F1 News – It’s already time to think about 2025 at Ferrari: the Maranello team is preparing to welcome the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who for the first time in his career will wear red, going in search of the eighth title which would bring him even further into the Olympus of Formula 1.
Many insiders wondered whether the Prancing Horse’s move was just a marketing operation, or whether the Stevenage native will be able to make the team take the definitive step forward that has been expected for many years.
In an interview with “La Politica nel Pallone” on Radio GR Parliament, the former president of Ferrari Luca Cordero di Montezemolo expressed himself, taking stock of the season that has just ended:
“Formula 1 has truly become a competition that involves all continents, the 2024 championship was an unpredictable championship and finally there is a positive element in seeing Ferrari who showed up capable of winning at the last GP: if I think I feel bad about Alonso in 2010, a 4th place would have been enough. Ferrari has had ups and downs this year, but they have improved a lot, fighting for the Constructors’ Championship until the end. There are the conditions for a good championship next year, let’s hope it’s the good one. Then in 2026 we will start from scratch”.
Obviously the focus then inevitably shifted to Hamilton. The former president of the Prancing Horse bets on the seven-time world champion, even if he admits that the choice
could prove risky in terms of the balance of the team: “In recent years Ferrari’s problem has not been linked to the drivers, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc are strong. Hamilton is a phenomenon like Verstappen: his arrival at Ferrari is not a marketing operation, he wants to end his career by winning in red.
The choice of Lewis Hamilton on the one hand is a risk because you take a champion who has won a lot and who comes to Ferrari to win and on the other there is a Leclerc who, despite having good races, has never won and the years pass. It will be a very interesting year for Ferrari, provided that we manage to close the gap with McLaren to start already competitive from the first race, we create a car capable of winning in all conditions and there is also clarity of management throughout. ‘inside the team’.
Afterwards, Montezemolo praised Verstappen, author of an exceptional season despite not always having had a competitive car throughout the championship: “There are the great champions and then there are the champions like Sofia Goggia in skiing, Federica Pellegrini in swimming, or Jannik Sinner in tennis. In Formula 1 Verstappen is a champion, he has always been very strong even with go karts. This year he had to ask the maximum of himself: he had an inferior car to McLaren and in some cases even to Ferrari”.
Our thoughts then move on to Michael Schumacher, the unforgettable and unforgettable legend of Ferrari and Formula 1, with whom Montezemolo shared the greatest successes in the history of the Cavallino: “Michael is the most successful driver in Ferrari history, he is a piece of history and a great absence in my life: I spent unforgettable years with him, on and off the track. I often talk to his wife Corinna, his daughter has become a great champion with horses”.
Finally, Montezemolo criticized the Federation regarding the excessive severity of the commissioners on duels between the drivers, who in this Formula 1 would no longer be free to fight as happened in the past: “F1 is made up of healthy duels: what would they have done in the duel between Villeneuve and Arnoux, would they have put them in prison? I think we are exaggerating, both in terms of physical contact and in going beyond the lines of the track. Thus Formula 1 is becoming a precision watch: space must be left for emotion, courage and the ability of drivers who don’t have to look at the millimetres. And one of the points to reflect on to change things a little”.
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