Lewis Hamilton is finally starting his stint at Ferrari after 12 long years with Mercedes. He officially took out the SF-25 during the pre-season tests in Bahrain. While the British driver was satisfied with his car compared to the rest of the grid, it’s not going to be easy with some other teams on the grid.
With the 2025 season fast approaching, Lewis Hamilton has talked about the two teams that he wants to be on the lookout for as Ferrari prepares to end their Champioship drought.
Lewis Hamilton names top two rivals for the 2025 season
Hamilton has named the two biggest obstacles that are in his way to the championship. After the final day of testing, Lewis Hamilton said,
“Obviously, it’s a lot hotter today, but yeah, the McLaren did a great run yesterday. And I think also Max did a decent one today, given that even with the temperatures. It’s hard to know what fuel loads everyone is running, as we’re all doing different, our own programmes, so you have to take everything with a pinch of salt.”
SIR LEWIS HAMILTON. SCUDERIA FERRARI DRIVER.
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— Formula 1 (@F1) January 22, 2025
He talked about how most teams, including McLaren, were probably sandbagging so it’s hard to gauge their performance based on the tests.
“But yeah, I mean, they won the Constructors’ last year. We expect them to be one of the quickest, if not the quickest, as with Red Bull, who have dominated for many, many years,” Hamilton added.
McLaren won the WCC in 2024, which is a 26-year gap since their last win. The Orange team managed to turn the tides during the Miami GP, where the car suddenly started giving Ferrari and Red Bull a run for their money.
McLaren and Red Bull are set to pose a massive threat to Ferrari’s campaign to win the championship. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris are in top form, with the former looking to win his fifth consecutive championship. But it’s not enough to deter Hamilton’s drive, who is cautiously optimistic with Ferrari.
The seven-time world champion is heading into the 2025 season with hopes of breaking a record set by Michael Schumacher during his glory years at Ferrari. While Hamilton was unsuccessful in 2021, he will be eager to prove his critics wrong by breaking this record with the Prancing Horse.
Ferrari’s chances to win the WDC look positive
The pre-season tests gave everyone an idea of what the performance of each team might look like. While the top teams may be sandbagging, the bottom teams might not be. Lewis Hamilton is looking forward to improving further with Ferrari in this season.
“So for us, we’re just trying to improve on… I haven’t even done the long run yet, so I’m about to do it this afternoon, and I’ll get a bit of a better understanding of how this car behaves in a race stint.”, said Ferrari’s latest recruit.
Lewis Hamilton also knows that teams tend to disguise their true performance and the first outlook is 99% of the time not their potential. The British driver still doesn’t have a proper hold of the performance since he didn’t get longer runs with the car.
“I think that probably, in the last four years or so, I’ve learned that you really can’t judge too much from the first outlook, I definitely think in the past years before that, particularly in the previous generation of cars, it was much easier to know where you stood quite early on with that early feeling.”
“I would say this is the most positive feeling that I’ve had in a long time. That’s all I can really say for now,” concluded Hamilton.
Many said that the Brit lost his drive after his devastating loss in 2021, which was backed by a scarce number of wins in the following years. However, in a recent interview, Hamilton doubled down on his legacy, saying that he’s “built different”.
“I’m Built Different” – Lewis Hamilton on His Unmatched Legacy and Winning Mentality
After departing from Mercedes, Hamilton seems to be more determined than ever to win a Championship with Ferrari. With Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, the Maranello-based team has the strongest lineup of drivers for 2025.
The season is quickly approaching with all teams gearing up to go wheel-to-wheel in Melbourne. Do you think Lewis Hamilton can win his eighth championship with Ferrari? Let us know in the comments below.
