The Briton shocked the F1 world a year ago when Hamilton announced that he would move from Mercedes to Ferrari in the 2025 season. His decision ended the most successful driver-team pairing in F1 history, having yielded six titles and 84 Grand Prix wins across 12 seasons.

Life in red has not been rosy all of the time so far, though, with Hamilton only finishing 10th on debut at the Australian Grand Prix as Ferrari misjudged their strategy during the late rain. After winning the F1 Sprint in China, Hamilton was even then disqualified from his P6 result.

Mercedes will be ‘grateful’ Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari move took the focus off Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Post-race checks found excessive wear to the rear plank on Hamilton’s SF-25, along with his teammate Charles Leclerc’s car being underweight. Ferrari’s double disqualification from the Chinese GP was even the first time the Scuderia had ever had a DSQ with both of their cars.

All the while, Hamilton’s replacement at Mercedes has enjoyed a great start to his F1 career as Andrea Kimi Antonelli took P4 in Australia plus P6 in China. The Italian became the third-youngest driver to start a Grand Prix and second-youngest to score a point in Australia, too.

Antonelli overcame changeable conditions to climb through the field and finish the race only 1.654s behind George Russell and the podium. And Hinchcliffe now thinks Mercedes will be ‘grateful’ that Hamilton’s Ferrari move took some of the focus off Antonelli before his debut. Hinchcliffe has told the official Formula 1 website: “As he lined up on the grid in Melbourne, in a car he barely knew [and] in the most challenging conditions a Grand Prix driver can face, the world watched to see if he’d be able to deliver. MORE F1 STORIES “And boy did Kimi Antonelli deliver. You’d be forgiven for thinking I meant Lewis Hamilton, but in this case it’s the 18-year-old Italian who sits right near the top of the most impressive drivers in Formula 1 2025 so far. “It seems poetic that Hamilton moving to Ferrari inevitably took a considerable amount of attention away from the kid that replaced him. It’s something I am sure that both he and the team were grateful for.” Kimi Antonelli must build on his positive start with his Mercedes F1 contract only for 2025 Hamilton, the most successful driver in F1 history, joining Ferrari, the most successful team, was headline news as the Briton targets a record-breaking eighth F1 drivers’ championship. Over 5,000 fans watched Hamilton’s first run with Ferrari’s 2025 car at Fiorano in February. It meant less of the focus was on Antonelli as he stepped into Hamilton’s shoes and has, so far, delivered for Mercedes. Securing 22 points to sit fifth in the drivers’ standings – just 13 behind teammate Russell – is a great platform as Antonelli chases a contract for next term. The 18-year-old’s results are also even more impressive after he qualified P16 in Melbourne having sustained damage to his floor. Antonelli also overcame floor damage in Shanghai that he sustained on Lap 1 from Leclerc losing a front wing endplate from contact with Hamilton.