On February 1st, Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton announced that he would be leaving Mercedes after 11 years together and would be joining Scuderia Ferrari to drive alongside Charles Leclerc.
This means current Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz will be out of his seat by the end of the 2024 season.
Team Principal Fred Vaaseur has provided new information as to why he decided to sign the 103-time Grand Prix winner.
In an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com, Vasseur stated that Hamilton’s arrival resulted in benefits that began months before he even got in a car for the first time.
“It’s starting sometimes six or eight months before the season, to be able to work on the next project, to bring his own experience, his own view on what we can do, or how we could do it and so on and so on,” Vasseur stated.
For a driver with Hamilton’s experience, Ferrari will be looking forward to getting all the information they can to help them reclaim glory. To have a multiple world champion in their team is not something new for Ferrari in recent times, having previously had Sebastian Vettel from 2015 to 2020.
But to have someone like Hamilton who will be bringing in all his years’ worth of experience to Maranello, it will be beneficial for the team to head in the right direction according to Vasseur.
The Frenchman explained how young the team is and how they are building a project since he became Team Principal during the 22/23 winter break.
“I think we are still a young team. It’s not just a matter of age, but it’s a matter of experience together, and wins together.
“So that means that we are quite green, or quite young, and to have someone into the loop with such a big background and such big experience will impact for sure.
“We have time to discuss this with Lewis and, for me, into the building process of the team – you want to have a long-term view and for the next cycle.
“I’m not speaking about ’24 or ’25, it’s about cycle and it’s where clearly, we have to do steps.
“We made some improvements already I think, compared to 12 months ago, to involve the drivers much earlier into the project and to build up the characteristic of the car with them.
“I think we are going in the right direction. But for sure Lewis will add value.”
