Ferrari chairman John Elkann has forcefully rejected suggestions that Lewis Hamilton’s blockbuster 2025 arrival represents a marketing strategy rather than a sporting decision.
In discussion with TIME, the Italian shot down the idea:
“I think it’s really unfair to Lewis, some of the comments saying, ‘This is a marketing operation,'” he confirmed.
“Truth said, Lewis doesn’t need that. Ferrari doesn’t need that. What we need to do is win championships and do great things on the track. If that happens, what we can do outside of the track, in some ways, takes care of itself.
“There’s unlimited possibilities.”
The rebuttal comes amid persistent speculation about the seven-time champion’s multi-year contract with the Scuderia, with analysts like six-time Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx noting Ferrari shares surged 11% after the announcement. The driver believes Hamilton was contracted “probably for marketing reasons”.
For the Prancing Horse team, bringing on the seven-time champion was part of a larger strategy to reclaim the top of the Constructors’ Championship – somewhere the Italian squad hasn’t been since 2008 with drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen. The same year, Hamilton won his first Drivers’ Championship with McLaren, finishing just a single point ahead of Massa.
But optimism is high following a challenging pre-season test in Bahrain.
“I feel like we’ve built a really good foundation but these guys out there look really competitive, it looks very close,” Hamilton told the media. “I would say this is the most positive feeling that I’ve had in a long time.”
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari SF-25
Photo by: Erik Junius
These are words team chief Fred Vasseur will be happy to hear, as he seeks a bullish entry into the 2025 season.
“It has been hard to get a clear read on the overall situation here in Bahrain, as the conditions were changing quite a lot day by day and from the morning to the afternoon, so it was more similar to Vegas than to the Bahrain we usually know,” the Ferrari team principal said.
“Over the past six months, we have worked very hard on this car and have made a good improvement, but we will have to wait until we are all on track in Melbourne to understand where we are.
“If we look at the hierarchy of previous years, what we saw here was not the same as in qualifying a week later, under the same conditions. We will go from 10-15 degrees on the track to the 45 we will have in Australia, so in Melbourne, it will probably be a whole different story.
“We want to fight for both championships, as we know we have two drivers who can do it, and the mood in the team is very positive. We will continue to work hard to be ready in two weeks’ time for the start of the season.”
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