Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari has been dubbed as the biggest driver move in F1 history by many, owing the the success achieved by both parties over the years. It has also brought a lot of attention to Ferrari, and Fred Vasseur expects this to set off a chain reaction that would benefit the Maranello-based outfit in the long run.
Vasseur, who has been Ferrari’s team principal since 2023, predicted that more “good people” would join his team. When asked on the Autosport podcast about what Hamilton‘s arrival would mean for the outfit, Vasseur responded, “It sends a positive message to the paddock about the future of the team.”
18 seasons, 7 world titles and 4862.5 points
And there’s still more to come from @LewisHamilton #F1 pic.twitter.com/X6kBHrlVlJ
— Formula 1 (@F1) January 7, 2025
“He had to make a choice,” the Frenchman continued. “We have the biggest chance to win the championship in ’25, ’26, ’27“.
Ferrari worked exceptionally hard to recover from a mid-season slump in 2024, ultimately finishing P2 in the Constructors’ Championship, just 14 points behind the winners, McLaren. The next step for them is to claim that elusive piece of silverware they last won in 2008.
Vasseur explained that a driver’s responsibility extends beyond delivering on the track; it also involves motivating the team at the factory and getting the best out of everyone. And who better to do this than seven-time World Champion Hamilton?
In the interview, Vasseur did not reveal who he expects to join Hamilton at Ferrari. However, it is likely to include top talents from the technical departments of former team Mercedes, among others. The Frenchman may also have been referring to major sponsors eager to be associated with a driver of Hamilton’s caliber.
Key Mercedes engineers have already followed Hamilton
Just a few months after Ferrari announced that Hamilton would join the team this year, the Italian squad successfully signed Loic Serra and Jerome d’Ambrosio, the head of Mercedes’ Academy, who was seen as a potential successor to Toto Wolff.
It is also expected that Hamilton’s race engineer, Peter Bonnington, would follow the British driver to Ferrari. However, Mercedes prevented this by promoting him to Head of Race Engineering.
In addition to his new role, Bonnington will continue as the race engineer for Mercedes’ incoming driver, Andrea Kimi Antonelli. While Mercedes managed to keep Bonnington from moving to Ferrari, they might not be able to stop some of their sponsors from switching allegiance due to Hamilton’s move to Maranello.
American fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger, a long-time supporter of Hamilton, could join Ferrari, having sponsored the Italian team in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The only potential obstacle to such a move is that Ferrari already has Armani, a competitor of Tommy Hilfiger, as one of their sponsors.
