Inside Lewis Hamilton’s first week at Ferrari – and what comes next ...Middle East

Lewis Hamilton’s first week at Ferrari already feels seismic. The unapologetic romance of that picture, Hamilton radiating Gothic power in front of Enzo Ferrari’s old office, was an immediate Insta classic, said to be the most “liked” F1 image of all time.

It had a religiosity about it. Indeed, one mystic imbued the shot with cosmic significance, equating the seven windows in view with the number of Hamilton’s world titles.

The door in this vision, he speculated, represented the gateway to an unprecedented eighth world crown. Imagine were Hamilton to blow the bloody doors off this Italian job.

Lewis Hamilton will be fast at Ferrari - despite Mercedes' efforts to slow him down

This is a pairing of historic dimension, the sport’s most successful driver at the wheel of its most storied marque, emulating the position carved by Michael Schumacher two decades ago. The difference then was Schumacher and Ferrari were in the F1 vanguard. Hamilton has won just two races since 2021, and 18 years have passed since a Ferrari driver last wore the crown.

So this is redemption times two, each party seeking to infuse the other with some elemental magic. The feeling that the tifosi might be witness to a momentous episode deepened as Hamilton pulled the 2023 Ferrari out of the garage in the swirling mist, the very same conditions that greeted Schumacher’s first run at Fiorano 29 years ago. In a country deeply invested in symbolism this kind of coincidence carries much weight.

Englishman Rob Smedley made the same journey in 2004, joining the Ferrari test team from Jordan before assuming the role of race engineer to Felipe Massa.

Smedley was in post a decade, helping transform Massa from an erratic speedster into a championship challenger, losing out in 2008 with only five corners of the final race of the season in Brazil remaining, Hamilton finally reeling in Timo Glock’s Toyota in the rain. Smedley recalls the overwhelming sense of history and tradition that greeted him.

“The big difference is the culture and the environment. It is difficult to compare to any other team. It’s like playing for the national football team. It means a great deal,” he tells The i Paper.

“That collective support for Ferrari as the national team brings pressure but that can be hugely positive and it helped me to raise my game by that extra one, two per cent.

“Ferrari gives you that, and it will give Lewis that. It’s a cliché when they say it’s like a family, but it is. There is an unwritten contract in families that I’m going to help you out. And you feel that. Lewis has already felt it.”

The embrace extends all the way down the food chain. “I was a nobody. I came from Jordan, where the fans outside circuits might want to chat periodically. But at Ferrari getting into Monza and some other circuits the adulation was ridiculous.

“Lewis gets that one billion times bigger than I ever did, and that gives you energy, it gives you power, helping you to deliver that extra one percent. When you are having a bad day and have millions of people behind you, which is what Lewis will have, that will give him even more energy.”

Hamilton’s evocative social media posts demonstrated how last week’s immersion moved him. And the reaction to them revealed the impact his arrival had on Maranello. Smedley believes Hamilton is the alchemist the team has been looking for, the quantum factor that changes everything, just as Schumacher did all those years ago.

Max Verstappen gets new Red Bull teammate after Sergio Perez's exit

“Lewis brings that extra few per cent that I talk about. Ferrari need to go from being a very good team, which is where they are now, winning grands prix, to become a great team that starts winning world championships” Smedley adds.

“Over and above what they already had, Lewis brings the spirit of someone who has done it. Therefore the whole team feels they needs to lift their game by a fraction, slightly more on it across every detail, thinking slightly harder about the problems, arriving at solutions earlier. Once you get that collectively across a 1,000 people, that’s a very strong force.”

Smedley saw at Silverstone last year, where Hamilton resumed the top step of the podium for the first time since 2021, how the old flame still ignites in a responsive motor. “When he is on his game he is still unbeatable. This is why he needed to make this move so that he is motivated like he was in his last dominant period.

“This is a new challenge. Maybe they can’t win this year, maybe there is stuff they have to do to go from being a very good team to a great team, but Lewis will now feel this is his project, part of the leadership group that will lead him to that eighth championship.”

And, Smedley believes, the arrangement can be good for Charles Leclerc too. “Charles is a driver who needs to make the step from being excellent to great. Lewis can help him do that.

“Fred (team principal, Vasseur) will manage this correctly. He is a very good man-manager. In that way Lewis gets what he wants, the record number of championships. And Charles can see up close a seven-times world champion who knows what success looks like, the extra effort and detail required to get to the next level.”

Former team principal at Force India, Racing Point and Alpine, Otmar Szafnauer argues that the coupling of Ferrari and Hamilton is so irresistibly Hollywood everyone benefits. “For the neutral the arrival of a seven times world champion at Ferrari clearly adds something, gives everyone a lift,” he tells The i Paper.

“Lewis is very important for the sport. It will be fascinating to see how it pans out. Charles Leclerc is box office too. I’m sure it will be competitive but Fred will work it out. He has the ideal management style and knows Lewis from junior formulae. If there is the kind of ding-dong he had with Nico Rosberg at Mercedes Fred will handle it.

Lewis Hamilton shows Lando Norris what it means to be a true champion

“Lewis is clearly an exceptional talent and still capable. What you may lose in speed with age you make up with experience. Though I have never worked with him inside a team, I respect him for the hard work he puts in, for his ability and his achievements. And what I really like about him he has done it in a fair manner. He would not take you out to win a world championship.

“Overall he is top three for me. There is always a problem ranking the greats. People who say Messi is the best ever but many of those compiling the rankings today will have never seen Pele play. I never saw Fangio race so I don’t know where he would rank. But in my time it’s Lewis and Max [Verstappen], plus [Ayrton] Senna for outright pace.”

Hamilton will not feel the new car under him until next month’s pre-season test in Bahrain. The Fiorano laps were all about getting a sense of things, a low key entre into Ferrari systems, basic car function, seating position, etc.

The regs are the same for this year which should place Hamilton in a stable car, but 2026 under new engine regs offers the big opportunity and why Hamilton jumped when he did.

“Lewis is still hungry to perform and wants to win world championships,” Szafnauer adds.

“At the time he made the decision Ferrari had the better car so it was logical. Whether that is the case going forward remains to be seen. But to perform at your best you need to be in the best car possible and Ferrari was that. It was not about Ferrari per se. But they convinced him.

“If Lewis is within a tenth or two in qualifying he will be fine. As we saw he was often behind George in qualifying but made up for it in the race where his experience shows. If it’s half a second that could be a problem. But it’s an exciting match-up for sure and great for the sport.”

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Inside Lewis Hamilton’s first week at Ferrari – and what comes next )

Also on site :

• 'The Young and the Restless' Heartthrob, 48, Makes Rare Appearance with Daughter
• NYT Connections Sports Edition Today: Hints and Answers for June 19
• Pakistanis flee Iran amid Israel-Iran war border closure