Lewis Hamilton is moving to Ferrari for next season to partner Charles Leclerc in a formidable driver line-up at the Italian team.
For the first time in Formula 1, the seven-time world champion will race for a team based outside of England and rekindle his partnership with team principal Frederic Vasseur after their time together at ART in GP2.
Hamilton had a frustrating end to his time at Mercedes despite winning six world championships with the German team since joining in 2013.
The British driver is pushing for an eighth world title, and Vasseur hinted that Hamilton and Leclerc will be allowed to race.
It may be a culture shock for Hamilton, who will be among an Italian team and an all-new culture away from England.
There is one skill the 39-year-old picked up in go-karting that may make the transition easier in the opening rounds next year.
Lewis Hamilton learned some Italian in karting which should make life easier
Hamilton has a stellar career in go-karts as he battled other drivers who made it to Formula 1, such as Nico Rosberg and Polish driver Robert Kubica.
The seven-time world champion will bring much championship-winning experience and knowledge of how to develop a team.
Ferrari is an Italian team, which may cause some issues. Still, many of the engineering meetings are held in English, and the 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen didn’t speak Italian when he raced for the Scuderia.
Hamilton is looking to improve his Italian, but not being fluent in the language shouldn’t be a significant issue for the British driver.
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Journalist Edd Straw explained on The Race that Hamilton wants to learn more but Vasseur isn’t overly proficient in Italian either.
He said: “He [Hamilton] has talked of plans to work on his Italian and has pointed out that he did pick up a few Italian basics back in his karting days. However, Vasseur doesn’t believe this is important. While he accepts it is of value to speak some Italian for the relationship with the mechanics and other team members, Ferrari’s F1 team conducts its meetings mainly in English.
“Vasseur joked he could be Hamilton’s teacher. The joke there being, Vasseur doesn’t speak Italian at all well, despite taking lessons when he first joined Ferrari.
“That said, he understands Italian very well. And remember, plenty of Ferrari stars of the past have joined the team without knowing a word of Italian. So while Hamilton is making an effort, that’s more about team cohesion than anything else.”
Lewis Hamilton will need to rediscover his qualifying form
Hamilton has been blisteringly fast over his career in qualifying, and at times, he was unbeatable. The British driver lacked speed over a single lap this year and was overshadowed by his teammate George Russell.
The seven-time world champion lost out 19-5 this season and only secured a place onto the front row once at the British Grand Prix.
If Hamilton could rediscover his form on a Saturday against Leclerc, it could make his life so much easier, particularly at the Monaco Grand Prix and other tracks such as Singapore.
Leclerc is superb at extracting the maximum over a lap but tends to step over the limit slightly and damage the car.
