Red Bull supremo shares his honest expectations from Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari

Red Bull's Helmut Marko felt that one should be cautious about ruling out Lewis Hamilton as someone who is past his prime. The 7x world champion shocked the world last year when he announced that he was leaving Mercedes for Ferrari. The driver had been a part of the German squad since 2013, but a lack of success since 2022 and the lure of F1's iconic team proved to be too much.

The 2024 F1 season, however, was unimpressive from Lewis Hamilton. He struggled to be consistently on par with teammate George Russell in terms of pace and performance. By the end of the season, it was more or less a one-way street as the younger driver had taken over as the team leader.

This has led to questions about what Ferrari is getting as Hamilton at 40 years of age cannot be expected to be the same as he was in his 20s or early 30s. To add to this, the presence of the highly rated Charles Leclerc in the other car could trigger a repeat of what happened at Mercedes in 2024.

However, when questioned about what he expects from the driver, the Austrian felt that he would be cautious in writing off the former Mercedes driver.

How Hamilton performs would depend on how good the Ferrari is and how his qualifying form is compared to Charles Leclerc. Helmut Marko told OE24:

"I would be cautious about that. If Hamilton is motivated, he can continue where he left off in 2021. The comeback he delivered back then was impressive. The Ferrari has to be competitive, though. And Hamilton has to get qualifying right, that was never his strength. If he loses two or three tenths to Leclerc, he always has to work his way up a few starting positions. That puts a strain on the tires..."

Max Verstappen still the benchmark as Lewis Hamilton's threat to be gauged after the test

The reality of the pecking order of the grid would become clear when testing begins. The 2024 F1 season ended with McLaren being the benchmark, Ferrari a very close second, and Red Bull being third. Heading into the 2025 season, each team would hope to make the progress that helps establish a semblance of a lead for them to exploit.

When questioned about Lewis Hamilton's status as a possible threat to Max Verstappen in the battle for the title, Marko felt that the Red Bull was still the benchmark in F1 and it would depend on the car the Brit has from Ferrari. He said:

"We'll know that after the tests, when we see how good the Ferrari is. Max is definitely the best driver."

If Lewis Hamilton does have a car capable of fighting for the title, it would be interesting to see how he responds and how his performances vary from the way they were in 2024.