Ferrari have F1 star identified to replace Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Jack Doohan and Kimi Antonelli line up before the Bahrain Grand Prix — Photo: © IMAGO

Ferrari

Ferrari have F1 star identified to replace Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has had a disappointing start to his Ferrari career

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Thursday 21 August 2025 08:57 Updated: 11:16

Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari F1 career has been filled with disappointment and negativity so far.

2025 has seen the seven-time world champion plummet down to sixth in the drivers' championship while not even being able to secure a single grand prix podium in the first 14 race weekends of the season.

And that has come despite all the pre-season optimism which filled the Maranello-based outfit following his signing from Mercedes off the back of the team having come within 11 points of securing their first title since 2008 during the 2024 season.

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Hamilton's decision to leave Mercedes for Ferrari came with the hope that he would be able to once again challenge for an unprecedented eighth world title himself, but it has been Mercedes that have looked more likely to be able to challenge McLaren for race wins than the Scuderia.

Ferrari are, however, currently sat above Mercedes in the constructors' championship up in second, partly down to 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli's struggling performances in recent weeks.

Just like he did at Mercedes, though, Antonelli is probably the favourite to replace Hamilton at Ferrari once the 40-year-old decides to call time on his F1 career.

Kimi Antonelli has excelled in his rookie season

Who will replace Hamilton at Ferrari?

The timing works. Hamilton is due to be out of contract at the end of the 2026 season. While Antonelli has not yet penned a new deal, it is likely that the teen sensation will only sign a one-year deal, with Mercedes interested in acquiring Max Verstappen's services in the near future.

That would make Antonelli Ferrari's number one priority. He's Italian, he's young, and he would very much allow Ferrari to go back to a driver lineup where there is a clear number one driver in Charles Leclerc and a clear number two in Antonelli.

Think Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa or, going back to Ferrari's most successful period, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. This dynamic is what Ferrari favour in their driver lineup, and they haven't got that in Leclerc and Hamilton despite the pair's performances in 2025 beginning to look that way.

There is clear world champion pedigree in Antonelli, and his start to this season proved that, claiming his first grand prix podium and first pole position in the sport within the first 10 races of his rookie season.

However, the inconsistencies in his performances are clear for all to see. Since picking up that maiden podium in Canada, Antonelli has scored just a single point across the next four race weekends.

It will be interesting to see whether those inconsistencies will be ironed out in his sophomore season next year, but he would be an instant hit at Ferrari simply because of his Italian heritage.

He experienced great support at Imola despite being a Mercedes driver, and will likely have a similar feeling at Monza in September.

Antonelli has also handled well the pressure of being thrown straight into a 'big' team, rather than spending a season or two at an outfit lower down the pecking order, and he will soon be ready to make the step up to the biggest and most successful team on the F1 grid.

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