Hamilton – Ferrari, first F1 GP together on March 16: A bittersweet date for Lewis. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will debut at Ferrari in Australia.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will debut at Ferrari in Australia, and the superstition brings to mind contrasting memories with McLaren and Mercedes.

The First Stage of a New Adventure

Formula 1 officially presented today the calendar for the 2025 championship: the first race of the new season will return to take place in Australia in Melbourne and is scheduled for Sunday, March 16. That will also be the day – eagerly awaited by all fans – of Lewis Hamilton’s first Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver, after a lifetime spent challenging (and often beating) the reds of Maranello in the overalls of McLaren and Mercedes.

From a superstition standpoint, however, this is not just any date in the career of the most successful driver in the history of Formula 1. March 16 evokes bittersweet memories for Lewis Hamilton. Only twice before has Formula 1 seen a Grand Prix take place on this date, always at the start of the championship and always in Melbourne, and in both cases, Lewis Hamilton was a protagonist, both positively and negatively.

A Victory and a Retirement
The first Grand Prix, in 2008, was won by the British driver himself, then representing McLaren, who climbed to the top step of the podium in Australia at the Albert Park circuit for the first time in his career, ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg. To find the second, however, one must go to 2014. That day marked the beginning of the hybrid F1 era, with Lewis Hamilton about to contest his second season as a Mercedes driver. Starting from pole position, his Australian GP lasted only two laps before ending due to an engine failure. His teammate Nico Rosberg won, ushering in the era of Mercedes triumphs.

Champion at the End of the Year
Both in 2008 and in 2014, however, Lewis Hamilton ended the year as world champion, winning his first two world titles: the only one with McLaren and the first with Mercedes. In 2025, also on March 16, the new adventure in red will begin. The dream, for Ferrari fans, is an outcome at the end of the season similar to the two aforementioned precedents.

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