Lewis Hamilton can be worth “triple digits” to Ferrari if he wins the 2025 Formula 1 world championship, says sport finance expert Dr. Rob Wilson.
Seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton has made the switch to the fabled Italian outfit this year, following 12 years and six world titles with Mercedes.
In an indication of the magnitude of Hamilton’s move to F1’s most famous team, his first photo in association with Ferrari – posing in a dark suit in front of Enzo Ferrari’s house – is the most-liked F1 post of all time on Instagram, with more than 5.6 million likes.
Hamilton is reported to be on a salary of £40m-a-year with Ferrari, yet Dr. Wilson has explained how success for the 40-year-old on track this year will catapult the Scuderia’s own finances.
“If he starts the season and is competitive in the first five or 10 races and wins a couple, you're talking about an explosive marketing opportunity and everybody wins in F1 with that,” Wilson, a professor of Applied Sports Finance at Sheffield Hallam University, says.
“It would amplify the brand as well as it amplifies Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton. It's certainly double digits, you're in the tens of millions.
“If he's able to be really successful and let's assume he was to deliver a drivers’ championship-winning performance this year for Ferrari, you will then move into triple-digit growth on some of their revenue lines.
“[That’s] simply because of the brands that he'll be able to amplify with them.”
Hamilton cruelly missed out on an eighth championship after the controversial finale to the 2021 season-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but the Brit is eyeing a record-breaking title – which would take him above Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher – this year with the Scuderia.
“Part of the reason Ferrari signed Lewis Hamilton was due to the brand alignment, however, sporting performance will always yield better benefits than just profile,” Wilson added, in quotes given in association with Grosvenor Sport.
“So what you have with Hamilton and Ferrari are two iconic brands. There will always be a benefit to putting those two brands together.
“You amplify the benefit of those, that brand association if the sporting performance is better.
Hamilton has been undergoing private tests with Ferrari in recent weeks, experiencing a small blip when he crashed the 2023 car in Barcelona last week.
This week, he took part in a 2026 Pirelli tyre test alongside teammate Charles Leclerc and McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, though the times were largely irrelevant.
Hamilton will next be in the cockpit when Ferrari launch their 2025 car – the SF-25 – on Wednesday 19 February at their HQ in Maranello, with the Brit driving the car at the team’s Fiorano track.
The F1 icon will also be present a day earlier at the 10-team season launch event at The O2 Arena in London and will take part in the official pre-season test in Bahrain from 26-28 February.
Hamilton’s first race in Ferrari red will be the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 16 March.
