Hamilton excited by "daunting" challenge at Ferrari

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton insists that he expects a very different environment at Ferrari, but he considers his new journey as a "daunting challenge".

Lewis Hamilton announced his shock departure from Mercedes on the 1st of February. The announcement caught the Formula One community by surprise as the seven-time world champion was due to race for the Brackley-based outfit until the end of 2025.

However, the Briton elected to terminate his contract at the end of the current season and seek for a new challenge at Ferrari next year. Hamilton is statistically the most successful driver in the history of Formula One, but he is tied with the great German seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher on the number of world championship titles.

The 104th F1 race winner is looking forward to his new journey of his illustrious and highly successful motorsport career, labelling it as a daunting challenge.

In talk with Sky Sports F1, Hamilton noted: “It’s going to be new. It’s also daunting because it’s new territory, it’s a new experience, and will be a challenge. But, you know, I love challenges.

“I expect it to be massively different. I mean, the two teams I’ve been with have been British teams. So I’m going into a completely different culture in Italy."

The seven-time world champion is aware that Ferrari will represent a completely new culture for him, but he can build on his previous experience when he raced in Italy in the Italian Open Masters and South Garda Cup.

“If you think about us Brits," he continued. "We’re very quiet and more calm when you have success, when you have difficult days, everyone’s kind of more chilled out whereas Italians are much more emotional.

“It’s a much different culture. I don’t truly know what to expect but I have raced in Italy, so I expect it to be a huge amount different but special and unique in some ways.”