Lewis Hamilton Set for Ferrari Debut at Australian Grand Prix with Emphasis on Personal Fulfillment and Team Success

Lewis Hamilton says he does not feel any pressure to prove himself as he starts his Ferrari career at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The seven-time champion left Mercedes after 12 seasons in which they became the most successful team-driver combination in Formula 1 history.

The 40-year-old Briton won six of his drivers’ titles between 2014 and 2020 but has won only two races since the start of the 2022 season.

Hamilton said in Melbourne: “I am under no assumptions it will be easy. I don’t feel the pressure. The outside pressure is non-existent for me. The pressure is from within and what I want to achieve.

“I am not here to prove anything to anybody. I have done it time and time again. I know what it takes to do a good job and that’s what I want to deliver, for myself, and my family, for this team that I really believe deserve success.

“They are so driven and maybe they have not had as much success as they would like and deserve. Just want to work towards and contribute to doing it.”

Hamilton was relaxed and smiling speaking to the media in Thursday’s news conference, oozing the positivity that has characterised him since he moved to Ferrari.

He described these days preparing for his Ferrari debut as “definitely the most exciting period of my life. I’m really enjoying it, and I’m so excited to get in the car”.

Hamilton said it “looks like it is going to be close” between Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes this season.

And he said he still had work to do to perform at his optimum at Ferrari, because he was getting to grips with the team and car.

“I am still learning this new car, which is quite a lot different to what I have driven all through my career,” Hamilton said.

“Ferrari power, after all my career with Mercedes, is a different feel, different vibration.

“The sooner you can perform to a higher level, the better, but inevitably there is a transition period and a foundation that needs to be built. Relationships, trust with everyone. Respect is given but trust is something built over time.

“I have had some not-so-spectacular years and I am trying to make sure I have a better one, but there will be lots of factors go into that.”

Hamilton is teamed with Charles Leclerc at Ferrari and said he had been impressed by the 27-year-old’s “work ethic”.

“It is not too dissimilar to mine,” Hamilton said. “Just getting on with it. He is very much Mr Ferrari and it has been really cool to work alongside him.”

Leclerc joined Ferrari in 2019 and has been faster than both his team-mates, Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz. The Monegasque rejected any suggestion that he was “Mr Ferrari”.

“There is no place for one particular driver in Ferrari,” Leclerc said. “Ferrari is bigger than any drivers. And that has always been the case. That’s what makes Ferrari so special. There is support of the team and not one specific driver.