F1 champion issues DOUBT over Lewis Hamilton Ferrari move

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Saudi Arabia, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

F1 champion issues DOUBT over Hamilton Ferrari move

The seven-time world champion has made the switch to Ferrari for the 2025 season

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 18 March 2024 19:58 Updated: 22:50

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Former Formula 1 world champion Alan Jones has suggested that Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari move may not be the attractive prospect it looked just a few months ago.

Hamilton shocked the F1 world when he revealed that he would be making the switch to Maranello ahead of the 2025 season, ditching the Mercedes team with whom he has won six of his seven world championship titles.

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One of the most successful drivers in F1 history heading to the most successful and iconic team on the grid gave F1 fans a mouthwatering prospect when the stunning move was first announced.

However, Hamilton has started the 2024 season off in poor fashion, while Ferrari are still looking incapable of challenging Red Bull for race victories in the short term.

Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari in 2025

Lewis Hamilton has struggled so far in 2024

Jones criticises Hamilton's form

Hamilton finished the opening two races of the season in seventh and ninth respectively, and is currently sitting down in ninth place in the drivers' championship.

His Mercedes team-mate George Russell has beaten the 39-year-old in both qualifying sessions and both races so far, as Hamilton struggles to get to grips with his new W15 car.

Now, Jones has suggested that Ferrari may need more than just Hamilton, if they are to challenge for world championships in the future.

“I don’t know whether [Hamilton] going to Ferrari is going to be the end all and be all of what Ferrari needs,” Jones told the Herald Sun.

“Okay, it was good because when he signed for Ferrari their share price just went up by about $20 billion or something.

“But at the end of the day, Lewis has really got to start to pull his finger out a little bit quite frankly. George Russell is now starting to give him a bit of a hiding now most times and the more that goes on, the more that will play on him.

“Once again the more fashion shows that he goes to and the more that he sprouts around the place, that is not going to help him either.

“I really don’t think it was [the right move for Ferrari] to be honest. In terms of increasing their share price, yes. But I just don’t think he is going to be the [answer].”

“I think so, yes,” Jones affirmed when asked if Hamilton’s best could be behind him.