Lewis Hamilton Shares Ferrari Prediction Amid 2025 F1 Title Hopes

Saajan Jogia | Feb 20, 2025

Lewis Hamilton arrives at Maranello. / Ferrari Press Image. Photographer: Andre D. Wagner.

Lewis Hamilton has shared his thoughts on Ferrari’s chances of winning the championship this year and whether he would retire if he secures his long-awaited eighth title. The seven-time world champion expressed his admiration for Ferrari’s passion, saying it is unlike anything he has experienced before.

Hamilton made the bold move from Mercedes to Ferrari after 12 seasons, during which he played a huge role in the team's eight Constructors' Championships and claimed six drivers' titles. Before his dominant era with the Brackley squad, the Briton secured his first championship with McLaren.

Despite the recent setbacks in a complex ground effect era, where Hamilton went winless for nearly two years from 2022 until last year's British Grand Prix, which he won with flying colors, the 40-year-old driver understands the qualities that define a championship-winning team. When he was asked if Ferrari is ready to win a championship at the F1 75 season launch in London, he said:

"Yes. I've worked with two world championship-winning teams before, and I know what a winning team looks and feels like.

"The passion here is like nothing you have ever seen. They have got every ingredient they need to win a world championship, it's just about putting all the pieces together.

"We've got great leaders in Fred [Vasseur, team principal], John [Elkann, Ferrari president] and Benedetto [Vigna, Ferrari CEO] and everyone just has a really calm and good approach.

"No one is like, 'we're perfect in every single area.' Everyone wants to elevate everywhere and they are leaving no stone unturned to do that."

It was Hamilton's long-time dream to race for a legendary team like Ferrari and his quest to win an eighth world championship title led him to join the Maranello outfit. When asked if he would quit F1 if he secured his eighth title, he said:

"If I was fortunate enough to win another title, which is obviously what we are setting out to do, I don't see myself stopping."

Hamilton also opened up on the special feeling of firing up a Ferrari F1 car for the first time last month. He participated in two Testing of Previous Cars sessions before a Pirelli test in Barcelona in the SF-23 and SF-24 F1 cars. Yesterday, he set out on Ferrari's Fiorano test track in his 2025 SF-25 F1 car for the first time. Explaining the feeling, the new Ferrari driver said:

"I've been waiting such a long time for it, so firing the car up, it's like such a new, uncharted journey, and it's the most exciting thing that's happened to me for as long as I can remember.

"It's nothing like the car that I had before over the last 10, 12, 17, years. 

"It's unique, and to feel the vibration of a Ferrari engine for the first time, that's what I think ultimately put the biggest smile on my face. 

"I'd always seen all the drivers that have come before me in red and wondered how that would look on me. 

"It is a real honour to be able to wear this badge and to wear this suit, so hope I swag it out and make it look good."