Ferrari will expect Lewis Hamilton to be up to speed with the car and the team “within two or three races”, according to Martin Brundle.

After years of speculation that a move to Ferrari could be on the cards, followed by 12 months of anticipation after it was finally confirmed in early 2024, Hamilton officially became a Ferrari Formula 1 driver on Monday, 20 January.

Ferrari will ‘expect’ a fast start from Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time World Champion met with the team’s personnel at the Maranello headquarters, including his new race engineer Riccardo Adami, and drove the simulator before Wednesday’s on-track debut behind the wheel of a 2023 SF-23.

Hamilton covered 30 laps, 89 kilometres of the Fiorano circuit, as he familiarised himself with Ferrari’s procedures, including pit stops, before taking the time to meet with the Tifosi who had gathered, a thousand plus, to witness the Briton’s first laps.

It was a moment for the F1 history annals as Formula 1’s most successful driver with 105 race wins and seven World titles began his quest to break his tie with Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher for Drivers’ Championship titles.

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Hamilton last won the World title in 2020, losing the crown a year later to Max Verstappen in controversial circumstances at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

In the three since his defeat, he’s managed just two Grand Prix wins while last year he slumped to a career-worst P7 in the Drivers’ standings.

Both Hamilton and Ferrari are banking on the Briton recovering from his slump as the Scuderia chase their first Drivers’ title since Kimi Raikkonen’s 2007 success.

Asked if Hamilton will be ‘desperate’ to make a fast start, Brundle told Sky F1: “Yeah, he’s got to do that, he’s got to use his experience. There are no excuses at this level for anybody, even the rookies. But you might give the rookies half a season to get their act together, maximum.

“Somebody like Lewis, they will expect him within two or three races to have aced the people around him and the car, to be honest. So never underestimate Lewis Hamilton.”

Especially as the F1 2025 season could be Ferrari’s year.

According to Brundle, the Scuderia believe they have taken a bigger step forward with Project 677, their 2025 car, than their rivals have managed.

“Ferrari are very confident,” he revealed. “At the moment, the feeling is Ferrari might have improved the car a little bit more than say McLaren or others.

“We know McLaren are confident in their data as well of what their new car looks like.

“It should be one of the greatest seasons in Formula 1 history. It should be so close, and whoever wins, it will win a great championship.

“But until we see the cars on track, and probably not until the Saturday of Melbourne, the first race where they’re low fuel, flat-out, maximum power, giving it everything, fresh tyres, will we truly know the pace of who’s just aced it. And then, as you know it’s who could who’s still fast, 30 laps, 50, 60, laps into a Grand Prix.

“So let’s wait and see. I think it’s very brave to write anybody off or write anybody into a championship-winning position.”

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