FERRARI FANS CUT DOWN TREES TO SEE ‘REINVIGORATED’ LEWIS HAMILTON’S FIRST REAL TEST
When diehard Ferrari fans are turning up to your new car launch with electric saws and cutting down trees to get a better glimpse of you on track, you know you are generating excitement on an unprecedented scale.
Lewis Hamilton may not have approved of the tree-lopping, but he certainly appreciated the sentiment, the Briton thanking Ferrari’s tifosi on Wednesday for giving him a “new lease of life” after putting the SF-25, the car he hopes will carry him to a record eighth world title this season, through its paces at Fiorano.
Hamilton, 40, was speaking off the back of just two hours’ sleep, having flown to Italy after the F1 75 season launch at London’s O2 arena late on Tuesday night.
But the seven-time world champion said the passion he had felt from everyone in Italy since arriving for his first day at the factory a month ago, far outweighed any fatigue.
‘I’ve just felt this new wave of life and energy’
“I definitely did not think when I was younger that, heading into my 19th season in Formula One, I would be this excited,” Hamilton said. “I never thought at this point in my career I would have so much excitement. Just being at work. Wanting to be at work. Wanting to put in extra levels of work to achieve the dream. But here I am. It really is like a new life has been [given to me]. I’ve just felt this new wave of life and energy.”
Although he did not say so, Hamilton was undoubtedly tired by the end of his 12 years at Mercedes. After all the success, they endured a difficult final few seasons together, with Hamilton admitting by the end of his final season that he was feeling his age, and “just wanted to go on holiday”. The Briton’s first few weeks at Ferrari, by contrast, had left him feeling “revitalised” and “reinvigorated”.
The feeling is clearly mutual. Italy was sent into what the newspapers described as “a frenzy” following Hamilton’s Ferrari unveiling last month, when the driver posed outside the team’s factory at Maranello dressed in a stylish Italian suit and in front of the iconic Ferrari F40. And interest is clearly still at fever pitch. One video on social media of a fan in full Ferrari regalia cutting down a tree during Wednesday’s shakedown, to loud cheers from the assembled tifosi, went viral.
Hamilton said the passion for Ferrari was like nothing he had ever experienced, adding he was confident that the team had all the ingredients needed to end a trophy drought stretching back to 2008.
“I worked with two world championship-winning teams before [McLaren and Mercedes], so I know what a winning team looks and feels like,” he said. “The passion here is like nothing you’ve ever seen. They’ve got absolutely every ingredient they need to win a world championship, it’s just about putting those pieces together.”
Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc also spoke to the media on Wednesday. A Ferrari academy product, the Monegasque is entering his seventh season with the Scuderia. But he said he had never known “craziness” like now. “Everything is kind of exploding with Lewis’s arrival,” he said.
Time will tell how they work together but the early signs are promising. Hamilton and Leclerc were spotted playing chess with each other at the O2 on Tuesday night. Leclerc admitted the Briton was leading their head-to-head series “2-1 or 3-2”. It is on track, though, where their head-to-head will really count.
Hamilton said it was “far too early to tell” whether the SF-25 would be a winner. He also warned he might not be gain wins straight away, saying he had “increased respect” for predecessors Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel who won on their first and second outings for Ferrari respectively.
“Moving teams is a big thing and I am still acclimatising,” he admitted. “Everything is different. The switch settings, the steering wheel, the software. It took me six months, I think, at Mercedes, to get my first win. But I’m doing everything I can to be ready for race one.”
That includes learning Italian and sampling the local cuisine. Hamilton confessed to eating three pizzas last week alone. “But somehow I’ve lost weight,” he added. As for his language skills, Hamilton said it was coming along slowly. Asked for one word in Italian to sum up his day he eventually plumped for “emozionante”
Next week Hamilton will have his first proper outing, when the teams head to Bahrain for pre-season testing. But he has already achieved his first win in Ferrari colours: getting the locals onside.
2025-02-19T21:15:48Z