Lewis Hamilton’s move to Formula 1 Italian giants Ferrari has already had a huge impact with the Scuderia enjoying the largest growth in social media followers on the current grid.
Hamilton’s heavily anticipated move to Ferrari hit fever pitch in the world of F1 fandom when he first stepped in Maranello as a driver for the iconic team in January.
The seven-time champion’s first Instagram post as a Ferrari driver, where he posed in a resplendent suit and tie next to a Ferrari F40 outside the team’s iconic headquarters, is the most-liked F1 post in history on the social media platform.
It’s no wonder then, that sports marketing agency WePlay has uncovered data confirming Ferrari has the fastest-growing social media following of any team on the F1 grid.
The Scuderia has gained over 5.5 million new followers (+18.7%), an unprecedented impact of Hamilton’s arrival.
Mercedes remains the team with the most followers across social media with 38.57 million, ahead of Red Bull (35.62 million) with Ferrari a close third (35.12 million).
Moreover, Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari has helped bolster a 42% rise in social engagements for the Italian outfit across all platforms as the Scuderia begins to realise his staggering commercial impact as the sport’s most recognisable star.
Kenny Ager, Global Head of Commercial Development at sports marketing agency WePlay, commented: “Audience and attention are the ultimate currency in sports, fuelling value for broadcasters, sponsors, and marketers.
“Star athletes have the ability to supercharge audience growth for their teams.
“Ferrari’s signing of Hamilton is the perfect example of that.”
Ager adds that WePlay built its social media Power Rankings to specifically track the impact signings like Hamilton can have on a globally recognised brand like Ferrari.
“Tracking this impact is why we built Power Rankings, a proprietary tool analysing audience size, growth, and engagement across any sports brand or rights holder,” he said.
“With 10 billion+ data points, it delivers precise, head-to-head comparisons on a global scale.”
Debating Ferrari’s motivations for signing Hamilton
While the social media impact of Hamilton’s move to Ferrari cannot be understated, the team will want that success to translate on track as well.
Nothing drives an F1 team and driver more than winning and Hamilton is keen to deliver Ferrari a title and holds doing so in red more important than it being a record-setting eighth crown.
Former Ferrari ace Gerhard Berger, in conversation with Auto Motor und Sport, believes “If Hamilton could become World Champion in a Ferrari, that would be the greatest thing that has ever happened in Formula 1 in terms of marketing.”
But Ferrari Chairman John Elkann has denied accusations that the team’s signing of Hamilton is purely a marketing move.
“I think it’s really unfair to Lewis, some of the comments saying, ‘This is a marketing operation.’ Truth said, Lewis doesn’t need that. Ferrari doesn’t need that,” he told TIME.
“What we need to do is win championships and do great things on the track.
“If that happens, what we can do outside of the track, in some ways, takes care of itself. There’s unlimited possibilities.”
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