Lewis Hamilton makes Ferrari decision ahead of blockbuster 2025 move – ‘Won’t be pushing’

The Briton is leaving Mercedes next year

Lewis Hamilton has revealed he ‘won’t be pushing’ for Ferrari to change the colour of their car once he arrives at the team next year.

The Briton confirmed back in February that he’d be leaving Mercedes behind after a glittering spell with the Silver Arrows.

Fans are intrigued to see if Ferrari adopt a black livery when Hamilton joins, like Mercedes have done in the past.

But the Stevenage-born racer, per Planet F1, has revealed he’s decided against pushing for that change so early on.

Lewis Hamilton has revealed he ‘won’t be pushing’ for Ferrari to change the colour of their car once he arrives at the team next year

“I haven’t driven a black car for a while, so I probably won’t be pushing for that too early on, but no,” he said.

“We’ve definitely spoken about impact work and John and the team have a lot of philanthropy work that they do, so we’ll be working very closely with Mission 44 and with the impact stuff that they’re doing.

“I think within the sport, we have to continue to do more, but more outside we’ll be doing quite a bit together, so that’s really exciting.”

Livery on cars is not just for show. In recent years, it’s helped Formula 1 vehicles to become lighter.

And former Aston Martin strategist Bernie Collins has opened up on what goes on behind the scenes, saying: “I believe there are methods of colouring carbon fibre, because you can either colour the resin, which would give a little bit, but it’s not going to look as good as the paint that we currently have.

“So carbon fibre works best when it’s black, just because the resins and everything works right.

“You could tinge it, but you wouldn’t get like a Ferrari red – you’d get like a very dull sheen to it, I think.

“The big problem with colour in the component, for example, is that if you can imagine a sidepod on a car and when it lines up and they mount it together, that’s when they paint it, whereas if you’re putting the paint on at the manufacturing level, you have to be very clear that’s going to end up with the right position further down the line in terms of the car.

Mercedes adopted a black livery back in 2020

“So you’re making the manufacturing of that component much, much more complicated.

“I think that there’s potential that we start the year with a lot of these carbon-strong liveries and as teams find ways to save weight through the year, then more and more paint may go back on.

“Because the car is generally the heaviest at the beginning of the year and then teams start to find ways to make it lighter as they build knowledge and reliability or whatever the case may be.

“And as we get more and more into the regulations then hopefully teams will start down that path as well.”

At Ferrari, Hamilton will partner up with Charles Leclerc.

There are some concerns that having two big names in their line-up could impact the harmony at the F1 side.

But Ferrari chief Fred Vasseur, speaking to Autosport, isn’t concerned.

“I don’t think so, because I think you have a kind of mutual benefit into the team, and we are getting probably more points with two drivers than with one and a half,” he said when asked if he potentially saw any problems arising.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will be team-mates at Ferrari next year

“This is a positive move from the performance point of view, and part of our result today is also coming from the fact that we have a good emulation between Carlos [Sainz] and Charles – that they are pushing each other.

“As soon as one is a step down, the other one is there to get results and he is waking up the first one. It’s like this if you have a look from the beginning of last year.

“I am really convinced that I prefer having two strong ones than not.

“For sure, you can imagine the fact that you have two drivers and a potential of points for the team you are speaking about two.

“But I am sure that the potential of points for the team with two good drivers is much higher than with one and a half. That’s my view.”