- Lewis Hamilton joined Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season in a blockbuster move
- The seven-time world champion will make his debut at the Australian Grand Prix
- Hamilton, 40, is on a world record £50million-a-year deal with the Italian team
Lewis Hamilton insisted he is not feeling any external pressure as he prepares to fulfil a lifetime’s dream by racing for Ferrari in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.
The 40-year-old cut a relaxed figure during his media duties at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit, despite having a world record £50million-plus salary on his head to drive for the world’s most famous team.
Searching for an eighth championship title, he comes to Australia having won just twice in three seasons at Mercedes.
Asked how he felt carrying a weight of expectation, Hamilton said: ‘I don’t feel any pressure. The outside pressure is non-existent. The pressure is from within. The pressure I put on myself is 10 times higher than any pressure anyone can put on me.
‘I don’t read the news, and I spend long periods without using social media. I’m living in my own little bubble.
‘I am back at square one. I’ve been in the factory four days a week. I’ve given everything to training to push my mind and my body further than I have before to squeeze more juice out.’
Lewis Hamliton is set to make his Ferrari debut at the Australian Grand Prix this weekend
Hamilton insisted he is not feeling any pressure despite the noise surrounding him right now
The seven-time world champion, 40, also insisted he has nothing to prove in the 2025 season
Hamilton will become the first UK driver to turn the wheel of a Ferrari in anger since Eddie Irvine in 1999.
‘I’m under no illusions as to how difficult it will be,’ said Hamilton of his task alongside team-mate Charles Leclerc.
‘But I am not here to prove anything to anybody. I have been here a long, long time and done it time and time again. I know what it takes to do a good job and that is what I have to deliver, for me, for my family, for this team.’
What standard has he set for himself as benchmark of success in the team that finished runners-up to McLaren in the constructors’ championship last year?
‘I want to come away from this weekend knowing that I have given absolutely everything and excelled,’ replied Hamilton. ‘It is about getting into a good rhythm.
‘When you join a new team, the sooner you perform at a high level, and get results, the better. There will be a transition period. But the goal is to win and to take the team forward.
‘I am trying to make sure I have a better year this season than the last three.’
