many world championships they’ve won. So, I think in their DNA, they have that winning mentality.”
Hamilton then noted that the competition at the sharp end of the grid will be stiff this season, paying tribute to not just his former team but Red Bull and McLaren, last season’s Constructors’ Champions.
But then the legendary driver declared that there is “magic” at Ferrari.
“The competition is fierce and we’ve had great results from other iconic teams, like McLaren and Red Bull and obviously, Mercedes,” stated Hamilton. “It’s going to be close up the top. But I’ve got a great team-mate. The energy that I’m receiving from the team, there’s magic here.”
Ferrari has not tasted a championship since 2008, when the team last won the Constructors’ Championship, and they fell 14 points short of McLaren a year ago.
As for their last Drivers’ title, that came back in 2007 when Kimi Räikkönen finished the year with 110 points. Just behind him were a pair of McLaren teammates, each with 109 points and both of whom will be on the grid this year.
Fernando Alonso, and Hamilton.
That was also the season that saw McLaren disqualified from the Constructors’ Championship, which their 218 points from Hamilton and Alonso would have secured. The team was disqualified over F1’s own “Spygate” controversy, which involved the theft of technical information by a former Ferrari employee that landed in the hands of a McLaren senior engineer.
Returning to the present day, Hamilton believes the personnel are in place — from leadership on down — to deliver a title for Ferrari.
“I worked with two world championship-winning teams before,” said Hamilton. “I know what a winning team looks and feels like.
“The passion here is like nothing you’ve ever seen. They’ve got absolutely every ingredient they need to win a world championship.”
Speaking of that passion, the emotions were reflected in the Tifosi who lined the test track to get a glimpse of both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. One supporter went as far as to cut down a tree that lined the track, so fans in that section could get an even better view of the action.
Hamilton then spoke of the leadership in place at Ferrari.
“It’s just about putting all the pieces together. We’ve got a great leader in [Team Principal] Fred [Vasseur], in [Ferrari Chair] John [Elkann], in [Ferrari CEO] Benedetto [Vigna].
“Everyone just has a really calm and good approach. No one’s like, ‘we’re perfect in every single area’. Everyone’s like, ‘we need to elevate everywhere’. They’re leaving no stone unturned to try and do that.”
As for the SF-25, Hamilton noted that it was too early to tell just what Ferrari has on his hands, but he said Tuesday’s session at Fiorano was “good.”
Just how good remains to be seen.
