Lewis Hamilton on move to Ferrari: ‘I refuse’ to go without another title

Lewis Hamilton won seven Formula 1 pilot championships.

If he wants to win an eighth, he will come to Ferrari, the team in which he moved for the 2025 F1 season after a huge series of successes. But he should also avoid something that has struck other sport legends, namely Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, who failed to win titles after having moved to one of the most famous brands in the sport.

This is something that Hamilton refuses to accept.

Addressing the media before the Belgian Grand Prix, Hamilton opened on the steps he takes to make sure that he can win another title in Ferrari.

“I see a huge amount of potential within this team,” said Hamilton at the FIA press conference on Thursday. “Passion: nothing is getting closer to this.

“But it’s a huge organization, and there are a lot of mobile pieces. And not all of them shoot all the cylinders they should be. This is ultimately why the team did not have the success that I think it deserves.

“So I think it’s my job to challenge all areas absolutely, to challenge everyone in the team. Especially guys [who] are at the top that make the decisions.

“If you look at the team in the past 20 years, they have had incredible pilots: Fernando [Alonso]Sebastian [Vettel] – All world champions. However, they did not win a world championship [at Ferrari].

“And for me, I refuse that this is the case with me.”

To this end, Hamilton provided the entire team of reports in the areas where they can improve, including the marketing side of things.

“I make an additional effort,” he added at the FIA press conference.

“I was lucky to have had experiences in two other major teams. Although things are different because there is a different culture and everything, I think that if you take the same path all the time, you get the same results. So, I simply dispute certain things.

“We have improved in many areas – thanks to marketing, through everything we provide for sponsors, how engineers continue to work. There is still a lot of improvements to make, but they have been very responsive.

“In the end, I’m just trying to create allies within the organization and” make them heard “, make them grow. I’m here to win. I don’t have as much time as [18-year-old Kimi Antonelli, who was also in the FIA Press Conference] So it’s crisp time.

“I really believe in the potential of this team. I really think they can win several world championships in the future. They already have an incredible inheritance. But during my time, that’s my only goal.”

Hamilton then explained how this process took place in Ferrari.

“I was at the factory [over the past] Two weeks, a few days a week, “said Hamilton.” We have prepared, naturally where we were in the previous race, things we have to change.

“I have a lot of meetings, so I called a lot of meetings with the team leaders, so I sat with John [Elkann, president]Benedetto [Vigna, CEO]and Fred [Vasseur, team principal] In several meetings. I sat with the head of our development of cars, with Loic [Serra, technical director for chassis]also the chiefs of different departments.

“We are talking about the engine for next year, speaking of the front suspension for next year, speaking of rear suspension for next year; Things you want, problems I have with this car.

“I sent documents [throughout] The year. After the first races, I made a complete document for the team, then during this break, I had two other documents that I sent, and so I come and I want to approach them.

“Some are structural adjustments that we must make as a team to improve in all areas that we want to improve. The other was really on the car, the current problems I have with this car. Some things you want to take on next year and others on which you have to work to change for next year.”

Ferrari deploys another substantial upgrade of the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend, a new rear suspension. This follows a new floor for the SF-25 that the team unveiled at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished fourth at the Austrian Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix the following week, with improved soil.

While Ferrari had Hamilton and Charles Leclerc put the new rear suspension to the test during a day of shooting, the team will have more sensation for upgrade during the only training hour on Friday before the qualifications for the F1 Sprint race.

Still at the FIA press conference, Hamilton noted that the car had felt the “same” during the shooting session, but more “learning” will follow.

“The same as before,” said Hamilton when he asked him about the rear suspension.

“No. First of all, we can test the suspension tomorrow, and I’m sure there will be learning,” added Hamilton.

“We are going to somehow understand how finetune and try to extract its performance. On the simulator, there is no difference, but I am sure that in different circuits, there may be advantages. I think that for me, the positive thing has happened on the day of shooting where you see that new bits are coming, you see that we get development.”

The seven times champion also noted that it was “grateful” to see the improvements to come to SF-25.

“I think I was really happy to see that there is clearly a big decline in the factory, there are a lot of changes, then to see the results with these changes take time, so I was really grateful to see that we have new parts. We will try to put them to use this weekend,” added Hamilton.

Maybe these reports had an impact.