The Australia F1 GP, played on Sunday in Melbourne, opened the 2025 season with a brand: the debut of the most victorious rider of all time (Lewis Hamilton) in the only team to compete in all championships since the creation of the category in 1950 (Ferrari).
The result is quite true, it was below expected by the millions of fans: tenth place for the live world champion. His teammate, Charles Leclerc, was also on a day of difficulty and was just the eighth, making this season the worst of the Italian team since 2009. But Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari put the team on another prominent level and attention over the weekend in Melbourne.
Starting with the team routine. The most traditional of the team has provided changes in the running weekend and its headquarters in Maranello to leave the coming of Hamilton as comfortable as possible. This included the return of the work of physiotherapy Angela Cullen, who was with the Englishman in much of his career, but had been removed in the final years of Mercedes.
Another change has to do with food: A fan of a plant -based diet, Hamilton has a special menu for his racing meals and even in the traditional restaurants frequented by riders in Maranello, including vegan pizza. The change included even an addition to the traditional Montana menu, which is near the Fiorano circuit, Ferrari’s private test track in Italy.
And it was precisely the food one of the shows that Hamilton’s adaptation to the team is going better than expected. Asked how English would be adapting to the Italian way of working in the races, after making his entire career at F1 in British and German teams, Ferrari’s team chief, Frederic Vassur, joked: “I think it is no drama to adapt to Italian food when you come from the United Kingdom.”
If out of the tracks the adaptation to Italy seems natural, on the technical side there is a lot to be done. Hamilton prefers an order of buttons on the steering wheel other than that used by his teammate, Charles Leclerc. The Hamilton hydration button is activated on the opposite side of Monegasco, and can be confused with the triggering of the car’s power unit power, for example – No Australia GP there have been no records of any command exchanges incident.
About Ferrari’s engine, Hamilton also said he was surprised by the (stronger) sound and the torque itself. All very different from what he was used to: after all, since he debuted at F1 in 2007, the English rider only competed in teams whose engine supplier was Mercedes. First with McLaren and then with the official factory team from 2013 onwards.
Hamilton is also having to deal with a new team of mechanics – and the tradition of Ferrari is that this area is basically composed of Italian professionals. He has a knowledge of the language well above the standard, as he lived in Italy in his kart competition years. Even so, he is taking Italian classes and must move from Monaco to Milan to be closer to the team and also delve into Italian culture.
Her track engineer Riccardo Adami is also the same who has worked with Carlos Sainz in recent years – Hamilton has taken place in the Spanish pilot. He was also Sebastian Vettel’s engineer in his Ferrari years.
If in the structure of mechanics and engineers Ferrari kept practically the same team of 2024, in the communication area the revolution was great. Usually Ferrari is already the most sought -after team of the grid, by journalists from around the world and thousands of fans scattered in all circuits. But the concentration and agglomerations around the Ferrari Box on the Albert Park circuit was well above the ordinary – the point that pilots of other teams had to pave the way through the Ferrari vips around VIPs – all to try a selfie or even a photo of Hamilton now wearing Ferrari’s traditional red jumpsuit.
In her press commitments, Hamilton also received an exclusive press officer, the Italian -based London Ella, who was chosen through “Mission 44”, coordinated by Hamilton’s manager, Marc Hynes, who seeks to “empower young people to overcome social injustice” through education and professional opportunities.
The advisor follows the pilot in all his appointments and was a constant presence in his debut at Ferrari in Australia. This “perk”, however, is not exclusive to Ferrari – there are other teams that opt for this type of 100% exclusive service, as Red Bull did with Vettel (its RP, Britta Roeske, was even brought to Ferrari when German exchanged team).
The honeymoon between Ferrari and Hamilton is still visible. “I’m feeling as happy as the first time I ran from F1 here in Melbourne in 2007,” Hamilton said before Sunday’s GP. “I have spent so many years through the red garage and now I’m in it. It’s a very cool feeling,” he said. About the extra pressure for a good result, now in Ferrari, English is disconcerting. “I do not feel the pressure: I do not read the news, I stay a long time away from social media and I am not bombarded by this type of content, it is as if I isolating myself inside my own bubble,” he added.
Like every marriage, proof of unconditional love will be tested in the next GPS. The race in Melbourne, considered atypical by rain and being on a street circuit, may have contributed to the low performance of Maranello cars. But the sequence of three “normal” racetrees (China, Japan and Bahrain) will put that extra dose of pressure on the Italians. For now, the Tiposi are euphoric with their new idol. Time will say whether the hiring of a world champion will be as happy as it was with Michael Schumacher, with five titles from 2000 to 2004, or with the bitter flavor of Fernando Alonso, Vettel and Alain Prost – that came out of Maranello without another champion cup.
