Guenther Steiner has insisted Lewis Hamilton has "nothing to prove" when he joins Ferrari next season due to his status as a seven-time F1 champion and that he is "above pressure".
Hamilton announced ahead of this season that it would be his last with Mercedes before joining Ferrari to replace Carlos Sainz on a multi-year deal.
Steiner believes that joining the Maranello-based outfit will stoke the fire inside following a tricky few years with Mercedes since the introduction of the current regulations, even though the team provided him with a car on Sunday at the British Grand Prix to finally win a race after a two-and-a-half-year drought.
"I'm pretty sure he has still got that hunger and, obviously, next year going to Ferrari that will rejuvenate him as well," Steiner told select media including RacingNews365.
"I think Lewis is above pressure. Put this way, in his life he has achieved so much that he has become an icon of the sport.
"But he took the decision to go there. He's a seven-time world champion, he has nothing to prove. It will not be him failing Ferrari, that's my opinion.
"I mean, you know how Ferrari is. They have tried to win the world championship, I don't know how long. It was so long ago that I don't remember."
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Hamilton's 'difficult task'
The goal for Hamilton is to end Ferrari's wait for a driver's championship, acquiring their last in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen.
In doing so, the 39-year-old would also clinch an unprecedented eighth world title. After signing a multi-year deal, time is on the side of the 104-time race winner.
He also has the familiar face of Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur by his side, who he has known since his junior career, which Steiner feels will prove crucial for Hamilton.
"For sure, it's a challenge for him," continued Steiner. "And we all know that he's got a very good relationship with Fred Vasseur, that's one of the reasons he goes there.
"When he was younger, in the lower series, he always raced for Fred's team at the time. So they are good friends, and that will help. They will try to do it together, and I think it's a good idea.
"Will it work out? We don't know. It's a very difficult task to win a world championship, and Ferrari is always almost there, but never really there. It's one of those things at some stage.
"Obviously, they think that their time will come. He's signed for quite a few years to make sure he's got enough time to get it done."
Steiner was speaking at a select media event as the new brand ambassador of Buffalo Trace Bourbon.
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