Hamilton's Ferrari stint dissected: 'Raving over P4? Winning's all that matters'

Former Red Bull Racing Mechanic Nicholas said, “I feel like perhaps he [Hamilton] was always about looking at next year with Ferrari and building something long term.”

While Nicholas admits it's different for Charles Leclerc, he continued, “When I think about Lewis being positive after Austria, ultimately the race worked out for him. It wasn't a bad result. Okay, fine, he didn't beat his teammate. But ultimately, that's neither here nor there, because whether you're either winning or you're third or fourth.”

He added, "That's the race driver's view of it, right? Yeah, you'll always scrape a point for the team and this, that and the other. But, you're always going to look to win or not win. And if you're not winning, then you just want to make sure you're building and you're making progress. So perhaps that's what sort of left Lewis feeling positive, is that he feels like they left that race with some progress.”

Slater believes that 2025 is the perfect year for Hamilton as he is not losing out on a championship as he adjusts to the SF-25.

He said, “In an ideal world, he would have jumped in and he would have been a title contender. But if he is having to have a year of acclimatisation, better to do it when his teammate isn't running away with the wins.”

Kravtiz, on the other hand, wonders if Hamilton may be happy with improving Ferrari and stopping there. “I think it will be in many ways, he might even get to the point, Lewis, where he has helped make Ferrari into a championship-winning team again.”

The time frame, according to him? “After maybe three years, he finds himself at 41, 42, 43 years old, and thinking, ‘I've got them to this point, but I'm not going to be driving anymore’."

Kravitz concludes, "Maybe his greatest legacy might be getting Ferrari to where they need to be, even if he might not be there to take the fruits of the labour. But we will have to see; he shows no sign of wanting to stop so far.”