Lewis Hamilton’s blockbuster move to Ferrari was hailed as a marriage of legend and legacy, but whispers of doubt are growing louder. The seven-time champion, now 40, has faced a rocky start to his scarlet chapter—grappling with mixed results, technical disqualifications, and scrutiny over whether his star power overshadows his speed.
As Ferrari reaps a financial windfall from his arrival, former F2 champ and pundit Davide Valsecchi poses a thorny question: Can Hamilton still deliver peak performance, or is he riding the coattails of his iconic status?
Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari Gambit: Image vs. performance
Davide Valsecchi, a respected voice in Italian motorsport, isn’t ready to call Hamilton’s signing a misstep—yet. “Without him, Ferrari wouldn’t have this image revival,” he admits, referencing the team’s eightfold merchandise sales spike since Hamilton’s debut. But commercially savvy doesn’t equate to track dominance. Valsecchi notes Lewis Hamilton’s “low performance” over the past three years, contrasting him with Max Verstappen’s relentless consistency.
“With Verstappen, you get a guarantee. With Lewis, you don’t,” he asserts.
Hamilton’s Ferrari tenure began with promise—a sprint win in China—but unraveled swiftly. A 10th-place finish in Australia and a disqualification in Shanghai for excessive skid-block wear (his second in 18 months) cast shadows. While teammate Charles Leclerc adapts to the car’s quirks, Hamilton’s struggles highlight a deeper concern: age.
“At 40, you can’t perform like 25,” Valsecchi cautions. “Even losing two-tenths of a second makes Charles unbeatable.”
The Monegasque Leclerc, fluent in Ferrari’s culture and renowned for blistering one-lap pace, looms as Hamilton’s toughest intra-team challenge. Valsecchi believes Leclerc’s familiarity and raw speed could eclipse Lewis Hamilton’s racecraft, regardless of the Brit’s wet-weather prowess or strategic maturity.
Beyond the stopwatch, critics like Jeremy Clarkson speculate Hamilton’s move was less about titles and more about legacy.
“Maybe he knew his prime was fading and wanted Ferrari’s prestige before retiring,” Clarkson mused, painting the switch as a sentimental finale rather than a competitive gamble.
Yet, Hamilton’s resolve remains unshaken. His eyes are fixed on an eighth crown—a redemption arc after 2021’s controversial Abu Dhabi finale. Ferrari, title-less since 2008, craves that glory. But as Valsecchi quips, if the championship comes, he’d “prefer it with Leclerc.”
For now, Lewis Hamilton’s story at Ferrari is a tale of two narratives: one of commercial triumph and global buzz, the other of a champion fighting time, physics, and rising doubt. Whether he silences skeptics or succumbs to F1’s relentless evolution will define this high-stakes chapter.