Vasseur warns Verstappen and Norris: 'Hamilton is ready for Melbourne'

Hamilton, a seven-time world championship, thought by many to be among the best drivers in the history of the sport, still had plenty to assimilate prior to the 2025 F1 season's start at the Australian Grand Prix in a little over a week's time, as Vasseur said in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"When you start with a new team it is always a bit complex because you have to meet a lot of new people, discover the working method, the processes, the new steering wheel and so on. But it went well: the tests for Lewis turned out to be three intense days but I think he is now ready for Melbourne", said the Ferrari team principal.

'2025 more exciting than 2021'

With the top teams expected to be separated by the smallest of margins in 2025, Vasseur doesn't think that a clear title candidate will emerge soon. "They are both capable of winning GPs and fighting for the World Championship. We want to impose ourselves with both and I hope that both of them win races this year. For the championship we will have to wait for the second part of the season to understand where we will be to fight."

On that topic the Scuderia's chief also sees 2025 as being a more exciting season than 2021 even, when Hamilton, the new Ferrari driver, lost out to Max Verstappen on the last lap of the last race that year.

"We may have the most exciting season in the last thirty years ahead of us because there are four teams that finished last year very close and now want to win. For us it will be essential to develop the car well and work with the drivers to be ready. We'll see the rest on the track," concluded Vasseur.