Lewis Hamilton has been tipped to move to an ambassadorial role within Ferrari when he retires from professional racing.
Hamilton cited the team’s willingness to engage with his projects outside of Formula One as a reason for the move and ex-F1 driver Mark Blundell believes that he has one eye on the future.
“It’s great for Formula One in many ways,” he told AceOdds. “It’s great for British motorsport that we got a Brit back in Ferrari, although we just had a youngster in there over the weekend, so he beat Lewis on that occasion, but I think you could look at it from many ways.
“Is it one of the biggest marketing deals that’s ever been done in the pit lane? You could put a flag in and say, yeah, that’s been achieved even without them even turning a wheel together. The impact of maybe putting 6 or 7 billion on the stock price of Ferrari was sort of impressive.
“Is there a bigger picture with Lewis and Ferrari after his time in the car? Does that go on to be a global ambassador role and is that something that’s going to stimulate Lewis in time to come?
“I really hope that the question is, can he deliver driving a red car which is every boyhood dream and every Formula One driver’s dream? I think to drive a Ferrari and do it where he can win the Grand Prix and win a World Championship.
“I just think it’s going to be a really tough task. I just can’t see it being an easy one, and I’m just hoping that he’s still got the motivation and the determination to go and fulfil that and that’s the biggest thing for me. Formula One is tough. It’s a tough season.
“It’s tough mentally, tough physically, and then a whole new challenge and one, what’s got pressure on it, like beyond. It doesn’t matter where you go in the world, everybody knows Ferrari. Everybody has a Ferrari flag.
“And it’s pretty much the same when you mention the name Lewis Hamilton these days. It’s going to be a formidable combination, but one that really will have expectations beyond what everyone’s going to expect.”