Hamilton hoping to break 70-year F1 drought at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton will be hoping to end a 70-year wait for Ferrari in 2025, something he can achieve by winning for the Scuderia. 

After departing Mercedes, Hamilton is taking his iconic #44 from Brackley to Maranello to partner Charles Leclerc. 

Indeed, it will be the first time since the 1966 Italian Grand Prix that the #44 will adorn the side of the Cavallino Rampante when Giancarlo Baghetti was not classified in front of the Tifosi. 

But the wait for a win for a Ferrari #44 goes back even further, to the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix. 

These were the days when driver race numbers were not consistent race-by-race, with a formal structuring system not being adopted until 1973.

That day, Frenchman Maurice Trintignant claimed the first of two grand prix victories (incidentally, both came in Monaco, the other being in 1958) on a day best remembered for an F1 first. 

This was the race where Alberto Ascari, racing for Lancia, misjudged the seafront chicane and crashed into the harbour, his car sinking to the bottom of the Mediterranean. 

Ascari survived but would be killed four days later in a testing accident at Monza. 

When Hamilton does line-up on the grid at Albert Park for his first Ferrari race, it will be just the fifth time #44 has been carried in a world championship F1 grand prix.