Five problems Lewis Hamilton must quickly tackle at Ferrari

2025 has arrived, and with it, a new chapter in Lewis Hamilton’s illustrious F1 career as he officially becomes a Ferrari driver. With just 71 days until the season opener in Melbourne, Hamilton faces a whirlwind of preparation to adapt to life at Maranello.

Here are the biggest challenges Hamilton will need to address as he embarks on this new journey:

Adapting to Ferrari’s culture

Before even considering on-track action, Hamilton must immerse himself in Ferrari's unique environment. Like any new job, getting familiar with the surroundings and building rapport with colleagues is essential for success.

Hamilton proved adept at this when he made the shock move to Mercedes in 2013, but Ferrari presents a different challenge. Ferrari is built on passion and emotion given its Italian roots, something that's in stark contrast to his former teams.

While English is widely spoken at Maranello, a basic knowledge of Italian would undoubtedly smooth Hamilton’s integration and improve communication within the team.

Completely new car

Another challenge Hamilton will face in his early weeks at Ferrari will be adapting to an entirely new car - and a different steering wheel configuration. Hamilton has been driving a Mercedes car for well over a decade, making it second nature to him.

With the plethora of buttons and settings available to a driver through the steering wheel, memorising and understanding it ahead of pre-season testing will be crucial for Hamilton to get up to speed. No doubt he will spend several days in the team’s simulator to familiarise himself with his new machine.

No More Bono

For the first time in over a decade, Hamilton will race without Peter "Bono" Bonnington by his side.

Hamilton and Bonnington formed a synonymous driver-race engineer pairing during their time at Mercedes. However, Bonnington will remain at Brackley after receiving a promotion to Head of Race Engineering.

Hamilton’s race engineer at Ferrari will be Riccardo Adami, who has previously worked with Sebastian Vettel and, more recently, Carlos Sainz.

A driver’s relationship with their engineer is crucial to success in F1. Whether it’s setup changes, strategy calls, or providing in-race motivation, an F1 race engineer plays an integral role.

Competing with Leclerc

Hamilton is no stranger to facing formidable teammates, having raced against Fernando Alonso in his rookie season and partnering Jenson Button at McLaren.

While Leclerc hasn’t yet achieved that milestone, there’s no doubt the Monegasque has all the ability to do so. At 27, Leclerc is approaching the peak of his career, having delivered an outstanding 2024 season in which he finished third in the drivers’ championship.

The good news for Hamilton is that, while Leclerc’s pace is undeniable, his personality is far from abrasive. In theory, while their on-track rivalry might be intense, off-track Hamilton should find there’s less friction compared to his seasons alongside Nico Rosberg or Alonso.

However, the challenge of beating Leclerc at the age of 40 remains a difficult one.

Banishing the demons of 2024

One last problem Hamilton must tackle is banishing the demons of 2024.

While he claimed two victories during his final swansong with Mercedes, it was comfortably the most disappointing season of his career. Hamilton was comprehensively beaten by George Russell across almost every metric.

The most concerning aspect of Hamilton’s season was his qualifying performance. Across the 24 races, Hamilton only managed to out-qualify Russell five times.

Given that Leclerc is widely regarded as the fastest driver over one lap in F1, this is an area Hamilton must improve. Furthermore, the battle at the front is expected to be incredibly tight among four teams, meaning Hamilton cannot afford to start sixth or seventh on the grid.

He will need to leave behind his disappointing 2024 campaign and hope it was merely a blip in an otherwise legendary career.