Five recent Maranello visits for Hamilton - report

In the last few months alone, Lewis Hamilton visited Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters on no fewer than five separate occasions.

That’s the claim of the authoritative Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, adding that the 39-year-old has also been taking Italian lessons.

The factory visits were to establish relationships with his key engineers for 2025 and beyond, and begin to get comfortable in his new cockpit.

Corriere dello Sport newspaper believes Ferrari has even agreed to Hamilton’s request that the cockpit position be moved slightly backwards - a complaint he made repeatedly as he struggled with Mercedes’ ’ground effect’ cars since 2022.

Hamilton notably struggled for form as his long Mercedes tenure wound down, prompting former Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto - now at Audi-owned Sauber - to remark that he would not have signed the seven time world champion.

"I’m not sure Hamilton would have gone to Sauber either," current Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur quipped to La Stampa.

"I am happy that so many people have time to comment on our choices. I am focused on our work, and when I was at Sauber I didn’t talk about Ferrari."

When asked what went wrong for Hamilton in the past several months, the Frenchman answered: "He is in a complicated situation at the end of a long partnership, also with some frustration.

"He always knew it would not be an easy season. From our side, in the last year we have improved everywhere and I hope the trend continues.

"(Charles) Leclerc is ready for the top, and I won’t change my mind about Hamilton."