F1 pundit sets the bar low for Lewis Hamilton's first season with Ferrari: "Changing teams is tough"

F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi - Source: Getty
F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi - Source: Getty

As per F1 pundit Anthony Davidson, Lewis Hamilton should just set a target of matching what he did at Mercedes last season, in his first season with Charles Leclerc. The 7x world champion has joined Ferrari and teamed up with one of the best drivers on the grid. Not only that, he's also part of the Italian team that almost won the Constructors championship in 2024.

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Hamilton moved to Ferrari after he called time on his stint with Mercedes in 2024. The driver who won as many as six world titles with the German team decided that it was time to pursue something different and achieve an eighth title with the Italian team.

However, Hamilton didn't end the 2024 F1 season on a strong note. The driver was outperformed by George Russell quite comprehensively. This has also cast doubts on how he'll fare alongside Leclerc.

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Anthony Davidson, however, has a uniquely underwhelming target for the driver, as he thought that it would be a mission accomplished if the driver could replicate his 2024 Mercedes performance at Ferrari in 2025.

Talking about how the 2024 season was not as bad as the driver did win a few races, Davidson told RacingNews365:

"Seeing as the cars were pretty evenly matched, the Ferrari and the Mercedes, over last year, Ferrari probably just had the slightly upper hand. But Mercedes did obviously win races, Lewis had a brilliant drive at Silverstone, and I think a good year for him will be to start off in year one pretty much just replicating what he's done at Mercedes in his final year."
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He added:

"That will be a good starting point, but I know he'll be wanting more, and I think some fans will be expecting more but it is tough, changing teams is tough."

Lewis Hamilton backed to be faster than Charles Leclerc at Ferrari

Anthony Davidson felt that if there were a few races where Lewis Hamilton was faster than Charles Leclerc, then he should be happy. Having said that, in the races, the British pundit expected the 7x world champion to have an edge. He said:

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"He'll be happy with out-qualifying Leclerc for a good handful of races, but then I am fully expecting him to match Leclerc when it comes to speed in the races and he is probably better [than Leclerc] through his own experience."

He added:

"Lewis' instinctive ability to manage tyres, he's always had strong race pace even right through to Abu Dhabi, and it was never something he's had to fight or struggle against, and it was just down to qualifying, but I'm fully expecting his speed to be there in the races versus Leclerc."

Lewis Hamilton has joined Ferrari to become a record 8-time F1 world champion. It would be interesting to see how he approaches being Charles Leclerc's teammate in 2025.

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Edited by Hitesh Nigam
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