Hamilton is ‘exactly where I’m supposed to be’ after emotional day driving Ferrari’s new F1 car

Lewis Hamilton says he is “exactly where I’m supposed to be” after an emotional first day on track in Ferrari’s new car.

After the previous night’s glitzy Formula 1 season launch in London, Hamilton got behind the wheel of the new Ferrari SF-25 on Wednesday for the first time at the team’s Fiorano test track.

Thousands of fans — most clad in Ferrari red — had gathered outside the fences surrounding the track to get a glimpse of their new hero.

Some even cut down a tree for a better view.

Asked to pick a word to describe the day’s sensations, Hamilton struggled initially but he insisted he wanted to do better than the suggestion of “very good,” before settling on “emotional.”

“Of course I’ve seen from the outside Ferrari over the years, the drivers over the years and how they’ve been received by their fans, ‘the tifosi,’” Hamilton said.

“But I think when you’re in it, it’s something even more special than you can imagine. You can’t know that until you get in there and experience it. And that’s been really beautiful to see.”

The 40-year-old Hamilton shocked the motorsports world last year when he announced he was leaving Mercedes to join Ferrari.

The British driver had been at Mercedes for 11 years and won six of his seven titles with the Silver Arrows.

“We know we have a huge amount of work to do, I know that I have a huge amount of work to do. I’m still acclimatizing I’ve only been here just over a month,” Hamilton said. “So I’m still acclimatizing to a completely new car, completely new way of working.

“But everyone has bent over backwards in this team to make me feel welcome. And I really feel at home. I know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. It feels natural. It feels right.”

Hamilton will line up alongside Charles Leclerc, who has been at Ferrari since 2019.

The 27-year-old Leclerc said it was already “the best team mentality” he has felt in his time at the Italian Scuderia.

“I worked with two world championship winning teams before,” Hamilton said. “I know what a winning team looks and feels like.

“The passion here is like nothing you’ve ever seen. They’ve got absolutely every ingredient they need to win a world championship. And it’s just about putting all the pieces together.”

However, Ferrari has not won a drivers’ title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.

Leclerc finished runner-up in 2022 and was third last year after ending the season with three podiums in the last four races as Ferrari began to show signs of being able to contend with Red Bull.

Hamilton knows that expectations of him are sky high.

“This step is huge, it couldn’t be any bigger,” he said. You don’t want to let people down, you want to be able to deliver on your word. So how I decided to come into this year, my resolution, my mentality is that I need to elevate in absolutely every area on my side.

“It’s not just this who I am and just got to gel in, I’ve got to elevate in every single thing: my fitness, my time management, how I engage with my engineers, how much time I spend in the factory, all these different things. And I’ve definitely done that and I’m doing that. And I’ll continue to do that in this strive for perfection and to achieve the success that I’m aiming to achieve.”

Hamilton’s last championship was in 2020 and he was enroute to a record-breaking eighth title in the 2021 season finale until a controversial finish gave the title to Max Verstappen, who has since gone on to win four straight titles with Red Bull.

If Hamilton does win that elusive eighth championship this season, he will become the third-oldest F1 champion.

“If I was fortunate enough to win another title, which is obviously what we’re setting out to do, I don’t see myself stopping,” Hamilton said.

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