Lewis Hamilton joined Scuderia Ferrari with the expectation that he was stepping right into a staff on the verge of ending a 17-year title drought. The staff had simply completed a slender 14 factors behind McLaren within the constructors’ standings, a margin that highlighted how shut they had been to the highest. Regardless of the ultimate hole being agonizingly small, Ferrari had been the highest-scoring staff within the remaining 10 races of the 2024 season. This spectacular streak included victories by Charles Leclerc in Italy and the US, in addition to a win by Carlos Sainz in Mexico, signaling a interval of sturdy efficiency. Because of this, it appeared like the right time for Hamilton to affix the staff. Nonetheless, after 5 races in 2025, Ferrari has dropped to fourth place within the standings.
This case has been a recurring theme for Ferrari since their final championship win in 2008—getting shut, solely to fall quick as soon as once more. Though they’re solely 11 factors behind Pink Bull, a staff that appears to function virtually like a one-car unit in fashionable F1, any hopes of a title are shortly fading. Ferrari’s present efficiency is a stark distinction to the potential they confirmed in 2024, leaving many to query the trail they’ve taken since.
Ferrari’s Determination to Overhaul the F1 Automotive Earlier than Hamilton’s Arrival
Originally of the 2025 season, Ferrari’s staff principal, Fred Vasseur, acknowledged that the automotive can be “99% new,” with probably the most important change being a shift from a pull-rod to a push-rod entrance suspension. On reflection, this choice has not paid off. Whereas upgrades should carry constant podium finishes and occasional victories, it’s more and more unlikely that Ferrari will have the ability to surpass McLaren, particularly after a comparatively profitable 2024 marketing campaign. It might be argued that solely minor changes would have been obligatory for the staff, however as an alternative, they opted for a drastic change.
Given this, the Bruton, who joined Ferrari with excessive expectations, needs to be questioning why the staff deserted the earlier profitable components. Even Charles Leclerc, who has been notably faster, has voiced his frustrations, stating that the automotive is troublesome to deal with. Based on Laurence Edmondson on the ESPN Unlapped podcast, Charles Leclerc’s remarks following the Saudi Arabian race had been telling. The ESPN F1 reporter talked about that regardless of his efforts to regulate the automotive’s setup to his driving type, together with setting it as much as understeer or oversteer, he nonetheless managed solely a fourth-place qualifying place, which left him pissed off. This case displays a automotive that’s essentially missing in efficiency, notably in downforce, when in comparison with its rivals.
The Ferrari SF-25’s Struggles and the Comparability to Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes Period
When Hamilton is comfy together with his automotive, he can nonetheless ship world-class performances. This was evident simply final month, when he secured pole place within the Shanghai Dash. He additionally demonstrated his potential to carry out when Mercedes had been in rivalry for wins throughout his remaining season there. Had he been driving the Ferrari of late 2024, it’s doable that his outcomes would have been nearer to these of Charles Leclerc. Nonetheless, the truth is that Hamilton is struggling to extract efficiency from the SF-25, and this is a matter that mirrors what Michael Schumacher confronted throughout his comeback with Mercedes.
Again then, Mercedes staff boss Ross Brawn admitted that the automotive didn’t go well with Michael Schumacher’s driving type, and conversely, Schumacher was not the perfect match for the automotive. This comparability appears to echo Hamilton’s present state of affairs, as he grapples with the challenges of adapting to the Ferrari SF-25, a automotive that doesn’t appear to unlock its full potential regardless of quite a few efforts. Similar to Michael Schumacher, the seven-time F1 world champion finds himself ready the place he’s uncertain methods to make the automotive carry out to its finest potential, leaving each the staff and its star driver in an unsure place for the remainder of the 2025 Components 1 season.
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