Paddy Lowe has now warned Ferrari of the ‘tension’ risk that ‘everybody’ will feel in Maranello when Lewis Hamilton joins from Mercedes in the 2025 Formula 1 season.
The Scuderia are eagerly awaiting the 39-year-old’s arrival in Italy after luring Hamilton away from Mercedes. He agreed to a multi-year contract with Ferrari in February and will replace Carlos Sainz in red. It will also mark the end of F1’s most successful driver-team pairing ever.
Hamilton has been at Mercedes since 2013 and won six of his seven drivers’ titles, including two with Lowe at the team. He also won the 2008 drivers’ championship with McLaren with Lowe in Woking, too. They worked together for a decade as both moved to Brackley in 2013.
Paddy Lowe fears Lewis Hamilton will create ‘tension’ at Ferrari
Mercedes have also seen Hamilton take 78 of his Formula 1 record 104 pole positions, stand on 150 of his 199 podiums to date and also get 83 of his record 104 Grand Prix victories. The Stevenage-born star had his latest win at Silverstone as Hamilton won the British Grand Prix.
But Lowe believes the mechanics in Maranello will even feel further pressure from Hamilton joining Ferrari. While they will know the Briton will extract everything he can from their car, those designing and building the Scuderia’s challenger will feel they have to deliver for him.
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Hamilton switching Mercedes for Ferrari next year is a double-edged sword for the Scuderia in Lowe’s mind that way. He can also see the clear benefits from having one of F1’s greatest drivers join, having experienced the same lift when Nigel Mansell re-joined Williams in 1991.
Lowe outlined to RacingNews365: “When you have a driver of Lewis’ calibre, an outstanding driver by all measures, come to work and drive your car – and I tell you this given the effect of Nigel at Williams – it psychologically boosts the team.
“Lewis, we can’t deny, is a phenomenon. On the one hand, you go, ‘Wow! He is someone who is going to maximise my work [and] is going to ring the neck of this car. That’s as quick as it will be’.
“And on the other, everybody feels that tension of, ‘I have to deliver against that challenge, that opportunity’. People pull their fingers out when they understand they’re going to get one of the greatest drivers of all time in their car. I think these things work in synergy.”
Lewis Hamilton will add pressure to Ferrari’s quest for a first F1 title in 16 years
Hamilton adding ‘tension’ in Maranello would only add to the immense pressure those who work for Ferrari in Formula 1 already have every day. The Scuderia are the pride of Italy and carry the weight of a nation on their shoulders. It has also been 16 years since their last title.
Ferrari last topped the team’s championship in 2008, when Hamilton also denied them that year’s drivers’ title while with McLaren. Felipe Massa missed out on the drivers’ title by only one point to the Briton as he tried to follow teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who won it in 2007.
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Had Hamilton not suffered a gearbox issue at the season-ending Brazilian GP, he might have also denied Raikkonen and Ferrari the 2007 drivers’ title as a rookie. Now, he will carry their title hopes next year and into Formula 1’s 2026 regulation changes beside Charles Leclerc.
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