Lewis Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari after 12 seasons with Mercedes could be considered one of the biggest risks of his career so far.
Ferrari haven’t won a championship in 17 years and F1’s regulations will dramatically change in 2026, meaning the pecking order on the grid could change completely.
Hamilton will therefore have to hope that the Scuderia can go one better than last season in the Constructors’ Championship to fulfil the team’s need for silverware and give the team as much direction as he can on how next year’s car should be developed.
That’s not typically a driver’s strong point, but Hamilton is one of just a handful of drivers left on the grid who has thrived during multiple eras of the sport and could potentially lend a little bit of insight.
It’s never easy for a driver to go from driving for one team for a long time to adjusting to a new set of processes and procedures in Formula 1.
Writing on The Race’s website, former Jordan designer and F1 expert Gary Anderson was speaking about Hamilton’s move to Ferrari and the trap that another British world champion Damon Hill fell into when he joined his old team back in 1998.
It would be easy to see Hamilton making the same mistake and it’s going to be up to Ferrari to guide the seven-time world champion at times rather than the other way around.
Lewis Hamilton told to avoid ‘big problem’ Damon Hill had during his Formula 1 career
Talking about Hamilton’s move, Anderson admits that it may be difficult for him to be as ‘fresh in approach as a young driver would be’.
That may be true, especially as Hamilton has only experienced switching teams once before in his career.
Anderson refers back to when Jordan signed Hill from Arrows in 1998 after a disastrous season with the team.
Frank Williams regretted dropping Hill at the end of 1996 when he went on to win the championship that year and Jordan offered him another chance to drive a competitive car.
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However, Anderson believes Hill’s experiences and expectations made adapting to life at Jordan difficult.
Hill’s feedback was ‘usually’ comparing the 1998 Jordan to his championship-winning 1996 Williams which proved useful at times, but Anderson admits that a ‘driver’s job is to make the best of the car that they have’, and Hill was perhaps too set in his ways to make that happen.
Anderson believes this was a ‘big problem’ for Hill as the rules had changed since his time at Williams, meaning much of his feedback wasn’t relevant.
Lewis Hamilton’s pre-season testing feedback will be essential to 2025 F1 success
Hill spent his last two years in Formula 1 with Jordan, finishing sixth and 12th in the Drivers’ Championship in 1998 and 1999, with teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen significantly outperforming him in his final year.
Hamilton will understand that Charles Leclerc is capable of similarly strong performances and that his adapting to Ferrari’s car will be arguably more important than the team making tweaks to suit his driving style.
That won’t be easy and the different feel of the Ferrari power unit compared to the Mercedes engine he’s used to will also be an unfamiliar sensation.
When he made the switch from McLaren to Mercedes, they at least used the same power unit, eliminating one potential tweak to his driving style.
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Hamilton’s first run at Fiorano was followed by thousands live at the track and millions worldwide online.
That would have helped him briefly understand the challenge he’s set to undertake in the next few weeks before the first race at the Australian Grand Prix.
But making sure he doesn’t fall into the same trap as Hill and other world-class drivers before him when changing teams has to be the goal over the next few months.
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