Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson criticised Lewis Hamilton at the end of the driver’s first week with Ferrari.
After announcing his decision to leave Mercedes at the end of last season, Hamilton officially began his Ferrari career on January 20.
The seven-time world champion marked the occasion by expressing his excitement in a statement. He wrote: ‘There are some days that you know you’ll remember forever and today, my first as a Ferrari driver, is one of those days.
‘I’ve been lucky enough to have achieved things in my career I never thought possible, but part of me has always held on to that dream of racing in red. I couldn’t be happier to realise that dream today.
‘Today we start a new era in the history of this iconic team, and I can’t wait to see what story we will write together.’
Hamilton’s first week saw him meet his new team, pose for photos with adoring fans and then finally get behind the wheel of a Ferrari as he took to the test track in the Italian town of Maranello. But Clarkson was not overly impressed by the order with which Hamilton did things upon his first official visit to Ferrari HQ.
Lewis Hamilton greeted fans last week on his first official day as a member of the Ferrari team
Hamilton got behind the wheel of a Ferrari for the first time as he visited the team’s test track
Jeremy Clarkson, pictured at last year’s Grand Prix of Bahrain, was rather critical of Hamilton
Writing in The Sun, Clarkson suggested that Hamilton should have visited the factory first, instead of posing for photos in formal attire.
Clarkson was also baffled to see Hamilton take to the test track in a car that was less than brand new.
The TV personality’s other complaints were at Hamilton’s choice to live over 100 miles from Maranello in Milan and with his decision not to use a Ferrari car to commute from the big city.
‘It could be argued that Lewis Hamilton wants a record-breaking eighth world championship before he retires, and moved to Ferrari because he reckons that this year they will have the fastest car,’ Clarkson wrote in his column. ‘He may have a point. Early indications on the rumour mill suggest it’s very fast indeed.
‘However, if he’s so keen on that eighth world title, you’d imagine that he’d have arrived at the factory on day one, keen to know the car’s secrets and how he can extract the most from its vast arsenal of racing trickery.
‘Instead, he turned up in an SUV in a suit and tie and posed for pictures before talking to fans, under the watchful eye of a video drone which luckily was there to capture the moment.
‘Next, there was a tour of the team’s headquarters where, in slow motion, we saw the fawning engineers and the applause.
‘And then, eventually, he went on to the track, in an F1 Ferrari that’s three years old. I’m told his new house isn’t anywhere near the team’s HQ. It’s in Milan, and he doesn’t even commute in a Ferrari road car, choosing instead to use Fiat’s helicopter. It made me wonder. What is Lewis now? A driver? Or a superstar?
Hamilton pictured waving to fans at Fiorano Modenese, near the Italian town of Maranello
Ferrari’s headquarters are in Maranello but Hamilton is living over 100 miles away in Milan
‘What I do know is he’ll have his work cut out to beat his team-mate Charles Leclerc, who speaks Italian, knows the team, doesn’t spend quite so long posing for pictures and, thanks to a single-lap shootout, is regarded by many to be the fastest driver of them all.
‘Maybe Lewis is aware of this. And maybe he signed for Ferrari for a different reason – he knows he’s past his prime now and he didn’t want to retire having never driven for motorsport’s crown jewel. Either way, I wish him well.’
Hamilton is one of only two drivers in F1 history to win seven world titles. The other, Michael Schumacher, retired in 2012.
But Hamilton, 40, has not been F1’s top driver since 2020, with Max Verstappen ending each of the last four seasons in first place.
Hamilton’s first official race for Ferrari will take place in mid-March when the 2025 season kicks off with the Melbourne Grand Prix.