Ferrari Technical Director Loic Serra is confident Lewis Hamilton will rediscover his best form with his new Formula 1 team after a difficult conclusion with Mercedes.
Mercedes produced three inconsistent and capricious F1 challengers through the first three years of the F1 ground effect rule cycle, complicating matters for Hamilton in the seasons following his agonising 2021 title loss to Max Verstappen.
Despite returning to winning ways in 2024, clinching victories at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, Hamilton’s final year with Mercedes was perhaps his most difficult.
The seven-time champion and the W15 never really clicked, and this was evident in qualifying, in which teammate George Russell thrashed Hamilton 19-to-5 in a head-to-head match.
Hamilton has turned over a new leaf in joining Ferrari, hoping the move to Maranello will be the catalyst to instigate a form revival.
Serra knows Hamilton all too well, having worked at Mercedes from 2013 to the early stages of last year as Head of Vehicle Dynamics and, latterly, Performance Director.
He believes Hamilton can rekindle the speed shown during his record-setting title run with the Silver Arrows.
Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, Serra said “Lewis’ difficulties seen on the track in the last period? They don’t scare me.
“He is an extraordinary driver who is always thirsty for new challenges and who, I am sure, will be as fast at Ferrari as in his best years at the helm of F1.”
Hamilton himself has targeted title glory with Maranello, believing Ferrari has “all the ingredients to win” while placing a greater emphasis on ending the Italian squad’s prolonged title drought over claiming a record-breaking eighth Drivers’ crown.
Ferrari already ‘loves’ Hamilton
From the moment Hamilton arrived in Maranello last month, the adoring Tifosi descended on Ferrari headquarters in their thousands to welcome the Briton.
Hamilton’s smile has seemingly never faded since and his new colleagues have reciprocated the warmth.
This is explained by none other than Jerome D’Ambrosio, another of Hamilton’s ex-Mercedes colleagues who now resides in Maranello, in this case, as Ferrari Deputy Team Principal.
D’Ambrosio feels he has the added benefit of knowing Hamilton’s entourage before his move to Ferrari, knowledge he hopes has helped the integration of the Scuderia’s new star, who has already won over the team.
“He is quite amazing with people and obviously the team already loves him, after the first day it was so,” explained D’Ambrosio.
“The areas, perhaps, where it’s been quite useful is already knowing his team.
“A driver doesn’t come alone in a team, but they’ve got their own team, their own management, the people around them have already interacted with them in a past life.
“I guess in that respect, it was quite, let’s say, easy to understand where the expectations were, and what was the background and what could already just be plug and play and what maybe had to be approached slightly differently based on a different environment.”
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