Sir Jackie Stewart believes it would be foolish to count Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari out of the 2025 Formula 1 title race.
Rarely in the sport’s history has there been so much interest in a driver leaving one team for another. But Hamilton’s decision to quit Mercedes to live out his childhood dream of racing for Ferrari has captured the imagination.
The first few images of the Brit wearing red Ferrari merchandise have already become iconic. And there is no doubt that the signing of the seven-time champion will be a huge commercial success for the Italians who are already reaping the rewards on that front.
But a big part of the reason why Hamilton has joined Ferrari is because he believes it will give him the best chance of becoming champion one more time before he retires. Whether or not the 40-year-old can achieve that remains to be seen.
F1 legend Sir Jackie Stewart has been reflecting on the magnitude of the move. And, asked by Sky Sports whether he believes Hamilton can achieve what he wants in Ferrari colours, the Scot refused to write off the seven-time champion.
Sir Jackie said: “He’s more experienced than he was last year and the years before that, he knows the business very well. Ferrari is the biggest name in the world. If you went to a Maasai warrior in the middle of Africa and said, ‘Do you know anything about Ferrari?’ They would know the name Ferrari.
“For Lewis, I was surprised he was going there. Going to Ferrari is very colourful, very exciting and usually very successful. I wouldn’t count them out, to put it that way.”
Three-time F1 champion Sir Jackie is a legend of the sport whose opinions often carry great weight. Hamilton is unlikely to pay too much attention, though, judging by his previous response when Stewart called upon his fellow Brit to retire to “protect his legacy” in 2022.
In response to that, and to former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone defending another ex-champion Nelson Piquet’s racist slur directed at Hamilton, he questioned at that year’s British Grand Prix why “old voices” were still being given a platform to speak.
He said: “In the last couple of weeks, I don’t think a day has gone by when someone who has not been relevant in our sport for decades has not been saying negative things and trying to bring me down… We should not be giving these people a platform. I’ve always tried to be respectful to these individuals but why did we give these guys a platform?”
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