Marc Priestley has a ‘good feeling’ about Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari in 2025. The former McLaren pit crew member worked with Hamilton during the latter’s early days in F1. Hence, Priestly knows how the Briton has a champion mindset. In an exclusive conversation with The SportsRush’s Tanish Chachra Priestley gave his insights on why he feels Hamilton could win his record eighth world championship with the Italian outfit.
He reasoned first to cite why the 39-year-old is making the move to Ferrari. Priestley said, “I can understand why he is doing it. A. There is a passion from most drivers to one day drive for Ferrari. Within the history of the sport they are so huge and successful.”
But besides the passion aspect, the 47-year-old also feels that Hamilton has put a lot of “clever thought” into this switch. Priestley highlighted the Briton’s good relationship with Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur, as the Frenchman was Hamilton’s team principal back in his GP2 days.
Priestley cited that under Vasseur, “Culture and ethos at Ferrari I think is changing and I think it is changing for the better.” The 47-year-old elaborated that Ferrari is always under pressure due to the Italian national pride and expectations. However, that aspect is shifting under Vasseur.
BREAKING: Lewis Hamilton to join Ferrari in 2025!#F1 @LewisHamilton @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/M5QrB5pM8G
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 1, 2024
Thus, the British podcaster mentioned, “With Lewis [Hamilton] coming in, if he can piggyback off the culture that’s heading towards a less passionate, less extreme culture, one that Lewis would absolutely be fitting really well into.”
This cultural shift and his close bond with Vasseur may set the foundation right for Hamilton at the Maranello outfit. Besides this, Priestley also cited that F1 goes around in circles. So, Ferrari may halt Red Bull’s current dominance courtesy of this new look with Hamilton coming in.
Lewis Hamilton has a golden opportunity at Ferrari to leave behind a lasting legacy
Marc Priestley highlighted how Lewis Hamilton may have timed his move to Ferrari perfectly. As per Priestley, the trajectory of the Prancing Horse from a competitive perspective has been on the up.
They have a solid driver in Charles Leclerc to partner the Briton come 2025. Priestley then also pointed out how the Italian team have been getting closer and closer to Red Bull in the past couple of years.
Naturally, they have experienced setbacks but they still seem to be improving. Ferrari often is the second-best team behind Red Bull. Priestley then also mentioned the championship drought of the Prancing Horse for 17 years. Thus, he mentioned that Hamilton had a golden opportunity to etch his F1 legacy forever at the Italian team.
Priestley said, “If Lewis can go there towards the end of his career, as a 7-time world champion, and be the guy that finally brings the championship back to Ferrari. They haven’t won a championship since 2007 with Kimi [Raikkonen]. Imagine if Lewis is the guy to bring that back. He would be elevated to a god-like status across Italy and the world.“
Priestley isn’t wrong. Italian fans would immortalize Lewis Hamilton if he could break their F1 hiatus and bring the coveted championship back to Maranello. For Italians, Ferrari is like a religion, as Will Buxton said in Netflix’s Drive to Survive.
