Lewis Hamilton’s title chances hinge on 2 factors, according to $35M worth former F1 racer

Lewis Hamilton's title chances in 2025 hinge on how comfortable he feels in the car and how good the Ferrari is. That's the view of former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, as the Colombian gave his take on what to expect from the Hamilton at the Italian team.

Lewis Hamilton is a 7x world champion, and he's heading to Ferrari with the primary aim of trying to win a record-breaking 8th world title. The Briton has not had the best run of late. Since 2021, when he lost the title to Max Verstappen in the last race of the season, the driver has been unable to put together a strong enough run. At the same time, in the last three years at Mercedes, Hamilton was outscored by teammate George Russell twice.

Heading to Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton will be up against Charles Leclerc, a talent that is arguably as formidable as George Russell. Leclerc has also been in the Italian team since 2019 and hence has been embedded in the system.

Talking about Hamilton's chances to potentially fight for the title, Juan Pablo Montoya (worth $35M according to Celebrity Net Worth), felt that the driver would have been more at home with the car than he's been recently, and at the same time, the Italian should build a strong enough contender. He told CasinoApps (as quoted by RacingNews365),

"Lewis Hamilton's chances of winning the title depend on how comfortable he feels and how good the car Ferrari produces is. It would be a great story if he wins the title. If Charles Leclerc plays the season smart, behaves nicely with Hamilton, but achieves better results, then the whole of Ferrari will rally behind Leclerc." (Translated from Dutch).

Interestingly, one of Hamilton's biggest Achilles heels appeared to be the new ground effect cars not being the perfect fit for his driving style, causing him to struggle in trying to extract the best performance from the machinery.

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Juan Pablo Montoya on Lewis Hamilton's former teammate: "I still find him too nice on track"

Juan Pablo Montoya also touched on Lewis Hamilton's former teammate George Russell, who will be the Mercedes team leader this year. Talking about Russell, Montoya felt that the 26-year-old had the pace to win a title in F1 but was too passive on the track.

"George Russell has the speed to win a title, but I still find him too nice on track. People need to look at him differently. People still see Russell as a nice guy and that's not really the reputation he wants. Kimi Antonelli could be the only driver who can join the rest of these competitors, but he could also start very badly."

At Ferrari, Lewis will look to achieve what hasn't been done in F1 until now, which is to win as many as 8 world titles. If he accomplishes the feat, he will become the undisputed most successful driver in the history of the sport.