By Giulio Piovaccari
MILAN (Reuters) – Lewis Hamilton felt the force of the Ferrari fans as he and teammate Charles Leclerc sped around Milan’s Piazza Castello on Thursday before heading to Australia for the start of the Formula One season.
Some 35,000 “tifosi” thronged the event, presented by Ferrari sponsor Unicredit, as seven-times world champion Hamilton performed smoking tyre burnouts after filling the city streets with noise.
Hamilton drove a 2021 SF21 car while Leclerc was at the wheel of an SF90, the car in which he won his first race for the team in 2019, with both running at the same time and passing each other.
“I’ve seen the tifosi over the years for Sebastian (Vettel), I’ve seen them for Fernando (Alonso), I’ve seen them for Charles and Carlos (Sainz), so I wasn’t surprised,” said Hamilton of the crowd’s excitement.
“Bit by bit I’m getting to see more and more of the tifosi and getting to know them a little bit more,” added the 40-year-old.
“I really really want to be able to communicate with them in Italian, so I’ve got to work on it.”
The most successful team in Formula One have not won a championship since the 2008 constructors’ title and Hamilton, moving from Mercedes to Maranello, arrives chasing a record eighth.
The Briton was left in no doubt what that would mean for the fans and Italy as a whole.
“Just driving for Ferrari is a huge honour but they already have an incredible legacy so it’s not that they need necessarily another championship, because they have so many already,” said Hamilton.
“But I know that’s what they exist to do, to work towards, and I know that the tifosi are dying for that…I wouldn’t be able to find the words to be able to express just how special that would be.
“But that’s what we work towards.”
Hamilton said Ferrari had left no stone unturned in their preparations and he headed for Melbourne feeling relaxed and in good shape.
Leclerc, who won at home in Monaco and Ferrari’s home race at Monza last year, said the support of the fans was sure to be an extra boost.
“It motivates us so much. And we feel the responsibility when you are working for Ferrari and when you are driving for Ferrari. But the passion just makes everything and the energy so much more positive,” he said.
The season starts in Melbourne on March 16.
(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond)
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