Lewis Hamilton says his new Formula 1 team Ferrari is ready to win world championships again.
Ferrari's current title drought stretches back to 2007 on the drivers' title front and 2008 in terms of constructors' titles, but Hamilton's arrival has followed an upturn in the team's form and its closest, albeit ultimately still unsuccessful, push for a title in over a decade.
Hamilton spoke with the media extensively for the first time this Wednesday, as part of a Ferrari season launch event that also granted him his first Ferrari SF-25 laps in the Fiorano shakedown.
When asked by The Race whether he has found in Ferrari a team ready to fight for the F1 world title already, he gave a short and confident answer: "Yes."
Prodded to elaborate, Hamilton pointed to his experience with McLaren and Mercedes.
"I've worked with two world championship-winning teams before. I know what a winning team looks and feels like. Everyone here is… the passion here is like nothing you've ever seen. They've got absolutely every ingredient they need to win a world championship. It's just about putting all the pieces together.
"And we've got a great leader in Fred [Vasseur, team boss] and in John [Elkann, executive chairman] and in Benedetto [Vigna, CEO] and so... everyone just has a really calm and good approach.
"Nobody's like 'we're perfect', in every single area everyone's like 'we need to elevate everywhere' and they're leaving no stone unturned to try and do that."
Hamilton likewise answered confidently in the affirmative when asked whether he now felt better than ever about his chances of finally capturing that elusive eighth world title.
Team-mate Charles Leclerc said Hamilton's arrival - and all the hype that comes with it - has come "in the right time" specifically because of Vasseur's calming presence.
"Fred is a guy that has a very big strength of keeping the emotional level of the team at a very good level and we've been so much more solid on that in the last past years,” said Leclerc.
"And obviously the fact that Lewis has joined the team has been a big boost and has been amazing in so many ways, but I feel like the team is very very calm. Very calm and very clear in what is the direction to work in and not getting too affected by everything."
Hamilton emphasises adaptation period
While Hamilton spoke boisterously about both Ferrari's current capacities and his own enthusiasm and motivation, he also repeatedly emphasised the sheer scope of the challenge he faces in terms of the adaptation.
He said being at the team "feels natural and right" but indicated the actual in-car experience could hardly be a bigger shift from the Mercedes cars he had driven across his time there.
"It's completely different. I thought ‘it's [simply] another F1 car’. When I went from McLaren to Mercedes there were similarities but I guess it's still powered by Mercedes, so the sound, the vibration was all the same or similar. Slightly different characteristics of car. [Whereas] this is a step with the whole thing being completely different.
“It's a really exciting experience. This is something I've really enjoyed trying to wrap my mind around, particularly also just in settings and the terminology they use, the different ways that they can set up a car. That's taken some getting used to, for sure."
Hamilton said he couldn't possibly put a timeframe on how long it would take him to get on top of it all - "I am still acclimatising", he acknowledged, and he pointed out F1 testing is as limited as it's ever been.
He also said the early highlights achieved by the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso in their own Ferrari stints were "even more exceptional than even I had appreciated before" given the acclimatisation required.
"It took me six months I think at Mercedes to get my first win. Honestly, I don't know [how long this process will take] - but I'm doing everything I can to be ready for race one."
