Lewis Hamilton received a clear warning from Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur, even though the team made a strong start to the 2024 season.

Hamilton is expected to join the Italian team ahead of the 2025 season, ending his long tenure at Mercedes. The seven-time world champion will join a Ferrari team in 2024 that is currently putting the reigning constructors’ champions Red Bull under heavy pressure while his current employers Mercedes are lagging behind. Ferrari have collected 120 points from their first four races, compared to Red Bull’s 141, and have achieved at least one podium finish in every Grand Prix so far. They even managed a one-two in Australia when Carlos Sainz finished ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton, meanwhile, lies ninth in the standings after surviving a challenging Japanese Grand Prix in April. Sainz, the man Hamilton is set to replace, finished third in that race, but Vasseur has stressed that Ferrari’s early success is no guarantee of continued dominance. “We’ve started better than last year but there’s still work to do and that will always be the case,” Vasseur told La Repubblica. “The team had only one podium this time last year and only one race win all season,” the Mirror reports. “The world of competition is like a person’s life sped up to the maximum – things can change quickly, you go between good and bad. There’s no standing still, everything flows quickly,” he added.

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur expressed his displeasure at the recurring questions about Hamilton and Sainz after Suzuka, noting: “We get the same question every weekend. Copy my answer from last week. Next one.”

Hamilton’s move to Ferrari has been confirmed, but Mercedes has not yet revealed who will step into the Briton’s shoes. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has hinted that F2 sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli is in pole position for the seat.

“(Antonelli) is definitely a very strong contender,” Wolff commented on the young driver’s prospects. “I want to see how his F2 season develops, but we will wait and see what happens with some of the other drivers in F1. I have no doubts about his speed, talent and ability.”

“We wouldn’t have supported him from go-karting to today if we didn’t believe he had the potential to go to Formula 1 and with Mercedes. Many young drivers have shown in the past that you can make that step. My feeling at the moment is that I don’t want to rush (the decision) because Kimi is part of the ideas for next year and is in the strongest position and therefore we don’t need to rush other decisions either. Of course some of the other top drivers will soon make a decision about what to do but I feel like I shouldn’t make the decision too quickly.”