Lewis Hamilton is set to officially start work as a Ferrari driver next week. The seven-time world champion is now an employee of the Scuderia.
Hamilton’s first days at Maranello will partly consist of meetings and simulator work, but he’ll also take to the track at Fiorano. Ferrari are being deliberately secretive about the schedule.
That’s because Hamilton’s test will be ‘hard work for the police’. If they know when to expect the British driver, thousands of Tifosi will line the streets.
Team principal Fred Vasseur wants to limit the fanfare around Hamilton. He thinks both driver and team will benefit from total focus.
And Hamilton clearly needs a reset this winter. He’s coming off the back of statistically his poorest season to date.
By the end of the year, the consensus at Mercedes was that Hamilton needs a fresh start, and that the arrival of Kimi Antonelli will re-energise the team. The Silver Arrows finished fourth in the championship, nearly 200 points off champions McLaren.
There are ‘suggestions’ Lewis Hamilton has signed three-year Ferrari deal
There are varying degrees of openness in the F1 paddock when it comes to driver contracts. Hamilton’s Ferrari deal was simply labelled a ‘multi-year’ agreement.
The prevailing theory was that he’d signed for an initial two years, with the option for a third if both team and driver are content. But that may not be the case.
Formula1.com journalist Lawrence Barretto relays ‘suggestions’ that Hamilton has already signed with Ferrari for three years. That would take him to the end of the 2027 season, by which point he’ll be nearly 44 years old.
Significantly, he’d asked Toto Wolff for a three-year extension during negotiations in 2023. He refused, and Hamilton was upset Mercedes didn’t show more commitment after he brought them six titles.
Instead, he signed a one-plus-one extension at Brackley. He was then able to trigger his exit clause after holding talks with Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton needs to avoid the crucial pit-stop error he made during Mercedes stint
Three years would be a major show of faith from Vasseur. Hamilton has arguably earned it by breaking every conceivable record during his time in F1, but his poor campaign has sewn some doubts within the paddock.
He must now demonstrate that he’s not in a serious decline. If he compares well against Charles Leclerc, then 2024 will start to look like an aberration caused by the idiosyncracies of the W15.
Doubtless, there will be an adjustment period. Hamilton drove into the McLaren pit box by mistake just after he joined Mercedes, and he’ll cost himself multiple seconds during the race if he repeats that gaffe.
