Lewis Hamilton does “not have the slightest doubt” that he made the right call leaving Mercedes to join Ferrari, adamant he’s in the “right place” and at the “right time”.

Hamilton is preparing for his first season as a Ferrari driver, having joined the Italian team after 12 years and six World titles with Mercedes, bringing his overall tally to seven championships.

Lewis Hamilton: I’m in the right place at the right time

Number eight has eluded him since losing the crown to Max Verstappen in 2021.

Mercedes failed to replicate their past success in Formula 1’s ground-effect aerodynamic era with Hamilton winning just two Grands Prix in three years.

That success came after he’d already announced his multi-year agreement to join Ferrari in 2025.

Hamilton won the British and Belgian races last season, his P1 at Silverstone breaking his 945-day winless streak, but Mercedes were still some ways behind Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship with 468 points to the Scuderia’s 652.

Ferrari recorded five race wins in total and came 14 points short in the Constructors’ Championship, which they lost to McLaren in a final-race-of-the-championship showdown. It was a notable step forward last year and one that has Hamilton convinced he has made the right call.

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“100 per cent,” he insisted when asked if he’d made the right decision switching to Ferrari. “I do not have the slightest doubt or question in my head.

“I’m in the right place at the right time and it’s a great privilege to be here, to join this team and to work with everyone to try to build and continue the great historical tradition of this team.

“Every day has been exciting. Even walking on that stage [at the F1 75 launch event] dressed in red was something totally new for me.

“To be able to meet and experience the fans is something very different doing it as an opponent or doing it as a Ferrari driver.

“To begin a journey together with them and the team is something that left me speechless.”

Having put in the laps in a 2023 Ferrari F1 car as well as a modified version of the ’24 car during pre-season, Hamilton experienced the Scuderia’s 2025 car, the SF-25, for the first time on Wednesday.

The Briton and his team-mate Charles Leclerc were in action at the Fiorano circuit on Wednesday where thousands of Tifosi gathered to watch from any vantage point possible.

One man even went as far as to cut down a tree to get an unobstructed view of the track.

The Tifosi are cutting down a tree to get a better view of today’s Fiorano testing. pic.twitter.com/i4DcKUUXfL

— Pitinsider.com (@pitinsider) February 19, 2025

Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari sees the most decorated driver in F1 history, with 105 race wins and seven titles, join forces with the sport’s most successful team.

The Briton will contest his first Grand Prix in red next month when the F1 2025 championship gets underway with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on 14-16 March.

“[We are] getting everything set up so when we get to race one it is not hopefully the first six months that you are getting this tuned, you already have them ready,” he told BBC Sport.

“So we have put a huge amount of work into that, and also trying to speed up the process of getting to know each other and how they like to work and how I like to work.

“You can’t really short-cut that, you build trust and relationships over time, as you know, but every day’s been exciting, I literally wake up with excitement every day.”

Hamilton’s next run in the SF-25 will be during pre-season testing, which takes place at the Bahrain circuit from 26-28 February.

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