F1 News
Can Hamilton match the two all-time greats at Ferrari? 'Huge respect'
Having presented the livery the team has chosen to race in 2025, and done this year's car shakedown at Fiorano, there's little else for Lewis Hamilton to do prior to his first Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver, barring, of course, winter testing at Bahrain in just under a weeks time. Will he be able to match Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel's track records in terms of by when he will win his first GP with the Scuderia?
Vettel won in only his second race for Ferrari, whilst Alonso managed to finish on the top of the podium in his first start for the Italian squad. Will Hamilton be able to match them? "That I don't know. Those guys did an amazing job. I have huge respect for those two drivers," stated the Briton to select media during Ferrari's post-shakedown press session.
"Having joined teams before, the step it takes and the amount of work that goes on to acclimatising is extraordinary. And so it makes those results that they had even more exceptional than even I had appreciated before," added Hamilton, acknowledging his predecessors' quick adaptability to their respective Ferrari cars.
As a response to the ever growing gap between the top teams and the rest of the grid, testing has become limited in recent years, something Hamilton takes into account. "So what I know is that the testing is more limited than ever before. And fortunately I've had a good bit of time in the car. I still am acclimatising."
Hamilton unfazed by Alonso and Vettel's Ferrari starts
Does winning in his first or second start at Ferrari really say anything? Not if the precedent set by the Briton at Mercedes is anything to go by. "It took me six months, I think, at Mercedes to get my first win," which derived in six drivers' titles over the following years. So, will he match Alonso's and Vettel's early Ferrari results? "I honestly, I don't know. But I'm doing everything I can to be ready for race one," concluded Hamilton.
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