Lewis Hamilton is convinced that this season could be Ferrari’s year after he drove for the first time on Wednesday the Formula One team’s car for the upcoming season, with a record eighth world title in his sights. Hamilton delighted hopeful fans by putting the new SF-25 car through its paces at Ferrari’s own track in Fiorano Modenese in northern Italy before stopping to salute spectators who are hoping he can end the Italian team’s long world championship drought. Ferrari haven’t won the constructors title since 2008 and Kimi Raikkonen was the last man to claim the driver’s title with them the year before, but asked whether he thought the ‘Scuderia’ were ready to win the world championship, Hamilton simply said “yes”.

“I’ve worked with two world championship winning teams before, I know what a winning team looks and feels like,” Hamilton told reporters. 

“The passion here is like nothing you’ve ever seen. They’ve got absolutely every ingredient they need to win a world championship and it’s just about putting all the pieces together.

“Everyone just has a really calm and good approach. No one’s like we’re perfect in every single area. Everyone’s like we need to elevate everywhere and they’re leaving no stone unturned to try and do that.”

At 40 years old Hamilton isn’t just F1’s biggest star, he’s also one the sport’s elder statesmen, but he is full of youthful enthusiasm for a new challenge at Ferrari after falling way behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in his final three seasons at Mercedes.

Since losing the 2021 drivers’ title to Verstappen in controversial circumstances in the final GP, Hamilton has finished sixth, third and then seventh in 2024, some 214 points behind his Dutch rival who has won the last four championships.

Hamilton said in a video released by Ferrari earlier on Wednesday that he thought “nothing was ever going to be new again” and he is clearly surprised at the new lease of life he is experiencing.

“When I was much younger I definitely didn’t think in my 19th season or 19th year, whatever it is, that I would be this excited,” said Hamilton.

“I never thought at this point in my career I would have so much excitement. Wanting to be at work early, wanting to put in even extra levels of work to achieve the dream… I’ve just felt this new wave of life and energy.

“For me it’s the first. Winning a championship with Ferrari is the first. That’s what I’m working towards. I don’t think about the number eight. I’m thinking about the first championship that the team’s won for some time.”

Hamilton has a lot to prove despite his many achievements as last year he won just two Grands Prix, and his British GP victory in July ended a two-and-a-half year winless streak which stretched back to the now infamous 2021 season.

And he admits that he will have to acclimatise to his new surroundings before he can hope to replicate his golden years with Mercedes.

“We know we have a huge amount of work to do; I know that I have a huge amount of work to do,” he said.

“But everyone’s bent over backwards in this team to make me feel welcome and I really feel at home. I know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, it feels natural, it feels right, so I think we’ve just got to continue to put in the time and take it one step at a time.

“I’m doing everything I can to be ready for race one.”

Hamilton will have his first serious drive of his new car during next week’s winter testing session in Bahrain before next month’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Carlos Sainz, the driver ditched by Ferrari to make way for Lewis Hamilton, believes his old team could now be even better placed to return to the summit of Formula One with the former world champion on board. Hamilton joined Ferrari from Mercedes, with the 40-year-old set to make his debut for the Italian giants at next month’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix as he goes in search of a record-breaking eighth drivers’ world title.

Sainz made way for Hamilton’s move, with the 30-year-old Spaniard now lining up for Williams instead in Melbourne on March 16 after spending three years driving alongside Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.

But Sainz, speaking at British team Williams’s 2025 launch at Silverstone on Friday, said: “When I left, I did feel that both Ferrari and Charles were ready to fight for a world championship, and with Lewis joining that is only going to increase.

“I have never been team-mates with Lewis so I don’t know what he is capable of doing. I have never seen his data. I have seen Charles’s data and I know how good he is. 

“The only way you can evaluate a driver is when you are a team-mate and you see what they are capable of doing.

“But when I look at Lewis’s results and his background, and what he has achieved, I can only say that there will be a very high chance that he is going to be competitive for Ferrari.”

Hamilton is set to unveil his new Ferrari at the Formula One season launch at the O2 Arena in London on Tuesday before heading to the team’s Maranello headquarters the next day, where he is due to speak to the media for the first time as a Ferrari driver.

Williams finished a lowly ninth in the 2024 constructors standings but Sainz insists he can help revive the fortunes of the nine-time champions.

“I believe I bring a lot of knowledge, a lot of things you know, that I think could be applied to this car and to the team at the same time,” said Sainz. 

“I see a team that is ready also to fight for wins. It’s just a matter of getting everything around the team to make sure we’re giving also all the engineers and all the mechanics and the drivers the right tools to compete at the highest level.”

Sainz, a winner of four Grand Prix, will team-up alongside Alex Albon at Williams for the new 24-round season, with the 28-year-old London-born driver relishing the competition. 

“I am going up against someone (Sainz) who has got a big reputation, has just come from a very strong year, possibly his best in Formula One, so that is a great challenge to have and a positive outlook for me,” Albon said. 

“I believe in myself and I am happy to go up against anyone.”

F1 driver Lewis Hamilton testing the Ferrari F1SF 75 on the Fiorano circuit, at Maranello.© AFP

Lewis Hamilton ended his glorious 12-year spell at Mercedes with cheers and tears on Sunday after finishing a rousing fourth from starting 16th in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion, who will turn 40 before he races with Ferrari next season, stirred emotions with his driving and his words after a classic recovery drive that saw him pass team-mate George Russell on the final lap.  “When he (race engineer Pete Bonnington) said ‘hammer time’ I did notice, in the moment, that it was the last time I’m going to hear that,” said an emotional Hamilton afterwards. “It really clicked for me in that moment. “It was a really, really hard race naturally where I was, I didn’t get as great a start as this one here, my team-mate next season (pointing to nearby Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc) and the first stint was really, really difficult.

“I wasn’t losing hope, but it just wasn’t going as well as I thought it would. 

“I didn’t give up, I kept pushing and thinking ‘come on, we can get there’ and switched on to the different tyres and the car came alive. I wanted to finish on as much as a high and give every ounce of me to the team as they have given to me all these years.”

Before spinning ‘donuts’ in his car to the cheers of a chanting crowd and posing for photographs with individual team members, Hamilton had spoken eloquently of his feelings and his love for the ‘silver arrows’ team in radio exchanges. 

“That was the drive of a world champion,” said Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff. 

“The drive of a world champion. Amazing!”

Bonnington said: “Stellar drive today bud, it’s been a pleasure all the way.”

Hamilton replied: “The pleasure’s been mine. We dreamed alone, but together we believed and as a team we achieved things, thank you for all the courage, the determination and the passion for seeing me and supporting me. 

“What started out as a leap of faith turned into a journey into the history books. We did everything together and I’m so grateful to everyone back at the factory from the bottom of my heart. All the best.”

Bonnington added: “It’s been an amazing journey and I’m so grateful to have been a part of this chapter of your life and best of luck for the next one.”

In a final comment, team boss Toto Wolff said: “We love you too and you’re always going to be part of the family. And if we can’t win, you should win.”

In 12 seasons, Hamilton started 246 races with Mercedes, a record for a driver with a single team. He won 84, secured 13 other podium finishes and claimed 78 pole positions and six of his seven drivers’ world championships.

In a final social media post, he wrote: “It’s been real. I love you all.”

File photo of Lewis Hamilton© AFP