After marveling at the awe factor of Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari, there is a lot of curiosity around how the seven-time champion will fit in the Italian team. Many have brought up certain challenges Hamilton will have to face at Ferrari with the team’s culture being very different from his current team. Still, ex-Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley feels the Maranello outfit will rebuild around the charismatic lead driver that Hamilton is.
Speaking on the Formula for Success podcast, Smedley stated that Hamilton will “really make the difference” to Ferrari’s performance once he gets there in 2025. He also added that the Briton doesn’t need to bring his entourage from Mercedes to help him settle in faster.
Smedley said, “When a driver like Lewis Hamilton wants to come to your team, you don’t need to bring an entourage. Hamilton has made the right choice not to bring engineers because the team is sure to welcome him well.”
There had been a lot of speculation about Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington moving to the Maranello outfit. However, Mercedes have confirmed that Bonnington will stay at the Brackley outfit. They have also promoted him to the Head of Race Engineering.
This certainly breaks the long-term partnership between Hamilton and ‘Bono’, as the #44 driver fondly calls him. However, Hamilton will forge several new relationships at Ferrari and he is quite capable of galvanizing a team to perform at a higher level.
With the Italian team facing a drought of world championships since 2008, they will bank on Hamilton’s leadership that helped Mercedes collect eight consecutive constructors’ titles from 2014 to 2021. While Hamilton will enter his 40s in 2025, Ferrari will hope he stays in top form to deliver in two to three solid seasons and end their title drought.
