Ex-F1 driver wants Lewis Hamilton to repeat final Mercedes season with Ferrari

Former F1 driver Antony Davidson gave a rather peculiar demand to Lewis Hamilton for the latter's first Ferrari season.

Ex-F1 driver wants Lewis Hamilton to repeat final Mercedes season with Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton (via Getty)

Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes after over a decade to join Scuderia Ferrari this year. The seven-time world champion hopes for a new start at Maranello. However, former F1 driver Anthony Davidson wants the Briton to replicate his final stint at his new team.

The 2024 season was Hamilton’s best season in the ground-effect era. The F1 star won two races, including a fairytale victory at Silverstone after a 945-day winless streak. Although, things went downhill as well, with the 40-year-old even considering quitting before the end of the campaign.

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Davidson insisted that if Lewis Hamilton can repeat the positive start he had last year, including a race victory or two, then the seven-time world champion would be in a good place. This would set Hamilton’s new journey with the Scuderia on the right starting point. Though, he pointed out that the 40-yar-old would want more.

 Lewis had a brilliant drive at Silverstone, and I think a good year for him will be to start off in year one pretty much just replicating what he’s done at Mercedes in his final year. That will be a good starting point, but I know he’ll be wanting more.

Anthony Davidson told RacingNews365

Lewis Hamilton’s experience to be vital against Charles Leclerc

Hamilton faces the task of matching Charles Leclerc at Ferrari. Anthony Davidson insisted that the seven-time world champion will outqualify the Monegasque on multiple occasions. Moreover, Davidson declared that Lewis Hamilton will use his experience to gain an upper hand on Leclerc when it came to races as well.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton (via IMAGO)
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton (via IMAGO)

He’ll be happy with out-qualifying Leclerc for a good handful of races, but then I am fully expecting him to match Leclerc when it comes to speed in the races and he is probably better [than Leclerc] through his own experience.

Anthony Davidson added

Certainly, Lewis Hamilton’s move to the Italian team is the biggest talking point of 2025. The F1 star would be hoping to match these expectations this year. However, Ferrari will need to first provide the Briton with a car capable of matching the front runners regularly and not just for a race or two every now and then.