RED DAWN.

THE FERRARI EFFECT, HAMILTON CAPTURED : "THERE'S A PASSION THAT DRAGS YOU IN"

Originally Published in: Gazzetta dello Sport

Originally Published on: Jan 23rd 2025

Originally Written by: Mario Salvini

You realise that it was one of those days that are worth a whole life when the solemnity suggested by the protocol mixes with the essence of what you are. The spirit of the place you come from and the people who have passed it on to you. When the emotion planned to be global also becomes private, to be placed in the album alongside those primordial moments you feared you would never live again. Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver of all time. "I've already lived so many first times," he said yesterday. "The first test, the first podium, the first victory, the first World Championship. So I wasn't sure how many more 'firsts' I could still experience." This one in Maranello is certainly one of them. And so yesterday he wanted his dad and mom with him. And she, Mrs. Carmen, while her son was ready to get into a Ferrari for the first time and surrounded by a throng of cameramen ready to broadcast the moment around the world, pulled out her iPhone and took her pictures. As if Lewis were a little boy again, on a go-kart. Then he started the car and, he will say shortly after, "I had the biggest smile on my face."

ⓒ LA GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT

THE WAIT It was 9:16 when, after waiting for the fog to lift, the SF-23 with the number 44 emerged and headed towards the first corner and the backdrop of the overpass turned stadium. With flags, banners, and well over a thousand fans packed into four or five rows blocking the bike path, plus others down below, along the embankment and up to the fences. Nothing comparable to any other presentation, not in the last 25 years. Someone had already been there for five hours to get the best spot. In the prologue of a show that promises never-before-seen emotions. Just imagining them was enough to convince many that they had to be there, on that overpass, under the rain that would soon start to fall. They thought so, and millions of fans around the world are fueling unprecedented anticipation and expectations. Ferrari and Hamilton, together, are the most explosive combination possible. Even before embarking together, they hinted at an unimaginable F1. The photo, released on Monday, with Hamilton in front of the office building that belonged to Enzo, is already the most admired icon ever for the Scuderia, the driver, and F1 itself, with - as of last night - 5.3 million "Likes." It is history and at the same time an invitation to exegesis, to discover the hidden meaning. There is a suit worn by Lewis, which is similar to one he wore on the day he became Sir, as if to say that Maranello is as valuable to him as Buckingham Palace. There are, visibly, 7 windows, like the world titles, and a door to cross. There’s the F40 that reflects the round age reached by Lewis two weeks ago. The Scuderia and the driver are the most victorious ever, and they know how to tell their story.

IN THE VEINS Together they will take us where we have never been. In a world that the TVs of half the planet yesterday, outside the Fiorano circuit, tried to broadcast the trailer. While Lewis, with his yellow helmet and not red as we would have expected, was accumulating 30 laps and 89 kilometers of promises. Taking notes in a notebook, between outings, like a good apprentice. Under the watchful eye of his trusted Angela Cullen - physiotherapist, motivator, assistant who suddenly returned to his side. Impressive the bridge noise at the first pass of Lewis. And even more the silence when at the end of the second stint he stopped the SF-23 at the beginning of the straight for a start simulation. Then, until 11:17, he tried to gain confidence with the car's procedures, made some lock-ups, and began to get to know Riccardo Adami, who will guide him from the pit wall. "It reminded me of the very first time I tested an F1 car" - he would say later - "almost twenty years later I felt the same emotions." And after the debriefing with the engineers, with Fred Vasseur and the handshake from Piero Ferrari, he returned to the track. As a passenger in a car that took him under the corner, understood as a bridge. For the real presentation. Not to the press, to the sponsors, to the VIPs of the paddock: to the people. His new people. Who for hours, some for days, had been up there waiting for him. Waiting. The old enemy became a man of providence. "Bring us/bring us/bring us the Championship," they sang to him. He struck his fist on his chest. He joined the palms of his hands in a sign of gratitude. "Here, passion flows in the veins of everyone; it is impossible not to be swept away. I am incredibly grateful for the affection. And off we go, the end of a day with an English climate and Italian warmth. Of a moment that, said the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton: 'it was one of the most beautiful of my life.'"

[Translation proof reading by @F1REAKS / X]