Lewis Hamilton shares emotional first post as a Ferrari F1 driver with throwback snap

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has officially started life as a Ferrari driver, with his contract beginning on New Year’s Day ahead of the 2025 Formula 1 season

Lewis Hamilton has shared a childhood photo to celebrate his first official day as a Ferrari driver.

Hamilton, 39, began his contract with the Scuderia on January 1, having chosen to leave Mercedes after 11 years racing for the Silver Arrows. The legendary Brit won six of his seven world championships at Mercedes but wants a new challenge for the 2025 Formula 1 season.

Having agreed to join Ferrari just under a year ago in what was a decision which rocked the F1 paddock, Hamilton wasted no time on New Year’s Day to remind fans of exactly how long he’s been dreaming of driving in their iconic red. The 39-year-old took to social media platform X to post an image of himself as a youngster, driving a kart while wearing a red helmet.

Hamilton already had his iconic No.44 on the front of his kart and will sport the same number alongside new team-mate Charles Leclerc, who wears No.16. Ferrari even waited until 16:44 in Italy to celebrate Hamilton’s arrival on X.

“Perfect time for a follow @LewisHamilton,” Ferrari, who finished as runners-up in the 2024 Constructors’ Championship table, posted.

Hamilton revealed back in February that he was ‘fulfilling’ a childhood dream by joining Ferrari, who are based in Maranello, Italy. “I feel incredibly fortunate, after achieving things with Mercedes that I could only have dreamed of as a kid, that I now have the chance to fulfil another childhood dream. Driving in Ferrari red,” he said.

“The time is right to make a change and take on a new challenge. I still remember the feeling of taking a leap of faith into the unknown when I first joined Mercedes in 2013. I know some people didn’t understand it at the time but I was right to make the move then and it’s the feeling I have again now. I’m excited to see what I can bring to this new opportunity and what we can do together.”

Will Lewis Hamilton win an eighth world championship with Ferrari? Give us your prediction in the comments section.

Ferrari team principal, Frederic Vasseur, isn’t only excited to see Hamilton’s quality on the track but also what he can add to their team culture. “I think it’s always important to have people coming from other teams with a different culture. It’s nothing to do with Italians or English or whatever,” Vasseur said last month.

“And it’s not; it’s just that we are in the business. When the transfer of know-how is important, and we are, as Ferrari, we are a bit isolated, but it will be a good push for us to have; it’s already the case because we were recruited a little bit on some other team to some other team.”