Mika Hakkinen anticipates Lewis Hamilton encountering formidable obstacles in his quest for an eighth world championship upon his transition to Ferrari next season.
The celebrated Mercedes driver is setting his sights on new horizons in 2025, leaving the Silver Arrows—his team for over a decade and through six of his championship victories—to fill the vacancy left by Carlos Sainz at Ferrari.
With a career that has so far seen him exclusively with McLaren and Mercedes since his Formula 1 debut in 2007, Hamilton will don new colours and power his races with a different engine as he joins Scuderia Ferrari in 2025.
Ferrari, which last clinched a driver’s title with Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, presents a significant hurdle for Hamilton as he integrates into the Italian team next year, according to two-time F1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen.
In a conversation with PlanetF1.com, when prompted for his insight on Hamilton’s headline-grabbing move, Hakkinen reflected, “I can see that he wants to win, of course, like everybody else wants to win.”
“I think he probably experienced that, with the Mercedes, maybe he thinks the Mercedes isn’t able to give him a car where he can win.
“Probably he’s seeing the opportunity that, with Ferrari, they can bring him a car where he can win.
“But it’s quite a big change for him, because he’s been in a British team – let’s call it this way – for so many, many years.
“To now change to an Italian team, where he doesn’t have experience, it can be quite a big change for him – to understand the philosophy, and how they work.
“This has nothing to say they don’t work well or they don’t do the right thing, but it’s a big change.”
“For the moment where he’s in his career, it must be very exciting and motivating for him to continue with this great sport,” he said.
“I think it opens up opportunities to other drivers, too, this year is a big year because so many contracts are finishing and there’s going to be a lot of changes.”
But is it the environment in which he can win a record-breaking eighth title, and finally topple the record of seven that he shares with Michael Schumacher?
“That’s impossible to say. It’s all about the car,” the Finn replied.
“If they’re able to build the car and fix the problems that they have, then there is a possibility.”
Facing such a strong competitor in Leclerc when the seven-time world champion transitions to Ferrari, Hakkinen predicts that Hamilton will not find it easy to outperform his new teammate.
“You have Charles Leclerc over there, and he has been with the team for a long time,” he said.
“He’s a very talented young driver and the car is tailor-made for him. So it’s not going to be so straightforward, in my opinion.”
