Lewis Hamilton offers fresh insight into ‘gut feeling’ Ferrari decision

Lewis Hamilton will wear the red of Ferrari in F1 2025
Lewis Hamilton’s “gut feeling” drove him to sign with Ferrari, calling time on his 12-year Mercedes career to instead vie for his elusive eighth title in red.
Hamilton shocked the world of motorsport, and his team boss Toto Wolff, when he announced in early 2024 that he had activated the option in his Mercedes contract to leave the team one year into his one-plus-one deal.
Lewis Hamilton: We will achieve great things together
12 months on, Hamilton is officially a Ferrari driver and on Monday and Tuesday spent time at the team’s Maranello headquarters, meeting with the team and driving the simulator, before Wednesday’s all-important first laps in a Ferrari F1 car.
The Briton put an SF-23 through its paces at the Fiorano circuit in Ferrari’s traditional ‘wake-up’ test, covering 30 laps while familiarising himself with the team’s procedures including pit stops.
He described it as “one of the best feelings of my life”.
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Hamilton has joined Ferrari as arguably the most successful driver ever to have raced in Formula 1 with his 105 Grand Prix wins and seven World titles. The latter puts him on a par with Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher, who won five of his seven titles with the Maranello squad.
Of late though, championships have been scarce for the Scuderia who last won the Drivers’ title in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen. Although they came close several times with Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel finishing runner-up in the standings, Charles Leclerc also doing so in 2022, they have fallen short of the ultimate goal.
It begs the question, why has Hamilton taken the risk given he won six of his seven titles with Mercedes?
“Ultimately, every new opportunity is a total leap of faith,” he said in an interview for LinkedIn’s ‘Get Hired’ newsletter. “None of us can predict the future so changing jobs, or in my case teams, is always going to come with some level of risk.
“But I believe there’s more of a risk in staying somewhere you’re comfortable and in getting complacent.
“Call it instinct or a gut feeling, but I knew that signing with Ferrari was the right move for me and that it would give me the challenge I needed.
“There are so many incredible people in the team that I can’t wait to work with, and I have total faith that we’ll achieve great things together.”
Despite 18 years on the Formula 1 grid and his immense success, the 40-year-old believes there’s still room within himself to improve as a driver.
“I look at every Formula 1 season like a new chapter,” he explained. “Even in the years when I’ve won races, trophies and championships, I’ve known that nothing is guaranteed for the season ahead.
“My approach is to work hard every single day to make sure when I get back in that car I’m not just as good as I was the season before, but better. That mindset and continually making progress no matter how big or small, is what has pushed me to achieve more than I ever thought possible.”
However, Formula 1 isn’t the be-all and end-all for Hamilton, a driver Jacques Villeneuve claims has “broken the mould” as his “image goes beyond F1”.
From business ventures outside of Formula 1 to activism, Hamilton reckons it’s important to step out of his comfort zone.
“No matter what skills you pick up, you learn so much from just trying something new,” he said. “I’ve been in my sport for so long that it would be easy to get stuck in old habits or stay in my comfort zone.
“Taking on new ventures, whether that’s ALMAVE, the first non-alcoholic distilled blue agave spirit or my collaboration with Dior I like the challenge, it forces me to be uncomfortable but it’s such a great opportunity to push yourself and learn.
“When I’m working on a project outside of my sport, I have to look at things differently and that ultimately gives me a new perspective on what success looks like, and how I can get there.
“When I get behind the wheel after some time away, that new perspective comes with me and it drives me to better myself each and every race. I wouldn’t be the driver I am today without the work I’ve done away from track.”
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