Lewis Hamilton said he felt “invigorated” and “full of life” following a move to Ferrari as his new car was unveiled in front of some 15,000 raucous fans during the 2025 Formula One season launch at London’s O2 Arena on Tuesday. Seven-times world champion Hamilton has left Mercedes after 12 seasons to join the Italian giants for the upcoming campaign that starts with next month’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Ferrari have been ever present throughout Formula One’s 75-year history and the prospect of winning a record eighth drivers’ championship with the ‘Scuderia’ has clearly proved enticing for 40-year-old British motorsport great Hamilton.

“The word I am thinking of is invigorated because I feel so full of life and so much energy because everything is new and I’m just focused on what is up ahead,” said Hamilton in a brief on-stage interview — Ferrari are holding a press conference at their Maranello headquarters on Wednesday.

“I’m so proud to be part of the team, something new and exciting for me,” he added following his first public appearance in Ferrari’s traditional red racing colours. 

His words echoed those of reigning world champion Max Verstappen, who earlier Tuesday told reporters his old rival could be “reborn” at Ferrari where he will join Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton ended his more than two-year wait for a win with victory on home soil at the British Grand Prix in July.

Yet he still finished a mammoth 214 points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ standings as his time at Mercedes — where he won six titles — came to a disappointing end. 

‘New motivation’

But Verstappen, bidding to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of five successive drivers’ championships, said joining Ferrari could be the change Hamilton needs.

“It will provide him with a different scenery, a new motivation,” said Verstappen. “And when you have been with a team for a long time, have won a lot and then had a few tough seasons, maybe your motivation is different. 

“Now it is almost like he is reborn.

“We all know how good Lewis is and we all know how good Charles is. Ferrari have two great drivers. It is going to be exciting for the sport, but it will also depend on how good the car is.”

Hamilton joins a Ferrari team narrowly pipped to the constructors’ championship by McLaren last year. 

“I am definitely anticipating Lewis being a championship contender,” said McLaren chief executive Zak Brown. “We and Ferrari ended last year with nothing between us and I think that will continue.”

Hamilton will have his first serious drive of his new car during next week’s lone winter testing session in Bahrain, with Ferrari aiming for their first championship in nearly two decades.

“If Lewis gets off to a good start and he gets the team around him, he will find his confidence and he could be a real contender for this world championship,” said Christian Horner, the principal of Verstappen’s Red Bull team.

Horner added: “But if he doesn’t get off to a good start, it will inevitably be harder for him.”

Tuesday’s glitzy event saw all 10 Grand Prix teams launch their new cars at the same venue, the first time this has happened in Formula One history. 

“It’s difficult to get most teams to agree what day of the week it is,” said Horner. “So, to get all 10 teams here launching their cars tonight, it’s been a big effort.”

“It’s a show very much for the fans,” he added, with the launch presented by British comedian Jack Whitehall and also featuring US rapper Machine Gun Kelly before finishing with a performance by 1990s UK pop band Take That.

Lewis Hamilton drove a Ferrari Formula One car for the first time on Wednesday after the seven-time world champion took to the track at the team’s test circuit and admitted it was “one of the best feelings” of his life. The 40-year-old Briton shocked the paddock last February when he announced, after 12 highly successful years with Mercedes, he was departing for the iconic Italian team. On a foggy morning at the Fiorano test track near Ferrari’s Maranello base in northern Italy, Hamilton shot out in a test car wearing the classic red overalls and a distinctive yellow helmet.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have many firsts in my career, from the first test to the first race, podium, win and championship, so I wasn’t sure how many more firsts I had,” said Hamilton.

“But driving a Ferrari car for the first time this morning was one of the best feelings of my life.”

Groups of Ferrari’s passionate fans, described as “awe-inspiring” by Hamilton, watched on in the wet weather from a bridge overlooking the track as Hamilton zipped round.

Fans are hoping Hamilton can end an 18-year wait for a drivers’ F1 title which has been dominated by Mercedes and Red Bull.

Hamilton won just two Grands Prix — his British GP victory in July ending a two-and-a-half year winless streak — and finished seventh in the 2024 world championship, a mammoth 214 points behind title-winner Max Verstappen.

“When I started the car up and drove through that garage door, I had the biggest smile on my face,” added Hamilton.

“It reminded me of the very first time I tested a Formula One car, it was such an exciting and special moment, and here I am, almost 20 years later, feeling those emotions all over again.”

Hamilton is due to unveil his 2025 car at Ferrari’s season launch alongside team-mate Charles Leclerc on February 19 at Maranello, with testing in Bahrain the following week.

Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari.© X/ScuderiaFerrari

File image of Sergio Perez.© AFP

Max Verstappen made clear his feelings about George Russell’s actions leading to him being stripped of pole position when he spoke out after winning Sunday’s chaotic Qatar Grand Prix. The newly-crowned four-time world champion said he felt “surprised and disappointed” by the Mercedes driver’s attempt to see him penalised after an incident during qualifying at the Losail International Circuit on Saturday. “I was surprised and disappointed in the stewards’ room,” said Verstappen. “I have been in there many times, of course, but I have never before seen someone trying to screw someone else over that hard.”

Speaking to reporters after winning Sunday’s race, Verstappen had explained that he had been trying “to be nice” in slowing down on his lap in qualifying and did nothing deliberate to upset Russell. 

The pair had enjoyed a good relationship until this incident which Verstappen made clear had changed his view. 

“I was just trying to be nice and maybe that is not the way to be,” he said. “But I am not surprised by anything anymore in this business.”

Russell had complained that Verstappen’s driving was dangerous on Saturday when he slowed on track ahead of him, causing him to take evasive action. 

The outcome of his complaint was a stewards’ investigation and Verstappen being stripped of his pole position — his one place demotion gifting his rival his career fifth pole. 

But the Mercedes driver was unable to take advantage of his position at the start of the race when a determined Verstappen made a blistering start and then stormed to a classic flawless win. 

His race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase referred to the stewards’ decision and penalty during Verstappen’s slow down lap after winning. 

“Karma is a wonderful thing,” he said. “You definitely did not drive unnecessarily slowly today. Great job.”

The Dutch driver responded by praising the Red Bull team. 

“Simply lovely, guys. Yes, yes, yes. What an unbelievable race again. That was really fun!”

After finishing eighth in Saturday’s sprint race, he and Red Bull performed a spectacular turnaround to win on Sunday, claiming his ninth victory of the season. 

“It was a very good race,” he said. “Of course, yesterday in qualifying the car was a lot better and today that first stint was very, very fast. Lando and I were within 1.8 seconds of each other the whole time, pushing each other and honestly, it was a lot of fun out there.

“This track has a lot of grip and this year the tyres were really holding on, so that was a lot of fun to be really pushing the tyre. We went really long on that first stint. After that there were a few Safety Car moments that you had to take care of, but I’m very happy.

“It’s been a while in the dry to be this competitive, and very proud of everyone in the team to turn it around within a day. So they definitely also deserve this victory.”

Newly-crowned four-time world champion Max Verstappen has been stripped of pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix for impeding Mercedes driver George Russell in qualifying on Saturday. Red Bull’s Verstappen was given a one-place grid penalty for blocking Russell with the British driver starting on pole instead of the Dutchman. Hours after Verstappen claimed his first pole position for five months a one-place penalty was imposed for driving unnecessarily slowly, a manouevre that pushed Russell into the gravel. The Red Bull driver clocked the fastest lap in one minute and 20.520 seconds and Russell was originally second for Mercedes just 0.055 seconds adrift.

But the British driver cried foul immediately.

“Super-dangerous by Verstappen,” said the Mercedes driver, whose thoughts prompted the stewards to investigate. 

“I ended up going through the gravel and all over the floor it felt like it was scraping,” said Russell. 

McLaren’s Lando Norris remains third while sprint-race winner Oscar Piastri of McLaren was fourth with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the third row along with Lewis Hamilton in sixth for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Norris admitted his disappointment at missing out on a front row start. 

“It’s not what we hoped for, but it was the maximum we could do. My lap was pretty good, but not quick enough.”

Hamilton, set for Ferrari next year, finished sixth, admitting: “I don’t really care. I just want to get through these races, do my job, turn up and look forward to the winter break.” 

After the early laps, Verstappen led before Russell went top in 1:21.519, a time that was seven-tenths quicker than Hamilton’s best as he struggled to extract matching pace on his way to ninth. 

With four minutes to go, Russell offered Hamilton a tow which lifted him to sixth, 0.118 off the pace in a tight field before Russell trimmed two-tenths off his best lap in 1:21.241, beating Leclerc by 0.037 with Sainz third ahead of Norris.  

Out went Alex Albon and his Williams team-mate Franco Colapinto along with Liam Lawson of RB, Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. 

Russell began Q3 in the same style, clocking 1:21.161, but his top spot was quickly taken by Verstappen in 1:21.085, Red Bull’s set-up changes, following the sprint, paying dividends.

On his second run, Russell improved to go top again by 0.001 seconds, but it was not enough in improving conditions to resist a revitalised Verstappen, or Norris, who clocked 1:20.983. 

It looked solid for McLaren, but in a final flurry of laps Verstappen went top in 1:20.687 with Hamilton rising to fifth, within 0.026 of Russell in fourth, and Alonso and Magnussen claiming top ten spots. 

The ‘top 10 shootout’ began with Russell topping the pile in 1:20.575 ahead of Leclerc on their opening runs when Norris ran off at Turn Five and failed to clock a time before Verstappen slotted into second. 

This left McLaren in need of a strong late lap in the final seconds as they all ran again and Verstappen, against his own forecasts, finished ahead of Russell and Norris for what looked like his first pole since the Austrian Grand Prix in June.

George Russell of Mercedes took pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Friday while title-chasing Max Verstappen was fifth as the Dutchman closes in on a fourth successive world championship. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was second ahead of Pierre Gasly of Alpine with Red Bull’s Verstappen finishing one spot ahead of title rival Lando Norris of McLaren who was sixth. Verstappen, who won the Las Vegas race in 2023, leads Norris by 62 points with three races remaining and needs simply to finish ahead of him on Saturday night to become only the sixth man to win four world titles.

Norris has to beat Verstappen by three points to keep his slim championship hopes alive.

“At least we are ahead of the McLarens. I didn’t expect that so it’s good,” said Verstappen, hampered by Red Bull’s error in bring the wrong rear wing to Las Vegas.

“We’re just a bit too slow. We have been struggling to get the tyres to work over a lap and we’re too slow on the straights.”

Charles Leclerc, in the second Ferrari, was fourth fastest in qualifying and will share the second row with Gasly whose impressive performance on the Las Vegas street circuit followed a shock third-place finish in Brazil last time out.

Yuki Tsunoda of RB was seventh with Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren, Nico Hulkenberg in a Haas and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes completing the top 10.

Russell clocked a best lap in one minute and 32.312 seconds to outpace Sainz by 0.098 seconds for his third pole this year the fourth of his career.

“It feels incredible to be back on pole,” said Russell, who clipped a wall in the third and final qualifying run.

“I had a bit of a moment on my first run and we had to change the front wing so for a while I didn’t think we were going to make the flag, but I am just so happy.”

Norris felt the “top four was out of reach” for him.

“But I will keep going to the end and will do my best in every race whether I am fighting for the championship or not.”

Colapinto crash

On a cool night in America’s gambling capital, with a track temperature of 13 degrees Celsius, it was Gasly who set the pace as the rest slithered in early pursuit.

Having been quickest in the earlier final free practice, Russell topped Q1 ahead of Hamilton.

Unfortunately for Red Bull, Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez’s miserable season continued as he was eliminated along with Aston Martin’s two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, Williams’ Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas of Sauber and Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin.

Hamilton set the Q2 pace in 1:33.136. After his dismal outing in Brazil where he finished 10th in the rain, this was evidence of a revitalised Hamilton ahead of a move to Ferrari next year.

Verstappen briefly went top with an edgy lap before Mercedes responded with Russell taking control as both he and Hamilton delivered improved laps, Russell clocking 1:32.881.

At this stage, Verstappen was showing enough pace to stay ahead of Norris before the Q2 segment ended with a yellow flag as Franco Colapinto hit the wall at the penultimate corner in his Williams, climbing out of the wreckage unhurt.

It was his second consecutive crash in qualifying and left the team with a big repair and rebuild job – the British team’s sixth in three Grands Prix.

The Argentine driver was already heading for a Q2 exit in 14th place along with RB’s Liam Lawson, Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen of Haas and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

Hamilton topped Q2 to lead the way into the top ten shootout with a best lap in 1:32.567 ahead of Sainz and Russell.

The Q3 action resumed after a 25-minute delay for repairs, Verstappen leading the way followed by both McLarens before Russell clocked an early marker in 1:32.811 ahead of Sainz while Hamilton locked up and aborted his first lap.

File image of Max Verstappen.© AFP

Max Verstappen in action© AFP

Carlos Sainz seized pole position for Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix with a consummate performance for Ferrari in Saturday’s qualifying session, outpacing Red Bull’s defending champion Max Verstappen. The Spaniard, who leaves the team at the end of the season, clocked one minute and 15.946 seconds to beat series leader and three time champion Verstappen, whose first and fastest lap in the top 10 shoot-out was deleted, by 0.225 seconds. This left McLaren’s Lando Norris, who is 57 points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ title race, to take third ahead of Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari and the Williams of George Russell and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. 

It was Sainz’s sixth career pole and completed a run of qualifying fourth, third and second in the last three Mexican events. 

“I am very happy with that and to be on pole,” said Sainz, who is set to leave Ferrari for Williams next year, having been replaced for 2025 by Hamilton.

“I had a great couple of laps and it is very difficult here with lots of sliding. My laps were almost identical and perfect. It is such a tricky circuit!”

Verstappen, who had an engine change on his car following problems on Friday, said: “I felt under pressure and I was playing catch-up especially after losing my first lap time.

“That just gave more pressure and I am very happy to be on the front row. I didn’t think it was possible. This is one of the hardest tracks to get things right.”

Norris said he was satisfied with third.

“Honestly, I’m pretty happy as I struggled to get more in my final two laps. Carlos was very quick all weekend, but I’m happy with third. Ferrari look very strong.”

Kevin Magnussen was seventh for Haas, the team’s best qualifying result in Mexico, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Williams’ Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg in the second Haas. 

Luckless Perez

The Sauber drivers were first out as Q1 began in warmer conditions than those for final practice with a track temperature of 45 degrees and the air at 22. 

In the rarefied atmosphere, this was likely to affect performances of tyres and engines.  

Both Ferraris went top before Norris, and then Verstappen took control. 

Perez, struggling with his brakes, was 1.5 seconds adrift in 14th.

As the track improved, the times tumbled with Stroll briefly fourth and Gasly second ahead of Hulkenberg. 

Switching to softs, in search of more pace and grip, Piastri, who was fastest for McLaren in FP3, fought to progress and slumped to 19th ahead of Red Bull’s Perez with two minutes to go – while Norris leapt to the top of the times. 

In the final seconds, big improvements by others left Piastri and Perez in the drop zone – a surprise to many and a shock to the Mexicans’ huge following at the circuit. 

Perez wound up 18th to extend his miserable run and was eliminated along with Williams’ Franco Colapinto in 16th, Piastri 17th, Esteban Ocon of Alpine and Sauber’s Zhou Gruanyu. 

For the luckless Perez, it was his worst starting slot in nine Mexican Grands Prix.

“It’s very difficult with this car – I can’t attack the corner into braking,” said Perez. 

“I went off at Turn 12 and beached it on the kerb,” said Piastri.

“And that was it. So frustrating… a poor mistake to make.”

Alex Albon led the way for Q2, with Verstappen setting the early pace before Norris took command as RB’s Yuki Tsunoda locked up and crashed at Turn 12, bringing out red flags. He was unhurt. 

This meant he and team-mate Liam Lawson were out along with Aston Martin’s two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, in his 400th Grand Prix, and Lance Stroll and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas.

Verstappen setting the pace in the top-10 final session with a sizzling early lap in 1:16.368, more than half a second quicker than Norris, but the Dutchman’s lap was deleted for exceeding track limits. 

That left Ferrari to take control with Sainz on top in 1:16.055.

Fortunately, Red Bull had another set of softs available for Verstappen’s second run.

In a frantic finale, Sainz improved his time to resist Verstappen’s best effort with Norris lining up third, unable to break into the front row.