The new F1 season is almost upon us and the level of interest is as high as ever, not least because one of the competition's most popular drivers has made a high profile switch between two of the biggest teams.
40-year-old English driver Lewis Hamilton earned the last of his seven Formula 1 titles in 2020. Six of those came with Mercedes, with the first, secured in 2008, coming during his time at McLaren.
Now Hamilton has moved to Ferrari where he will look to boost the fortunes of a team that has failed to deliver on its obvious status in the racing game.
Fans of the Italian team who would love to be at Monza, Ferrari’s spiritual home, when the veteran driver comes to town might want to check out travel packages to do so, and you can find them online here. There is nothing quite like seeing Formula 1 action live, and 2025 might be the best time to experience the action for the first time.
Hamilton appears a man reborn since moving to Ferrari and he is very excited about his upcoming debut at the Australian Grand Prix, a race he has won on two occasions.
"It has been a long winter but it's also been very short,"
"But I'm really grateful. We had good testing last week. I can't believe the race is already next week so already start to make my venture to Australia on Friday. It'll start to sink in a little bit as this weekend before arrives.”
"I'm now embarking on something brand new for me and something I didn't think would happen when I turned 40,"
"I'm still pinching myself. Next week when I get to the race, I'm going to be starting a grand prix in red - wow! I don't have the words to really explain how excited I am, just trying to stay cool and calm, but for sure arriving in red is going to be cool." Hamilton added.
Hamilton’s last three seasons at Mercedes have been poor, the experienced driver finishing the season in 6th, 3rd and 7th in 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. With Ferrari he will hope to be in contention for the title, but it is worth noting that Ferrari have hardly been pulling up trees with their performances.
2008 was the last time Ferrari won a constructor’s title, though it’s worth noting in 2024 they ran McLaren-Mercedes pretty close. Their total of 652 points put them just 14 points behind the eventual winners.
Ferrari drivers managed five wins in the season with Carlos Sainz winning the Australian Grand Prix as well as in Mexico and Charles Leclerc winning in Monaco, Italy and the United States. Meanwhile, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton’s biggest foe, racked up nine wins to ease to yet another title.
The two drivers have clashed many times, sometimes literally, and you can be sure there will be many run-ins between the two in the 2025 season, which is great for Formula 1 as a whole.
