How Lewis Hamilton will make ‘the whole of Italy stop’ at Ferrari

Italy could come to a standstill on March 16th, Emerson Fittipaldi predicting the “whole” of the country will stop to watch Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari debut.

Hamilton will spend his 19th season in Formula 1 as a Ferrari driver having signed a multi-year deal with the Scuderia even before the first race of 2024.

The ‘whole of Italy’ will stop to watch Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari debut

The F1 2024 campaign marked his Mercedes farewell tour, one in which Hamilton broke his 945-day winless streak with a victory at the British Grand Prix before adding a second at Spa.

It wasn’t, however, the swansong the Briton and Mercedes had wanted as he finished the season down in seventh place in the Drivers’ Championship, the first time in 18 years that he wasn’t inside the top six.

Hamilton now embarked on a new challenge with Ferrari, with the 40-year-old hoping his switch from silver to red yields that elusive eighth Formula 1 World Championship title.

Ferrari and their tifosi are hoping for the same, so much so double World Champion Fittipaldi believes Italy will come to a standstill on March 16th when Hamilton contests his first race in red, the Australian Grand Prix.

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“Ferrari’s coming back strong. [You] can imagine Lewis at Ferrari. The whole [of] Italy is going to stop on Sunday, to watch Lewis drive a Ferrari!” he told talkSPORT’s On Track podcast.

“Lewis’ motivation, [it’s a] challenge to have a new team like Ferrari. Every driver has a dream to drive for Ferrari.

“And I think that at the stage of his life, to be able to go to Ferrari, with Frederic Vasseur, who was his team [principal] in Formula 3 and Formula 2. The family’s getting back together again and that’s going to be a big challenge.

“I’m looking forward to seeing next season, should be very exciting for Lewis and Formula 1 is getting extremely competitive now.”

Hamilton will have his first taste of Ferrari’s F1 machinery later this month when he takes part in a private test at either at Fiorano or Mugello, depending on the weather. Ferrari have reportedly added a second test to the seven-time World Champion’s schedule with an with an extra outing planned in Barcelona in late January.

Last season Ferrari won five Grands Prix, including Monaco and Italy, on their way to second in the Constructors’ Championship. The Italian stable lost the title to McLaren by 14 points. Charles Leclerc was the team’s best-placed driver in the standings in third place.

This season team boss Fred Vasseur believes title glory is within Ferrari’s grasp, confident either Hamilton or Leclerc can beat Max Verstappen to the 2025 Drivers’ crown.

“Yeah,” he told Sky F1 when that question was put to him. “If you have a look at this season [2024], I think Charles scored the biggest number of points after Monza, or something like this when we started to react and started to do a better job on our side.

“It means that everything is possible, it’s just a matter to put everything together to minimise the number of mistakes.

“It’s true that on this season, the long season, 24 events that we have always up and down. But what is positive for us is that we had a tough journey around June, July, and as a team, we were able to react and to react quickly. And this is encouraging.”

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