Max Verstappen makes exciting early Lewis Hamilton Ferrari prediction | F1 | Sport
Max Verstappen thinks Lewis Hamilton will be “very, very motivated” to prove he can still compete for a championship in his debut season with Ferrari in 2025.
The seven-time world champion has only won two Grands Prix since going toe-to-toe with Red Bull‘s Verstappen for the crown in 2021. The Dutchman has dominated since and secured his fourth successive Drivers’ Championship at the Las Vegas Grand Prix earlier this month.
Lando Norris has had a faster car in the McLaren for half the current season but was unable to trim the commanding gap Verstappen built up early on.
Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri are expected to challenge Verstappen again next year, when Charles Leclerc will be joined by Hamilton, 39, at Ferrari. George Russell will become Mercedes‘ No.1 driver with Hamilton replaced by teenage rookie Kimi Antonelli.
Due to Mercedes‘ struggles, Hamilton has barely gone wheel-to-wheel with Verstappen since 2021. He has amassed 682 championship points across the last three seasons to the 27-year-old’s 1,432.
But the newly-crowned four-time champion expects Hamilton to be reinvigorated next year. Verstappen told PA Sport: “It has been tough for him (Hamilton) to get motivated fully this year because he knows he is leaving the team.
“I felt like as soon as he had that competitive car, and there was a chance of winning, you could see that he really stepped up. Then there were some races where the car was difficult and he was like ‘whatever’.
“I don’t think he will ever lose it. He has achieved so much. It is a new challenge for him next year. He will be very, very motivated to show he is a seven-time world champion. But it will depend on the material he has got.”
Hamilton is into the final two races of his 11-year Mercedes career in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. He will bid an emotional farewell to the Silver Arrows in the Middle East next weekend after 84 race wins, 153 podium finishes and 78 pole positions.
But he will not join Ferrari in time for the post-season Abu Dhabi test, which takes place at the Yas Marina Circuit the Tuesday after the finale.
Hamilton admitted: “Look, I know Fred wanted it to happen. For me, I was in two minds. Driving the red car for the first time in Abu Dhabi does not excite me.
“In a perfect world, you get to drive it, not be seen, and do the first rollout next year. When I did raise it, obviously with Toto [Wolff], they had all these plans that I’ve got to go and see some of the sponsors and say their farewells.
“So I don’t think it was ever going to actually be allowed, even if I had asked to have done it, because I’m contracted to the team until December 31st and that’s totally fine. But it doesn’t bother me again because I wasn’t going to do the test.
“It’s not what I wanted to do. I told Fred that’s not what I wanted to do. Am I missing out on something? For sure. It definitely delays the process and makes the start of the year harder, but we’ll do our best to recover.”
