Lewis Hamilton is at the start of a new chapter this season as he leaves Mercedes and joins Ferrari in pursuit of an eighth world championship.
The Ferrari driver had tremendous success at Mercedes, winning six world championships as he dominated much of the early hybrid era.
Hamilton was frustrated during his final three seasons at the German team, as the car wasn’t good enough to consistently challenge for the title or race wins.
The seven-time world champion is stepping into the unknown as he races for a team based outside of England for the first time, but Hamilton greeted his new mechanics in Italian in Abu Dhabi.
Mercedes was the perfect environment for Hamilton as the team boss, Toto Wolff, allowed the British driver to have freedom away from the track.
There may be less of that at Ferrari as he steps into a team built around Charles Leclerc since the Monegasque joined in 2019, and Stephen Heublein told Motorsport-Magazin Hamilton might suffer for one key reason.
Lewis Hamilton may struggle if ‘all hell breaks loose’ in the Italian media after a bad weekend
Ferrari are under unique pressure, as the press expects a lot from the most successful team in history.
Throughout his career, Hamilton has been in more controlled environments, such as McLaren, where the team boss, Ron Dennis, oversaw the team.
A single mistake or lacklustre result for Hamilton could put extra pressure on him over the season as he comes into Ferrari with a lot of expectation.
READ MORE: Despite Lewis Hamilton arrival, it’s ‘a matter of time’ until £300k-a/y F1 driver joins Ferrari
Heublein feels that at Mercedes, Hamilton still delivered superb results while being able to undertake other activities off the track, but there is extra pressure at Ferrari.
He told Motorsport-Magazin: “At Mercedes, we often discussed it with Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff, who built up this cotton ball around him, and he could do what he wanted to [go from] his fashion shows to arrive in Singapore suddenly and blow everyone away with a qualifying lap if the car was good enough.
“At Ferrari it’s just enough if you have one weekend that doesn’t go well or make a mistake somewhere or you have a crash and all hell breaks loose in the Italian press. Let’s see how Lewis reacts to it and how the mature Lewis Hamilton can deal with it.”
Hamilton will also need to step up in qualifying as the British driver didn’t take a pole position in 2024 and started on the front row just once.
Lewis Hamilton needs to keep the pressure to a minimum at Ferrari
Ferrari have taken steps forward over the past couple of seasons and challenged for the constructor’s championship in 2024 but are yet to clinch a title since 2008.
Multiple world champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso won races at Ferrari, but the former crumbled in 2018, and Alonso missed out twice in the year’s final round.
Hamilton will be looking to avoid a repeat of this at the Scuderia as he looks to revitalise his career after a lack of success for him in the ground effect era.
The Ferrari car may also be very different to drive for the seven-time world champion, and the lack of testing may hinder Hamilton.
Leave feedback about this