TEAM PREVIEW: Can Ferrari Finally End Their Title Drought With Star Signing Hamilton?
Ferrari head into the new F1 season with even more eyes on them than usual following Lewis Hamilton’s move from Mercedes. But can the seven-time World Champion and the continuing Charles Leclerc combine to give the Italian marque their first taste of title glory in almost two decades? Following their runner-up finish last year, here’s everything you need to know about Frederic Vasseur’s team…
Drivers for 2025
Charles Leclerc #16: 8 Grand Prix wins, 43 podiums, 1430 points, 147 starts
Lewis Hamilton #44: 7 World Championships, 105 Grand Prix wins, 202 podiums, 4862.5 points, 356 starts
Ferrari’s 2025 driver line-up made headlines before the 2024 campaign had even begun, with Hamilton – as touched on above – shocking the F1 world last winter by deciding to swap long-time employers Mercedes for a new chapter at the Scuderia.
As well as pushing to add an elusive eighth drivers’ crown to his name, having claimed six at Mercedes and one at McLaren, Hamilton will be tasked with helping Ferrari win a championship for the first time since their 2008 teams’ title.
Meanwhile, incumbent Charles Leclerc has been racing for Ferrari since 2019 – the Monegasque earning promotion after his rookie season at Sauber and winning several races since then, but not yet managing to mount a sustained title challenge.
Hamilton and Leclerc’s partnership is also a full circle moment for Vasseur, who was the Briton’s Team Principal when he clinched the Formula 3 Euro Series and GP2 Series titles in 2005 and 2006, and the Monegasque’s boss for his GP3 Series win in 2016.
Last season
After a rollercoaster 2023 with a temperamental car that frequently chewed up its tyres, Ferrari righted many wrongs to become a much more consistent front-running force last year.
Indeed, Leclerc and then team mate Carlos Sainz scored four pole positions, five race wins, 22 podium finishes and so nearly the Teams’ Championship between them.
Highlights on Sainz’s side included his winning return from appendicitis-related surgery in Australia and a dominant display in Mexico, while Leclerc achieved a career-long dream of taking victory in Monaco and added another emotional triumph for Ferrari at Monza.
With reigning champions Red Bull faltering, the race for the teams’ title turned into a head-to-head battle between Ferrari and McLaren – the latter ultimately coming out on top by 14 points after a tense showdown at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
History
Ferrari are the only squad to have contested every F1 season since the World Championship began all the way back in 1950, making them part of the sport’s fabric.
Plenty of trophies have been collected over the years, with Enzo Ferrari’s eponymous operation winning a record 16 Constructors’ Championships, as well as a record 15 Drivers’ Championships through nine different drivers.
From Alberto Ascari in 1952 to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, their enviable list of title winners also includes Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter and Michael Schumacher.
Ferrari’s golden era came in the early-2000s when Schumacher – as part of a carefully constructed ‘dream team’ – stormed to five successive titles, ending a drought stretching back to Scheckter’s success in 1979.
Another dry spell has taken hold since their 2008 constructors’ crown, though, despite multiple World Champions Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel – the latter once stating that “everybody is a Ferrari fan” – giving it their best shots during stints onboard.
Greatest achievement
Putting their many race wins and world titles to one side, Ferrari securing Hamilton’s services for 2025 and beyond has to go down as one of the greatest achievements in the outfit’s history – taking into account both his driving talent and his off-track value.
Hamilton had been linked to Mercedes for decades, making his debut with supplied team McLaren in 2007 and switching to their factory effort from 2013, which triggered a stunning run of six drivers’ titles in seven seasons under F1’s turbo-hybrid power unit regulations.
Having formed a strong relationship with team boss Toto Wolff, set up various commissions and initiatives with Mercedes’ support and stated that “our story isn’t finished” in his mid-2023 renewal, for Ferrari to land Hamilton’s signature only a few months later was a major coup.
It was a bombshell announcement when it dropped in the 2024 off-season, with most members of the F1 paddock taken by surprise and headlines being created all over the world – not just by sports media but mainstream news outlets.
One key goal for 2025
Ferrari have come agonisingly close to adding to their title tally on several occasions over the last 17 years, including in 2024 when they were just one more podium finish away from beating McLaren to the top of the Teams’ Championship.
With stable leadership, a refined car, a proven race winner in Leclerc and a proven champion in Hamilton, there can be no other target than finally getting back to title-winning ways and securing at least one crown this time out.
But there will be plenty of teams looking to do the same, with McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes all winning races last season and the field set to be closer than ever in the final phase of this latest ruleset – something Vasseur referenced at F1 75 Live.
“If I have to choose a word [for 2025], I think it would be easy to say success, but I think it could be the choice of everybody around the stage – we have all the same goal,” he said. “If I have to choose another one, I would say enjoy. Let’s enjoy… F1 is fantastic and magic, and we have to enjoy. We are doing the best job in the world.”
