WATCH: Sir Lewis Hamilton spotted in Maranello meeting fans ahead of Imola GP

Lewis Hamilton will debut at Ferrari's home race in Imola this week. Ahead of the weekend, he arrived in Maranello, where a few gathered to receive him. Acknowledging their support, Hamilton stopped by to sign autographs.

Hamilton's debut year with Scuderia Ferrari might not be going as planned, but he still has a special place in the fans' hearts. Despite not getting a podium in the first six Grand Prix, the Brit had success in sprint races, as he won one in China and finished P3 in Miami.

Meanwhile, the upcoming 2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is special for Hamilton as it will be his first appearance at Ferrari's home race. He touched down in Maranello earlier today and saw fans waiting to receive him.

Hamilton stepped out of the team headquarters to greet the fans. He soaked in the support and signed autographs for the enthusiastic fans.

This is the second time the seven-time world champion has had such a huge meetup with fans. In January earlier this year, fans gathered in large numbers to welcome Lewis Hamilton during his first visit to Maranello.

The support continues to pour in for the 40-year-old, even though the results on the track are not even close to satisfactory. In six races, he accumulated only 41 points. Moreover, in Miami, things got ugly as he had a tiff with Ferrari engineers over team orders, and he was not allowed to swap ahead of Charles Leclerc in time.

Hamilton's frustration translated into sarcastic and angry radio messages, which gave rise to a different controversy altogether. Regardless, he refused to put his foot down, saying he wouldn't apologize for being a fighter and that anything he said wasn't disrespectful in his eyes.

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Jacques Villeneuve calls Lewis Hamilton 'overly protected'

Lewis Hamilton at F1 Grand Prix of Miami - Sprint & Qualifying - Source: Getty

Former F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve has stated that Lewis Hamilton was overly protected during his time at Mercedes. However, with Ferrari, dynamics are different, and the Brit was unable to figure out a way to deal with such technical difficulties and challenges.

Talking to Vision4Sport, Villeneuve said:

“Lewis still brings a lot of image to the team, so I don’t see any issues just yet. It’s how much he starts doubting that’s the problem. If he starts doubting too much, then it will be hard to recover. I don’t know Lewis well enough. He has his own protective bubble, so it’s really hard to read.

"He spent all those years at Mercedes, overly protected. And that seemed at the time to have been a necessity. Now he is not used to being exposed, and he doesn’t know how to react to it particularly well. I guess he wasn’t expecting what had happened at all."

Lewis Hamilton has been unable to beat Charles Leclerc in Grand Prix races this year, as he is getting outperformed consistently.