Five important things to know about Hamilton's move to Ferrari

It's finally happened as Lewis Hamilton has become a Ferrari driver and is now an ex-Mercedes one. 

Hamilton formally joined the Scuderia after a success-laden 12-year spell with Mercedes on January 1st. 

With that in mind, RacingNews365 takes a look at five important things you need to know about the move.

Following Alonso and Vettel

Where Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel failed, can Lewis Hamilton succeed?

The two-time and four-time champions both moved to the Scuderia in the hopes of adding a further crown to their CVs, but left empty-handed after a series of near-misses, ironically to Vettel for Alonso and to Hamilton for Vettel. 

Charles Leclerc ran Vettel out of Maranello after his first year at the team in 2019, but Vettel was arguably a spent force and did not have the motivation Hamilton does to secure that record-breaking eighth title he feels he was robbed from winning in 2021.

The three drivers to dominate F1 from the end of the Michael Schumacher era in 2005 to the start of the Max Verstappen in 2021, will now have all driven for Ferrari. 

Will the trio go three-from-three in failure?

13th British driver to race for Ferrari

Hamilton will be the 13th British driver to race for Ferrari in a factory car in the world championship. 

He was set to be the 12th, but Ollie Bearman beat him to that honour when he stepped in for the appendicitis-stricken Carlos Sainz at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, finishing seventh. 

The list of British Ferrari F1 drivers is below. 

Peter Whitehead, Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins, Tony Brooks, Cliff Allison, John Surtees, Mike Parkes, Jonathan Williams, Derek Bell, Nigel Mansell and Eddie Irvine. 

Of those 11 drivers, Hawthorn and Surtees won the 1958 and 1964 world championships, respectively, whilst Collins, Brooks, Mansell and Irvine were also race winners. Mansell would go onto win his 1992 world championship after leaving Ferrari. 

A long courtship is finally over

Hamilton to Ferrari has long been suggested as a dream for the Italian team. 

The courtship has been long, with Hamilton seemingly set to always stay at Mercedes and reject the advances of Maranello, but eventually, the lure proved just too strong. 

Just prepare yourself now for the rather odd sight of Lewis Hamilton in a red fire suit. 

He's won a title with Vasseur before

Hamilton has a long-standing relationship with Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur, going back to his junior career.

In 2006, Vasseur ran ART Grand Prix in GP2, which is now F2, with McLaren placing its protege at the team, with Hamilton going onto become the second GP2 champion, following Nico Rosberg in 2005.

ART is a powerhouse of GP2, with Rosberg, Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg (2009) Stoffel Vandoorne (2015), George Russell (2018), Nyck de Vries (2019) and Theo Pourchaire (2023) all winning the main feeder category title for the team Vasseur founded.

When he will make his debut

Hamilton's official Ferrari debut will be in the Australian Grand Prix on March 16th, with the first practice session on March 14th.

Pre-season testing takes place in Bahrain between February 26-28. 

Hamilton will also be present for the official launch of the new car on February 19th at Fiorano, the day after the F1 75 launch event in London. 

Before that, he is expected to carry out a test in the 2023 Ferrari at Fiorano under the Testing of Previous Cars programme.