Every four years, England’s men’s football team begin a World Cup campaign dreaming of ending their long wait since 1966 for title glory.
And in order to achieve his Ferrari ambitions, Lewis Hamilton has just as many years of Formula 1 history in his way. The Brit, who turns 40 today, has been a Ferrari employee for less than a week. He begins an extensive testing programme later this month to prepare him for his debut at the Australian Grand Prix in mid-March.
He has one goal – an eighth title. He ended an iconic partnership with Mercedes, rivalled only by Michael Schumacher’s affinity with Ferrari, to give himself what he felt was his best chance to chase it. But it remains to be seen whether Hamilton, aged 40, can still beat all his rivals to get the job done.
History is against him. While winning beyond 40 was common in the early years of the F1 championship, in modern times it has been a rare achievement. The last to take victory in a race after turning 40 was Nigel Mansell, who did it at the 1994 Adelaide race.
Though many have tried, including Fernando Alonso – now 43 and still going strong with Aston Martin – the wait for an F1 race winner in their 40s has now gone on for more than 30 years.
And it has been much, much longer since title glory was achieved at such an age. Jack Brabham was 40 years, five months and two days old when he became world champion for the third and final time, in 1966.
To prepare him as best as possible, Ferrari will give their new driver as much testing time as the rules allow. It is understood Hamilton will drive Scuderia machinery for the first time in a test at their Fiorano track during the week commencing January 20.
And, at the end of the month, Ferrari will rent the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona for several days more of running. New rules brought in this year allow drivers competing in the world championship up to 1,000 kilometres of testing of old cars over a maximum of four days per season.
Ferrari plan to use all of their allowance in January before Hamilton gets his first taste of his 2025 car in pre-season testing in Bahrain at the end of February. His competitive debut will then come at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, March 16.
The 2025 campaign is expected to be highly competitive with Ferrari one of four teams likely to be in contention for race wins, as was the case last year. In order to get the job done at the first time of asking, Hamilton will have to better not only new team-mate Charles Leclerc but also up to half-a-dozen other rivals too.
