Last Updated on January 26 2025, 10:43 am
Lewis Hamilton debuted for his new Ferrari Formula One team this week on a damp cold morning in Fiorano. Despite hysterical reports in the Italian media suggesting local police had been asked to monitor almost a state of emergency with the expected masses that would descend to see the first black driver in the red of Ferrari, around just a 1000 fans turned up for the historic moment.
Earlier in the week Hamilton had visited Maranello where again the expected throng was more subdued than expected, there he had signed autographs for the tifosi, met with his new engineering team along with a sit down with Ferrari group CEO Benedetto Vigna and team principal Fred Vasseur.
Whilst there were reports Hamilton’s lap times on Wednesday were sub-par when compared to those when Fernando Alonso or Sebastian Vettel first sat in a Ferrari Formula One car, the impossible nature of making such a comparison deserves little more than this sentence now affords the topic.
Hamilton recognises “risk” of Ferrari
The other big Ferrari news is they are changing the fundamental design their front suspension this year. Since 2018 the team have deployed a push rod mechanism, but for 2025 this will switch to the alternative pull rod design. Whilst no official reason has been given, the Italian media have speculated thesis because Hamilton and Leclerc have more similar driving styles than did the previous Ferrari duo and so the change in front suspension methodology will not disadvantage either driver as it may have done with Carlos Sainz.
Lewis addressed his move to Ferrari and described it as a “risk” which of course it is. Further, Hamilton believes his “gut feel” it was time to move on from Mercedes has not changed. To this end the “risk” Hamilton took was that having announced his big move, the Scuderia took a back wards move last season, yet n nothing could be further from the truth.
As the teams entered the final two triple header weekends of the 2024 season, Ferrari were some 75 points behind McLaren with six races to go. Come the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi that gap had bee reduced to just 14 points as indeed theItalian team proved they were the strongest out their on the grid.
With the car regulations in their final year before massive change, the teams have explored a significant amount of the knowledge that is out there to make the new ground effect cars run as quickly as they can. Therefore it would not be unusual to expect each of the ten F1 competitors to make their 2025 challengers an evolution of the cars which ended the 2024 season.
Big decision for ‘all new Ferrari car’
Red Bull will make some key fundamental design alterations to the way the rear of the car interacts with the Venturi channels under the floor, given this was the area where their balance was way of in places like Monaco and Singapore. And given they had slipped from first to third in the constructors title race in a matter of five Grand Prix weekends is reasonably enough for them to believe they need to being something new for this year.
Remarkably, Ferrari claim to be building an whole new car for this year. Fred Vasseur revealed to Italian journalists at the Maranello festive celebration that “99%” of the SF-25 would be brand new. Of course there may be some semantics involved in Fred’s claim and that parts which are almost identical from one year to another have been engineered slightly differently for last year, but in reality it is the same part.
All will be revealed at Formula One’s new big launch extravaganza at the O2 arena in London come February 18th. Here all ten teams, drivers, team principals and other representatives will be present as each team for the first time unveils their working prototypes to take on the 24 races of the season.
Yet of course as always in F1, there was some dissent. Ferrari were aggrieved they couldn’t do their big reveal in front of the tifosi in Italy and further their complained their expenses to travel across Europe to London were way in excess of the teams based in the English Motorsports Valley.
Ferrari insider on Hamilton struggles
Brundle denied Ferrari drive
All this aside, the day draws ever closer when Lewis Hamilton will step into his SF-25 for the first time in anger come Bahrain pre-season testing yet he was reflective on the few hours this week he spent in Fiorano.
This week Martin Brundle revealed he’d written to Ferrari requesting a day in one of their cars to explain how difficult the modern machinery is. He received no reply apparently but he did give his opinion on the challenge Lewis Hamilton is facing joining the red team.
“All the expectations for that and the politics and the media who go with that. That can be challenging,” said Brundle to Sky. “It’s a carbon fire chassis that happens to be painted red instead of silver or black, as it was at Mercedes. But somehow it matters. There are no excuses at this level for anybody.”
Hamilton deadline suggests Brundle
Brundle then makes a remarkable claim, seemingly akin to the one given to jack Doohan as he begins his alpine career. “Somebody like Lewis, they will expect him within two or three races to have aced the people around him and in the car.
“Never underestimate Lewis Hamilton but Charles Leclerc is fast, there is no doubt about it. He stopped crashing a little bit, because he had a habit of over-driving himself in the car and hitting the wall a bit too frequently,” Brundle concluded.
Whilst Jack Doohan may have a contract affording him just five Grand Prix before he may be released, Hamilton appears to have secured almost a guaranteed three years with Ferrari. So his position is not insecure. Brundle’s point is with the amount of care the team have made to ensure he is comfortable in his new environment, after three races its over to Lewis to demonstrate what he can do.
If not, he will be behind the curve in terms of Ferrari expectations, was the point.
FIA gives important Cadillac update
The Formula 1 governing body, the FIA, provides crucial update on Cadillac’s Formula One entry – The Cadillac Formula One project, led by the iconic American brand under General Motors, is making significant progress towards becoming the sport’s eleventh team. Having reached an agreement in principle with Formula One Management (FOM) last year, Cadillac’s entry into the championship for the 2026 season is now all but guaranteed.
The FIA, which has been conducting a thorough review of Cadillac’s application, recently announced that the process is nearing completion, with an official announcement expected in the coming weeks… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
