Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari arrival ‘more attractive for technicians, above all Adrian Newey’

While Lewis Hamilton alone cannot change Ferrari’s fortunes, Ivan Capelli believes his arrival can entice the likes of Adrian Newey to swap their allegiance to Ferrari.

And together they can fight for the ultimate prize.

Hamilton sent Formula 1’s silly season into high gear when, at the beginning of this month, the Briton announced he would leave Mercedes at the end of the year to join Ferrari.

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But it’s not just the driver market that’s seeing big changes as the Briton’s move could also have a huge impact on F1’s various technical teams. And most notably Red Bull design genius, Newey.

The long-time Ferrari target, who has repeatedly rejected a move to Maranello, is once again said to be in the mix with Hamilton the key to persuading him over to Maranello.

“Hamilton has an enormous wealth of experience, he can make an important contribution to Ferrari,” former F1 driver Capelli told AutoSprint. “He can provide different rhythms and visions for future planning.

“He alone will not distort performance, because he drives the car and does not design it, however, it could open up future horizons for some engineers who until now have not considered a job at Ferrari.

“Seeing Hamilton join Ferrari makes the team more attractive also for the technicians, and above all I say Newey, because in any case we are witnessing a seven-time world champion arriving in Maranello giving the idea that there is a future projected towards something different.

“Beyond marketing and the return on the commercial level, I believe this is precisely the additional value of Hamilton to Ferrari, I believe this is the focal point of this arrival.”

Ferrari have made several plays for Red Bull’s design guru in the past but Newey has always rebuffed them with the most recent said to have been early last season.

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Capelli, who worked with Newey at March F1, believes like Hamilton, a World title with Ferrari would be the “apotheosis” of Newey’s illustrious F1 career.

“From the information gathered in recent years, he is much more ‘human’ than when we worked together,” said the Italian, who raced for Ferrari in 1992.

“I see him much more relaxed, he is no longer as present at the Red Bull technical center as he once was, he goes two or three times a week but otherwise he has a private life ‘evolved’, so to speak, compared to a few years ago.

“He is the one who in the last 35 years has characterised the successes of three different teams, Williams, McLaren and Red Bull.

“For him to get to Ferrari, perhaps with some engineers at followed, ending up at Ferrari and maybe making it win would be the apotheosis of his career.”

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