Lewis Hamilton primed to forge…read more
In the maelstrom of the buildup to the new Formula One season, which opens in Melbourne next week, one figure stands at its heart, preternaturally calm as the crescendo builds around him. Lewis Hamilton, the sport’s most successful driver, now in a Ferrari, the sport’s most successful team, promises to make F1 in 2025 unmissable, his grand, romantic challenge playing out to the backdrop of what may be the most closely fought season in more than a decade.
Hamilton, now 40 years old and with seven titles, has nothing to prove but is set on securing the greatest achievement in his career. To return a record-breaking eighth title with Ferrari, who have not won the drivers’ title since 2007, would be a feat to rank among the greatest of them all. Watching him try will be as gripping as McLaren trying to steal his thunder.
For Hamilton this is the culmination of a journey that began as a child playing video games as Michael Schumacher and dreaming of driving for the Scuderia. The Briton played his own part in the McLaren story with his first title and then spent 12 years with Mercedes, claiming six more championships with the team where he was expected to see out his career.
Hamilton has always defied expectation and the change has done him the power of good. He is a driver renewed, still in mighty physical form, psychologically as strong as ever and talking of driving on for some time to come. Indeed, he is motivated such as he has not seemed in several years and has hurled himself into his new challenge with abandon. Can he win? Since joining Ferrari he has given his all to the new venture.
