Hamilton at Ferrari and other intrigues of the 2025 season

The curtain had barely fallen on the 2024 F1 season, the teams had already started their preparation for the next season, the last before an in-depth overhaul of the technical regulations.

Lewis Hamilton’s color change is now a reality. The seven-time world champion Briton has made his first comments as a Ferrari driver (on LinkedIn, of all platforms), and this new marriage will attract the spotlight, at least until the first official laps of the wheel.

The next official meeting of the great F1 circus is scheduled for February 18. For the first time and to mark the 75th year of the championship, all the teams will meet at the O2 Arena in London to unveil their official colors.

The teams will head to Bahrain for three days of winter testing, from February 26-28. The serious things will begin two weeks later, with the Australian Grand Prix on March 16.

To wait until then, here are some big questions that are undoubtedly bothering motorsport fans.

Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari titillate destiny

The last time Ferrari hired a superstar was almost 30 years ago, when Michael Schumacher joined in 1995 (his first season in red was in 1996).

Fans converged in their thousands on the private Fiorano test track, where Schumacher took his first laps, as seen in these images from a Eurosport report.

Schumacher famously took up residence in the small house at the heart of the circuit. Its last resident was… Enzo Ferrari. Not shying away from any ghost, not even one of the greatest of his sport, Schumacher had invested himself completely in his preparation. After a dark streak without a world title dating back to 1979 (!), Schumacher would restore the prancing horse to its former glory in 2000.

The step is certainly not that high for Hamilton. Ferrari is clearly on better footing today than it was in 1995, with a second place in the constructors’ championship last season. But the parallels with Schumacher are inevitable, especially when the Briton is in search of an eighth crown which will put him ahead of the illustrious German driver.

In that first official session, Schumacher had well established his impeccable work ethic, which defined his reign at the top of F1. I already have some impressions, but I keep my answers short, Schumi explained at the time. The sooner I can finish these interviews, the sooner I can see my engineer again so we can get back to work!

The Hamilton-Ferrari association will be somewhere between spectacle and sport. The first attempts will undoubtedly set the tone.

Frédéric Vasseur, who worked with Hamilton in Formula 3 and GP2, said he preferred performance and development to spectacle.

Hamilton will also certainly want to concentrate on the task ahead of him. He seems, from the outside, to have this instinct for the development of the car. Except that in F1, more than ever, no one escapes the spectacle. The date of these first turns of the wheel is not yet known, but we can bet that it will cause a lot of noise.

And what about team dynamics once the season gets underway?

Charles Leclerc has proven that he is one of the most talented drivers, apart from his propensity to push his car to its limits. Let us recall the losses of control in Monaco or in France, in 2022, when the Monegasque was still eyeing the world title.

How will he measure up to Hamilton? The Briton’s pure track record is unrivaled, but will Hamilton, who is on par with George Russell, win against Leclerc?

And what will happen if a title race looms? You need a huge ego to reach F1, and you have to know how to manage it to become a good lieutenant, capable of accepting team instructions, even if you are convinced that your teammate is slower. Will Hamilton be ready to do it, in a hypothetical scenario where Leclerc leads the championship?

Are Lance Stroll’s days in F1 numbered?

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack recently took to the barricades to defend Canadian driver Lance Stroll a few weeks ago.

In an interview with the specialized site Crash.net, the Luxembourger assured that Stroll is 100% invested in the F1 project, and that he is treated unfairly, particularly because he pouts in front of the media.

If you look at the gap he has with his teammate, who is one of the best of all time, it’s minimal. With the slowest car, in Mexico, Lance finished 11th and no one talked about it. Alonso finishes 11th at Monza and everyone is excited. I think it’s unfair.

We will not pretend here that journalism is an exact science. Even less so in F1, where the data available is mainly the stopwatch, the images broadcast on television and the comments of the various players. Krack may actually have access to internal data that proves that Stroll is very close to the level of his illustrious teammate.

On Friday, Aston Martin announced a reassignment of Mike Krack, who will now be Chief Trackside Officerwhich could be translated as director of runway side operations. Krack will now answer to Andy Cowell. The former director of Mercedes’ engine department during the 2010s becomes the new team principal.

But in the end, it was 19-5 in qualifying to Alonso’s advantage last year. The gap may be small, but it nevertheless exists, and it makes a difference.

On the issue of post-race comments, Stroll’s attitude is trivial. Whether or not he responds in full sentences has no bearing on his performance, only on what the commentators will say.

This is not the first time that behind-the-scenes rumors have been insistent about Stroll’s future in F1. The ball is in the Montrealer’s court. 2025 will be the last year that Aston Martin can live up to expectations, before next year’s technological revolution, after which, Lawrence Stroll believes, there will be ambitions to match the investments in the new factory and high-level staff. profile. It’s up to Lance Stroll to realize his long-announced potential.

What will Kimi Antonelli’s first year look like?

Three drivers will take their first drives in F1 in 2025, and two others have barely more experience. Andrea Like Antonelli, Gabriel Bortoleto and Isak Hadjar are the newcomers, while Jack Doohan and Oliver Bearman have had very limited Grand Prix experience.

The Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the one with the most pressure. Beyond his nickname, the young man takes over Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. If we rely on the trend for 2024, depending on the conditions, Mercedes should go hunting for podiums. The silver car especially showed itself during races in cold weather (relative, in the world of F1) and on very smooth surfaces.

Beware of those who will only take performances in the antechamber of F1 to guess the journey of a driver at the highest level. In his two seasons, Frenchman Théo Pourchaire finished 2nd then first in the drivers’ standings, but did not have a wheel in F1. Mick Schumacher took the crown in 2020, and despite his last name, his time in F1 seems all but over. Two rows behind him? Yuki Tsunoda, who just finished his fourth season.

Antonelli finished 6th in the Formula 2 drivers’ championship. Performances in lower categories, small or large, are no guarantee of success in F1. Oscar Piastri only did one season in F2, he was champion and moved to McLaren the following season. Max Verstappen went straight from F3 to F1.

Let’s summarize: he is very young (18 years old). He didn’t break anything in F2. He dives straight into a team aiming for podiums. Hello expectations.

Franco Colapinto, already the return

A word about Franco Colapinto, whose stay in F1 is finally extended, as a reserve driver with Alpine in 2025, but in a multi-year contract. The starting drivers are the Frenchman Pierre Gasly, a sure bet, and the Australian Jack Doohan, who, according to rumors, does not have a guaranteed contract for the whole year.

Colapinto was hired by Williams to replace Logan Sargeant and immediately impressed, but a few costly outings weighed down his rating. Failing to see him in the race, the 21-year-old Argentinian will remain in the paddocks, in ambush. Like Antonelli, he didn’t break anything in his only Formula 2 season (with one difference: Antonelli is precocious, at only 17 years old), but he revealed great talent. Let’s bet that this reservist role is only temporary.