As the clock ticks down to the 2025 season’s start, the anticipation around how Lewis Hamilton is going to perform as a Ferrari driver is at an all-time high. Even rival team members are jumping on the Hamilton-Ferrari hype train, hoping to see the seven-time world champion get back into title contention with the Prancing Horse.
While Hamilton has been desperate to fight at the sharp end of the grid for the past three years, Ferrari’s desperation for a championship challenge has lasted even longer. Ironically, the last world championship for the fabled Italian outfit came in 2008 — the year when Hamilton won his maiden drivers’ world title!
So, Ferrari will hope that the Briton can help them end this agonizing drought of silverware. Even Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas seconded these sentiments when he recently appeared on the talkSPORT Driving podcast. “I think it’s really exciting. If you going to get the best out of Lewis, it’s going to be when he is fired up. Like a new opportunity like this at Ferrari,” Nicholas said about Hamilton starting a new chapter at Maranello.
However, it is puzzling to see a Red Bull team member being so excited about Hamilton’s winning prospects. Apparently, that is also the case for another one of Ferrari’s direct rivals.
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella spoke highly about the Briton’s championship hopes with the Scuderia. While Stella leads McLaren now, the Italian engineer was a part of Ferrari back in the day, most prominently serving as Fernando Alonso’s race engineer.
From a neutral perspective, it is natural for him to wish Hamilton well for his time at the Maranello outfit.
Lewis Hamilton has spoken for the first time since confirmation of his move from Mercedes to Ferrari in 2025.
Can Hamilton win his 8th world championship and move past Michael Schumacher? pic.twitter.com/Wj3tG8szmh
— DW Sports (@dw_sports) February 3, 2024
Even Nicholas had that neutral tone of an F1 fan rather than being a Red Bull mechanic. He praised the seven-time world champion’s hunger to fight for titles, even after achieving everything in his career so far.
“I think Lewis would take great pleasure in helping the team back to glory”, he said. Nicholas even commented about how Hamilton would go about his business at Ferrari alongside a new young teammate in Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton and Leclerc would have an excellent rapport
There has been immense talk about how Leclerc and Hamilton would get along as teammates. While there is no denying the chances of an intense intra-team rivalry between the duo, Nicholas feels their dynamic could shape up well.
“From the limited interaction I’ve had with Charles, he seemed like the kinda guy that always wants to learn from someone with the experience of Lewis,” Nicholas added.
Hamilton, though, will want to claim the lead driver’s mantle at Ferrari, which may not go down well with the Monegasque. This is something Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur will need to tackle to bring both drivers in alignment with the team’s overall goal.
Together at last pic.twitter.com/3VIXQzKIvS
— Autosport (@autosport) January 27, 2025
Even Leclerc understands that he needs to match and beat Hamilton on merit — which would undoubtedly be very difficult. Nevertheless, the 27-year-old knows he has the ingredients to do so while maintaining a harmonious relationship with the seven-time champion.
Leclerc has claimed that besides competing hard but fair, he will be keen to learn from Hamilton’s experience. “Lewis is the most successful, for me it is not only an opportunity to learn from one of the best ever but also to compete with him in the same car”. Whether he leaves this cordial attitude aside remains to be seen.
