Ferrari’s hiring of Briton Lewis Hamilton in 2025 is a “perfect marriage”, according to two economics and marketing experts consulted by Lusa.
The British driver will move to Ferrari in the 2025 season, after 12 years with Mercedes, the team with which he won six of the seven championships on his resume.
Paulo Reis Mourao, professor of economics at the University of Minho, researcher and author of the book “The Economics of Motorsport: The Case of Formula 1” [A economia dos desportos motorizados: o caso da F1] admits that Thursday’s announcement of this change from 2025 has raised “some expectations” among sports fans, while Daniel Sa, director of the Portuguese Institute of Marketing Management (IPAM), stresses that it is a “perfect marriage”.
“Today we have the most valuable driver in terms of the number of titles won, which goes beyond Formula 1 itself, and the most mythical brand that has not achieved much success. This is the perfect marriage,” emphasizes Daniel Sa.
According to this marketing specialist, in sports terms, “Ferrari will evaluate whether Hamilton can be a support for the young Charles Leclerc,” but “from a marketing point of view, Hamilton is a solid brand,” so he does not consider it to exist. “Any risk of devaluation” despite the British driver’s 39-year-old age.
In the same spirit, researcher Paulo Reis Muran says: “On the one hand, Hamilton is entering adulthood, although we already have some surprises in this regard with sporting success, as in the case of the Spaniard Fernando Alonso. on the other side, [a presença de] Lewis Hamilton can inspire new values within Ferrari.”
However, Paulo Reis Murao believes that the operation has a clear purpose, since “it is clearly a marketing operation.”
The Vila Real researcher recalls that “as in other sports, such as football, the movement of athletes aged 35 years and older” is clearly understood as “sports marketing”.
“The results will never be very surprising [desportivamente]. On the one hand, because of age. On the other hand, because of history. But if he doesn’t deliver, no one will hold him accountable,” especially because Ferrari hasn’t won the Formula One world championship since 2007 with Finn Kimi Raikkonen, he said.
Flight Murao reminds that Lewis Hamilton “will be cheaper today than five years ago.”
“The past takes some of the sporting pressure off a rider who comes to a team that has no results. For many riders, this could be a golden ending to their career, like Saudi Arabia in football. There is money, but there are no sports results,” the head of state concluded. researcher from Trás os Montes.