Lewis Hamilton‘s move to Ferrari in 2025 is under heavy questioning after his British GP victory. Mercedes’ latest upgrade package has propelled them to two consecutive victories while Ferrari has regressed to become the fourth-best team. This simultaneous change was evident even before the British GP. However, the 7-time champion reaffirmed his transfer decision on Thursday in Silverstone, shutting the reporters doubting his seemingly ill-timed Ferrari move. But after the British GP, Hamilton has candidly revealed the biggest challenge awaiting him in Italy next year.

Ever since the Ferrari announcement in February, analysts have found consensus on one glaring problem – who’ll be the team’s ‘Number 1’ driver in 2025? But neither Team Principal Frederic Vasseur nor the drivers are expecting any problem in the dynamic. However, Lewis Hamilton expects the cultural aspect of this team change to affect him massively. The Briton has only driven for two F1 teams, McLaren and Mercedes, and both are headquartered in the UK, his birth country. However, Ferrari, an Italian team, is often considered a ‘national team’ where its passionate fans and even the media can sway the organization.

After his 9th British GP victory, Hamilton sat down for an interview with Martin Brundle. When questioned if he was excited to join the Maranello outfit next year, “Of course,” he replied. “It’s also daunting because it’s new territory, it’s a new experience. It’ll be a challenge, but you know, I love a challenge.”

When questioned further about what kind of changes he would’ve to deal with, he replied, “I expect it to be massively different. The two teams where I’ve been are British teams. So I’ll be going into a completely different culture in Italy. If you think about it, us Brits are more quiet and more calm. When you have success, when you have more difficult days, everyone’s kind of like more chilled out as well. Whereas Italians are much more emotional. It’s a much, much different culture,” Hamilton reiterated. “I don’t truly know what to expect, but I have raced in Italy. So yeah, expect it to be a huge amount different, but special and unique,” he concluded.

Earlier this year, Hamilton had shared how fondly he remembers Italy from his childhood memories. Years before Nico Rosberg and he turned into arch-rivals as Mercedes teammates, they toured circuits in Italy for races.

Lewis Hamilton’s childhood connection with Italy and its culture

Italy needs more credit for contributing to F1 the way it has. It already has two iconic circuits on the F1 calendar and houses the pinnacle of motorsport’s most successful team of all time – the one where Lewis Hamilton is heading. But the Southern European country also has several motorsport tracks for junior categories, and the Briton visited and stayed in different towns during his early career.

In Imola this year, he recalled those glorious days. “Back in the day, when I used to come here…I used to race a long, long time ago with Nico (Rosberg) in Sarno, Jesolo, Parma, and Lonato. We used to eat so much pizza. God! We used to have like three pizzas a night, and Penne Arrabiata. I have to be careful because next year, maybe, I get fat, I don’t know,” he joked.

So, Hamilton has not one but two fears when he joins Ferrari. But the food aspect too can be clubbed under cultural change. And we’re back to one. On the performance side of things, Mercedes can now promise to give him a fitting farewell. But can Ferrari promise a similar inception to their partnership next year?