Unapologetic Ferrari fan Jean Alesi claims Lewis Hamilton will become a “hero forever” if he wins a World title with Ferrari, but if he doesn’t, he has “nothing more to prove” to F1.

Seven-time F1 World Champion Hamilton is officially a Ferrari driver.

And former Ferrari driver Alesi believes that will set him apart from other F1 drivers, not so much the eight, but winning a title with Ferrari.

“He has nothing more to prove in another team,” the Frenchman told F1Maximaal. “But with Ferrari, that could change his life if his life is already that of a champion of champions.

“Winning with Ferrari will make him a hero forever.”

However, first Hamilton has to see off the challenge of Ferrari stalwart and favoured son, Charles Leclerc.

“That is difficult to predict,” Alesi said of their battle.

“Hamilton reads the tyres, he reads the traffic. We can say he has the experience, but I don’t think it’s just the experience. He has a different feeling and is very strong in terms of race pace.

“Charles is very strong in qualifying, and of course your starting position on the grid is always very important. It will be very interesting to see what will happen between those two.”

Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna has confirmed that Lewis Hamilton will make his highly anticipated Ferrari debut next week, testing an F1-75 at the Fiorano circuit.

“Lewis Hamilton will be with us next week,” Vigna said as Ferrari announced a new deal with Italian bank Unicredit. “We are ready for almost everything, but not everything, but we will sort it out.

“Clearly there is great anticipation. There is a lot of excitement and a great desire to get started. We are finalising the last details now.”