Hamilton rates Ferrari's F1 title chances after driving new car

Lewis Hamilton has told Ferrari it is a team capable of challenging for the 2025 F1 world championship. 

Hamilton got to grips with his new SF-25 machine for the first time on Wednesday (February 19th) at Fiorano after weeks of testing of previous cars (TPC) running to get up to speed with Ferrari systems.

Hamilton is hoping to become just the second driver in F1 history to win drivers' titles with three or more teams, having won his first crown in 2008 with McLaren before six with Mercedes in seven years between 2014 and 2020.

Should he win the title with the Scuderia, Hamilton would become the first driver since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1956 to win with at least three teams, with the Argentine actually winning his fourth crown with Ferrari that season. 

Evaluating Ferrari's chances, Hamilton was firm in his belief that Ferrari was well-placed to win its first drivers' title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, and a first constructors' since 2008.

"Yes," Hamilton replied when asked by media including RacingNews365 if he felt Ferrari was a team capable of winning the world championship.

When further pushed to explain his reasoning, Hamilton explained his thoughts.

"I mean, I've worked with two world championship-winning teams, and I know what a winning team looks and feels like. 

"Everyone here has the passion like nothing you've ever seen, and they've absolutely got every ingredient they need to win a world championship.

"It is just about putting all these pieces together, and we've got a great leader in Fred [Vassuer, team principal], and then John [Elkann, Ferrari president] and Benedetto [Vigna, Ferrari CEO].

"Everyone has a great, calm and good approach. No-one is like 'we are perfect in every area', it was like 'we need to elevate everywhere' and they're leaving no stone unturned to try and do that."

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