Naomi Schiff thinks there is a ‘million dollar question’ hanging over Lewis Hamilton as he prepares to debut for Ferrari at the 2025 F1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Italy has a new hero to cheer this year after Hamilton jumped ship from Mercedes to switch to Ferrari. The Briton stunned the Silver Arrows a year ago as he agreed to join the Scuderia from the 2025 Formula 1 season on an initial two-year contract carrying an option for 2027.
Last term was an occasionally awkward farewell tour for Hamilton and Mercedes, as well as for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari. But the pair are now starting to get settled into their new homes at Ferrari and Williams ahead of heading to the Australian GP to start the year on March 16.
Naomi Schiff still sees question marks over how Lewis Hamilton will perform for Ferrari
Hamilton realised his childhood dream by joining Ferrari, and will now hope that move his to Maranello also yields the 40-year-old’s record-breaking eighth F1 drivers’ championship. Yet Schiff feels there are still question marks lingering for how Hamilton will perform for Ferrari.
The 105-time Grand Prix winner will face a tough challenge adapting to his new life racing in red beside Charles Leclerc. It is the first time that Hamilton has ever raced an F1 car without a Mercedes engine and he is even having to learn a new culture at his first non-British team.
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family
“That’s the million dollar question,” Schiff told Sky Sports. “I think that’s what everybody is going to be going into the season wondering, ‘What can Lewis do in that new Ferrari?’
“Look, it’s always difficult for drivers to step into a brand new environment, brand new team, brand new car and just pick things up very quickly. All he really had was those three days of testing and then a little bit of time in previous models of the car and, of course, all the simulator time that they can get.
“So, I think after testing they would have been able to pick up maybe areas that were challenging him – maybe buttons on the steering wheel that he was still struggling to find.
“All those little bits of detail that he’s got to get through to get himself to where he needs to be for Melbourne. So, I think there’s probably still work to be done. But I wouldn’t rule anything else.”
Ferrari have done all they can to help Lewis Hamilton adjust, including changing his steering wheel
Ferrari arranged an array of Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) runs at Fiorano and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where Hamilton partook in a Pirelli 2026 tyre test, ahead of F1 testing in Bahrain to help the Stevenage-native adapt to their power unit, steering wheel and more.
READ MORE: Seven best drives of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes career before Ferrari move
But Schiff feels he would have still left F1 testing at the home of the Bahrain Grand Prix with some areas to improve ahead of Hamilton heading to Australia. The Scuderia will not be the team to beat, either, with Helmut Marko ranking Ferrari behind McLaren and Red Bull now.
The Maranello giants will hope their steering wheel is not one of the areas he still has to get used to, though. Hamilton immediately made Ferrari change his steering wheel as he was so used to Mercedes’ unit. Ferrari’s neutral and Mercedes’ DRS buttons were in same the spot.
