HAMILTON'S GALAXY

LEWIS IN FERRARI FINDS VASSEUR AND THE FORMER MERCEDES TEAM MEMBERS BUT CHANGES ENGINEER.

Originally Published in: Gazzetta dello Sport

Originally Published on: Jan 3rd 2025

Originally Written by: Giulia Toninelli

We win and we lose together. Lewis Hamilton has repeated this dozens of times throughout his Formula 1 career, recalling it in the most beautiful moments of success and in the most difficult ones, marked by anger and disappointment. A phrase that has become a symbol of a work ethic for the British champion who has always emphasised the importance of the group in Formula 1, superior even to the driver's talent. For this moment of great change, like that of his passage to Ferrari, for Hamilton to have a galaxy of trusted people around him, which he can use as a reference point, is of crucial importance.

ⓒ LA GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT

Vasseur 20 years later At the top of the key points of the arrival in Maranello of the seven-time world champion is Ferrari's team principal Fred Vasseur. A return to the past for Lewis, who finds the French engineer at his side twenty years after their first time together on the track. A story that began in 2005 when the young talent was chosen by Vasseur to race with the ASM team in the Formula 3 Euro Series, a team founded by the Frenchman together with ART Grand Prix, with which Lewis won the following year in 2006 in GP2, the junior category to Formula 1. A choice that proved successful and led Hamilton to make his debut in the top series in 2007. Over time, the relationship with Vasseur has not cooled and during the driver’s move to Ferrari, the presence of the team principal played an important role.

The ex mercedes Lewis will find two important faces in Maranello, known in Brackley during his years with the Mercedes team. The first is the French engineer Loic Serra, the new technical director of Ferrari, who shared the most beautiful seasons of world successes with the champion. Serra, who was with Mercedes from 2010 to 2023, will thus return to work with a driver for whom he has great respect: "Lewis will bring experience and dedication to work," the engineer of the Prancing Horse said. "He has many qualities, but the one that over the years has surprised me the most is his ability to "feel" the car and understand what is lacking. These are fundamental indications for the technicians." From Mercedes to Ferrari, the Englishman will also find Jerome d'Ambrosio, the new vice-team principal and head of the Ferrari Driver Academy, who worked in Brackley in 2023: "Hamilton knows how to manage a work group and he won't take long to adapt to Italy and Maranello." An important change among the challenges that the Englishman will have to face in his first year at Ferrari, there will be an adjustment period with the new track engineer who will assist him throughout the season. After twelve years with Peter Bonnington, the trusted man of the champion during his dominance in F1, Hamilton will change his point of reference. Bonnington chose to remain with Toto Wolff’s team, and alongside Lewis at Ferrari will be the Brescia-born Riccardo Adami, former track engineer for Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz. The first months of 2025 will serve the seven-time world champion to get used to the new pairing: "It's a very important relationship," the driver explained, "your engineer needs to be someone you trust. I will quickly understand whether things are working or not."

Extra team An athlete of Lewis Hamilton's caliber never moves alone. Outside of the Ferrari dynamics, where the Englishman will rely on the team for the complete management of his work, there will be a series of private collaborators that Lewis will bring with him on the Italian adventure, continuing to work on personal projects parallel to F1. Professionals who over the years have worked with Hamilton while staying behind the scenes, such as manager Marc Hynes, a former driver and long-time friend of the Brit, with whom he resumed collaboration in early 2024. Alongside him will also move photographers, trainers, security personnel, and at least one figure for communication and public relations outside Formula 1. Maintaining continuity as much as possible in a complex universe like that surrounding Hamilton will be of vital importance, especially in the early Italian months when all his energies will be focused on Maranello.

[Translation proof reading by @F1REAKS / X]