Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo is convinced that Lewis Hamilton’s arrival for the F1 2025 season is “more than just a marketing plan.”
But he believes the signing of the seven-time world champion “is, of course, a risk” of Hamilton’s arrival from Mercedes.
Hamilton is set to officially start work with Ferrari next month, having announced back in February that he will join the Prancing Horse on a multi-year contract from F1 2025.
Hamilton is the ultimate decorated driving force in F1 history, having equalled Ferrari icon Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world championships in 2020 before adjusting the first guy to succeed in a hundred big wins and position positions the following year.
Despite returning to winning tactics in F1 2024 with wins in Britain and Belgium, this year proved to be one of the most difficult of Hamilton’s career as he struggled to adapt to Mercedes teammate George Russell in classification conditions.
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That prompted Hamilton, who will be 40 on Jan. 7, to admit he is “faster” at the penultimate race in Qatar.
The admission led Eddie Jordan, the former owner of the F1, to urge Ferrari to leave the agreement to point to Hamilton.
With the most successful driving force in F1 history joining forces with the sport’s most successful team, Hamilton and Ferrari have been described as a potential advertising giant.
Ferrari’s percentage value soared more than 10 per cent to a new record high on the day Hamilton’s announcement was announced last winter, with reports last week claiming that Hamilton was close to signing a private sponsorship deal with Ferrari partner Celsius.
Meanwhile, rumours last month indicated that Almave, the Tequila non-alcoholic logo co-founded through Hamilton in 2023, may only be a Ferrari sponsor next season.
Appearing on Italian station Radio GR Parlamento, Di Montezemolo dismissed fears that commercial reasons are behind Hamilton’s move to Ferrari.
Yet he claimed Hamilton’s arrival brings a clear risk, with the veteran’s relationship with new team-mate Charles Leclerc set to be key in F1 2025.
Di Montezemolo said: “In recent years, Ferrari has had nothing to do with his drivers.
“Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc are and Lewis Hamilton is a phenomenon, like Max Verstappen.
“His Ferrari joint is more than a marketing plan because he needs to finish his career by winning the red.
“Hamilton’s choice is, of course, a threat, on the one hand, because you bring a champion who has already won a lot and will continue in Ferrari.
“On the other hand, however, you have Leclerc, who has never won a title despite all kinds of good races.
“But it will be an interesting year for Ferrari, if we assume for a moment that they can close the gap with McLaren and start the season competitively right from the first race, that they have a car that enables the drivers to win in all conditions – and that they have a clear, communicating management.”
Di Montezemolo’s comments come after Felipe Massa, who famously missed out on the World Championship to Hamilton by a single point in 2008, aired reservations over the incoming Ferrari driver’s age.
Massa Hamilton’s scenario to that of Michael Schumacher, who was unable to regain his former glories after returning to F1 with Mercedes at the age of 41 in 2010.
Schumacher retired at the end of the 2012 season having failed to add another victory to his tally of 91, with third place at that year’s European Grand Prix in Valencia his best result.
Massa told Brazilian newspaper Estadao: “If you asked me if I would hire Hamilton, at the head of Ferrari, as a driver, yes, I would, a doubt.
“Because of the ability he has. He is one of the top drivers in F1.
“But because of his age, maybe not. Because of his age, if you look at the sport, age matters.
“And we want to perceive how old he is or not.
“I’m talking about myself, those days I have much more physically than before.
“It’s much more difficult physically after a difficult race or intense training.
“Age takes its toll in some areas, that’s normal.
“Age is that it has weighed negatively on several drivers, as it did on Schumacher. “
Reports last week said Hamilton had already made a secret stopover at Ferrari’s factory in Maranello and still has a contract with Mercedes until Dec. 31.
Hamilton is no stranger to being out of the ordinary, with Sainz also visiting Maranello in 2020 before officially cutting ties with the McLaren team.
After a brief winter break, Hamilton deserves to make his start with Ferrari, which deserves to be a two-day “wake-up” check to Fiorano on January 21 and 22.
Ferrari have traditionally staged a private pre-season test with a previous car at Fiorano in January, targeted at getting team and drivers back up to speed ahead of official pre-season running.
The Ferrari 2025 car, called Project 677, will be presented on February 19, one day after the first launch of the F1 season in London.
A three-day pre-season test will be held in Bahrain between February 26-28 before the F1 2025 season commences with the Australian Grand Prix on March 16.
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