The prancing horse of Ferrari is arguably the most iconic car badge in history and it’s the one seven time Formula One world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton will wear from next year.
He’s made the move to Maranello on the premise of securing the elusive, record breaking eighth world championship, but his fairy tale will not end the way so many fans want it to.
Hamilton’s move to the Scuderia sent shock waves through the F1 world and many hope it will be the perfect end to an illustrious career however an up and down 2024 season has meant Hamilton will have an upwards battle if he is to climb to the top of the championship once again.
7X Formula 1 World Champion. Wow. To everyone that has supported me along the way, this is for you. To my incredible family, where do I even start? I am eternally grateful for your unconditional love, sacrifices and support… https://t.co/Uwb34qzCx2
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) November 15, 2020
A big issue for Hamilton will be his soon to be teammate and Ferrari golden child, Charles Leclerc, standing in his way.
It’ll be an interesting hierarchy between the two drivers with Hamilton coming into the team as arguably the greatest driver of all time and Leclerc being the Ferrari poster boy who’m they’ve nurtured since the junior series and invested millions of pounds into.
This division of loyalty will hamper Hamilton as seen so many times before, notably during the 2007 season when tensions between both sides of the McLaren garage cost Hamilton the chance at becoming the first ever rookie world champion.
Ferrari have an incredible team with a car that is capable of winning a championship as seen throughout this season wining numerous races, however time and time again the thing that’s ultimately cost them is their poor strategy calls.
For a while rumours swirled around the paddock that Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington would be jumping ship with him, however these rumours were put to bed when Mercedes announced he would remain at the Brackley based team.
If these rumours had come true it would’ve been an intriguing proposition for fans and Hamilton would’ve been in with a chance of securing the title but without the expertise of someone like Bono, Ferrari will have a tough time making critical, potentially title changing decisions.
Hamilton is no stranger to a championship fight and is vastly experienced in dealing with the pressure that a championship fight brings. Ferrari on the other hand have proven that currently they’re not up to the challenge at all.
A poignant example of this was the 2022 season in which Ferrari had an extremely competitive car starting the season with a one-two victory in Bahrain, their first in three years at the time. However reliability issues plagued their season costing Leclerc a number of victories handing them to championship rival Max Verstappen and ultimately costing them the championship.
Until Ferrari are capable of delivering a reliable car there’s no chance they’ll be able to fight for a championship across the course of a season and unfortunately with Hamilton being 39 you are forced to wonder how long he has left in the sport.
Formula One is an incredibly physical sport, the drivers aren’t just ‘drivers’ their professional athletes and staying at peak physical condition gets harder with age. As Hamilton enters his fourth decade questions will be asked as to weather or not he can continue to fight at the peak of the pinnacle of motor sport.
The driver that Hamilton is desperate to overtake to cement his place as greatest of all time is seven time world champion Michael Schumacher. Just like Hamilton, Schumacher won his seventh and final championship at 35 before retiring two years later aged 37, coming out of retirement in 2010 aged 41 and retiring for good in 2012 aged 43.
Schumacher was never able to reach the success that had once come to him so naturally and somewhat tarnished his reputation as an incredible driver. Hamilton will be keen to avoid the same happening to him and as he approaches the big four zero he will have to decide weather or not he still has it in him to continue pushing for that eighth championship.
If the prancing horse is unable to deliver the championship Hamilton so fiercely desires he can ride off into the sunset knowing he achieved everything there was to achieve and join a club of a select few godlike figures who will be remembered for years to come.
