Lewis Hamilton says he is ‘invigorated’ by Ferrari move at F1 75 season launch event

[Pelican Press 0]

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Lewis Hamilton says he is ‘invigorated’ by Ferrari move at F1 75 season launch event

Host Jack Whitehall, meanwhile, joked about what it must have felt like for Mercedes to see their former champion walking out for their rivals.

Hamilton became the most successful driver in F1 history racing for the Silver Arrows. Now, he is turning out for the biggest, most celebrated, most historic name in the sport, in a partnership that has created a huge buzz already, with the season still just under a month away.

“It’s everyone’s worst nightmare,” Whitehall said. “Your partner of 10 years running off with an Italian stallion.”

Hamilton, team-mate Charles Leclerc and Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur flew back to Italy straight after the show, to prepare for the official launch of Ferrari’s 2025 car in Maranello on Wednesday. As with the other teams, the car on stage was a show car in this year’s paint job, not the machine that will contest this championship.

But Hamilton, who has gone to Ferrari with the aim of securing a record-breaking eighth title, was far from the only driver feeling the love of the audience.

The most popular names were no surprise – Leclerc, Hamilton’s fellow Briton Lando Norris, his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, Aston Martin’s veteran legend Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, now at Williams, and Mercedes’ George Russell all raised the roof.

Leclerc faced the biggest ribbing from comedian Whitehall, who took every opportunity to make a joke about the Monaco native’s good looks.

And there was a dash of irreverence. Norris even used a naughty word as a jokey insult during a good-natured exchange with Whitehall. One trusts FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, whose crusade against bad language is regarded as ill-conceived and poorly handled by most in F1, will decide not to pursue it on this occasion.

Certainly celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, who has a commercial deal with the sport, will think so. “If it comes out, it comes out,” Ramsay said as he was interviewed in the VIP area about the topic. “Let them be real.”

Ben Sulayem would certainly be wise not to sour the good taste left by an event that appears to have been a resounding success.

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