Villeneuve: Hamilton needs to be loved by Ferrari

Hamilton to Ferrari headlines on the first day of February last year only served to prolong the agony of the great driver's separation from Mercedes. The team and Sir Lewis rewrote F1 records in a decade-long spell in which they 'owned' the top flight.

But, slipping down the pecking order from the top perch has been painful for Hamilton and Mercedes since 2021. The announcement, a year before it was set to happen means they endured one of the sport's longest goodbyes. Finally, now it is time for Ferrari.

As Hamilton is due to drive to his new office at Maranello, Villeneuve weighed in on the biggest F1 story of this century and what it will take to complete the fairytale move, namely Grand Prix wins and that elusive eighth world title.

"He needs the right car," ventured 1997 F1 World Champion Villeneuve. "He's had no involvement in the development of this Ferrari car, whereas he did at Mercedes, and maybe that's why it became tough for him. You could argue it may have been an extra weight for him to carry.

"At Ferrari, he'll arrive knowing he's had no involvement in the car for 2025. I think that will make it a little bit easier as he'll have time to adapt and can then make the car his. It seems as if he needs to be loved, but I don't know him well enough. It just seems he's very receptive to external noise, both positive and negative," ventured Villeneuve.

Hamilton's move to Ferrari meant the Italians had to get rid of well-performing and popular Carlos Sainz, hanging on to their 'homegrown' driver Charles Leclerc, who has been the team's 'chosen one' since he destroyed Sebastian Vettel on track when the pair were teammates at the Scuderia.

Be sure 27-year-old Leclerc will be looking to do the same to his new teammate Hamilton, reckons Villeneuve: "Charles will want to be a world champion and has always been the Ferrari golden boy, but Lewis has nothing to prove—he's won everything already! The only thing missing for Lewis is winning with Ferrari.

"When you have so many wins and world championships to your name already, it won't change his life. Sportsmen always need that carrot to chase and something to aim for, though, and becoming the best driver of all time by winning with Ferrari will be just that for him.

"A lot of work was put in place at Ferrari before Frederic Vasseur arrived, and now it's starting to come to fruition. We'll also see what influence Sainz had. When he joins a team, they usually get better, and when he leaves, they usually get worse. That's what we've seen previously."

Regarding Ferrari being forced to sacrifice Sainz so Hamilton could slot in, Villeneuve reckoned: "You can't regret picking Lewis (and letting Sainz leave). Ferrari has been working on Leclerc for so long now; it was always going to be Sainz who leaves. He would have known that. We'll see how Ferrari performs, but you can never regret picking Lewis."

The question Tifosi, and all of F1, are asking: How will Hamilton do in Red? Villeneuve explained, "It's a bit of a difficult one. Ferrari was the surprise package during the later stages of the season and obviously has a car that is competitive, easy enough to drive, and that the drivers can play around with a little bit.

"It just depends on how he gets to that first race in Melbourne. If he gets there, feeling loved by the team and sitting in a car that works for him, we will see marvels. If it's difficult, we may see the same problems he's had in recent years, and there could be some self-doubt by the time the season ends.

It wouldn't be nice to see as he's been carrying a lot of weight since losing the championship title to Max. He needs to have that behind him. Hopefully, the move to Ferrari gives him a fresh start. The first few races may be difficult, but he just needs to stick at it and work hard.

"I think he just needs to be pampered a little bit. When that happens, he can be unbeatable," predicts Villeneuve. Time will tell if Hamilton does become an eight-time F1 World Champion, breaking the current tie with Michael Schumacher. Before that, he will need to add to his incredible tally of 105 Grand Prix victories.