Lewis Hamilton will embark on a new adventure in 2025 as he joins Ferrari from Mercedes.
The seven-time world champion won six titles with the Silver Arrows and broke numerous records in his 12-year stint with the team, but he endured a frustrating final season in 2024 as he registered his lowest finish in a championship with seventh.
While he grabbed two wins at Silverstone and Spa – his first since 2021 – the 39-year-old struggled with consistency and finding pace in qualifying. Hamilton will be looking to put his woes behind him as he prepares for his next challenge with F1’s most successful team.
The Brit will be encouraged by Ferrari’s performance in 2024 as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz managed five wins, four pole positions and 22 podiums between them as they narrowly missed out on the Constructors’ Championship to McLaren by 14 points.
But towards the end of the season, it was clear that Mercedes and McLaren had made a stride forward after George Russell’s dominant win in Las Vegas and Lando Norris’ commanding victory in Abu Dhabi.
And Hamilton may find himself regretting his decision as the Silver Arrows may have a ‘head start’ in 2025 over his new team.
Mercedes may have a ‘head start’ over Ferrari in 2025 with their aero-elastic front wings giving them an advantage
Journalist Mark Hughes says Mercedes and McLaren found the ‘dominant technical feature’ with their aero-elastic front wings in 2024, which gave them the edge over the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull.
The technology made Red Bull’s ‘very clever’ work ‘obsolete’ as their run of dominance came to an abrupt end after their rivals caught up. As the Milton Keynes-based outfit and Ferrari have not followed Mercedes and McLaren’s route, Hughes thinks they may be behind at the start of 2025.
“Of those four teams, two of them, McLaren and Mercedes, were very well advanced with aero-elastic front wings and that turned out to become the dominant technical feature of the season,” he said via The Race F1 Podcast.
“And it made Red Bull’s very clever aerodynamics almost obsolete. The way that they had done such a sophisticated floor design, incorporated with a very clever suspension, the way it worked and that carried Red Bull to two-and-a-bit years of dominance.
“And that was sort of instantly made obsolete by McLaren and subsequently Mercedes got onto the same technology.
“Ferrari didn’t follow that route and Red Bull didn’t follow that route, but depending on which way they see the wind going in terms of how the FIA is going to regulate on this for 2025.
“If they have done, it’s going to be fascinating to see if there’s going to be a competitive reset if we see all four teams pursuing that technology rather than just two of them.
“I think Mercedes has a head start over Red Bull and Ferrari on that particular technology but it has catching up to do in other technologies.”
Could Lewis Hamilton lose to Mercedes in 2025?
Mercedes may have an advantage over Ferrari with their front wings in 2025, but as Hughes mentioned, they do have work to do in other areas and must find consistency in their package to beat the Maranello outfit.
The Silver Arrows were fourth in the Constructors’ Championship in 2024 by some distance. The loss of Hamilton will be damaging to the team’s operation and they will be under pressure to deliver as they replace him with an inexperienced rookie in Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Mercedes F1 Team from team principal to lineage
The Italian has a lot of hype surrounding him and has a great support network at Mercedes. Antonelli has racked up incredible mileage in tests with the team and will be prepared for 2025, but there will be expectations to score top results.
Russell will act as a great team leader for Mercedes and he displayed his ability against Hamilton last season by beating him in the teammate battle in qualifying and races.
But while they may be strong in some areas, Mercedes are weaker in others and they will have to work hard to find that consistent pace to beat Ferrari and their rivals.
Leave feedback about this