LEWIS HAMILTON can most-definitely win a record eighth world title with Ferrari.
The Brit will have just turned 40 when he suits-up in red overalls to start his career driving for F1’s most famous team.
There will be those who say he is over the hill, too old, not sharp enough – rubbish! Hamilton is exactly the man Ferrari needs – and he needs them too.
To those who are questioning his decision to jump ship, then perhaps a little history lesson will jog the mind.
When Hamilton quit McLaren in 2012 to join Mercedes in 2013, plenty questioned the logic – and rightly so for McLaren were regular winners and Mercedes were not.
But, Hamilton was sold on the vision for 2014 and beyond, a new era of regulations that saw the introduction of new hybrid engines and a shift that would turn the grid on its head.
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Hamilton was lured by the message delivered by the late Niki Lauda who sold the Brit on his vision – and so he joined a year ahead of those major rule changes in 2013.
He then went on to add six titles to the one he won in 2008 at McLaren in a crushing spell of dominance.
Fast forward 11 years and we are faced with a similar prospect. New rules are coming in for 2026 – and Hamilton is going a year earlier.
Is history about to repeat itself? Let’s see, but what we do know is that he sees Ferrari as his best hope of ending his wait for that elusive eighth world crown.
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WHO COULD REPLACE HAMILTON AT MERCEDES?
Mercedes will have a vacant seat for 2025.
Here, SunSport’s F1 correspondent Ben Hunt looks at FIVE potential candidates who could replace him and partner George Russell in the Silver Arrows.
Oscar Piastri – McLaren have sewn up Lando Norris to a new long-term contract that should (in theory) put him out of Mercedes’ reach. However, they are yet to tie down his teammate Pisatri, 22. The Aussie has an excellent record and won the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles before spending a year on the sidelines with Alpine and getting his chance in F1 with McLaren. He impressed on his debut season last year and has the potential to be a world champion.
Daniel Ricciardo – The experienced driver’s future remains in doubt as he bides his time at Red Bull’s B-team. Ricciardo would be low-hassel and offer some stability but by that time he would be 35. It seems unlikely that they would opt for him at this point in his career, but if he has a good season this year, he could come into the reckoning.
Kimi Antonelli – You may not have heard of the Italian, but he is mustard. Still only 17, he has won at all the junior categories and has been part of the Mercedes young driver programme since 2019. This season he has been promoted from F4 to F2, where he has been tipped to shine. A good debut season in F2 could sway Mercedes into taking a risk on him for 2025. Antonelli and his family are close to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
Mick Schumacher – Wolff has always been so incredibly supportive of Schumahcer and spoken highly of him, that you’d at least expect him to come into consideration. He knows the team from his role as reserve driver and consequently would get up to speed. But speed is also the problem. He was shocking at Haas and if he really was THAT good, he’d still be driving in F1.
Alex Albon – A more-sensible choice would be the London-born Albon. A great guy who is also very quick. He has a fantastic relationship with Russell and would be the low-maintenance quick partnership similar to Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas that swept to successive titles. Albon would take little convincing to join from Williams and Mercedes would not need to pay him half of the £50million they were dishing out to Hamilton.
We know that Red Bull is not an option for him as Christian Horner has made it clear they do not see him as a driver for their future.
We now also know that Hamilton does not believe Mercedes have the abilities to turn their ship around after a succession of dud motors.
Hamilton is winless since December 2021, his last victory coming in the penultimate race of the season in Saudi Arabia before he would lose his world crown to Max Verstappen.
Mercedes have rewarded boss Toto Wolff and designer James Allison with new deals over the last two weeks, perhaps in a vain attempt to convince their star driver that all is well.
But there does not seem to be enough to convince Hamilton to remain at the Silver Arrows.
Added weight can be applied to this theory that they are indeed off the pace when you assess that Mercedes are planning to launch their challenger for 2024 – without any media present.
A digital-only launch event at Silverstone with no questions asked – perhaps they are trying to manage expectations?
What follows now is interesting. There is no doubt Hamilton will simply write off this season.
He will look to finish off his time with Mercedes with a bang and take the momentum forward into Ferrari.
That said, he will be cut out of meetings about future development, as is only natural to protect their future designs from Ferrari’s engineers.
He will find himself alienated within his own team – and that will be a new experience for him to cope with.
For Ferrari, they will be boosted by his arrival and now have 12 months to iron out their operational mistakes that have cost them in the past.
At the same time, they will no doubt divert some of their attention to their cars for the 2025 and 2026 season.
Finally, Hamilton’s arrival should also provide the necessary motivation for Charles Leclerc to discover a new level of ability.
There is no doubt about his qualifying pace, but his performances in the race have sometimes been lacklustre.
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Leclerc will not want to be out-shone by Hamilton once he is alongside him driving for the same team.
It promises to be an exciting time for Hamilton, Ferrari and indeed F1 as a whole, plus the delicious irony that the Brit could beat Michael Schumacher’s joint-record of seven world titles while driving for the Italian team.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
