Lewis Hamilton joined Scuderia Ferrari with the expectation that he was stepping right into a workforce on the verge of ending a 17-year title drought. The workforce had simply completed a slim 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 workforce 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. In consequence, it appeared like the proper time for Hamilton to affix the workforce. Nevertheless, 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 workforce that appears to function nearly like a one-car unit in fashionable F1, any hopes of a title are rapidly 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 Resolution to Overhaul the F1 Automobile Earlier than Hamilton’s Arrival
At the start of the 2025 season, Ferrari’s workforce principal, Fred Vasseur, acknowledged that the automobile can be “99% new,” with essentially the most important change being a shift from a pull-rod to a push-rod entrance suspension. Looking back, this resolution has not paid off. Whereas upgrades should convey 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 could possibly be argued that solely minor changes would have been crucial for the workforce, however as a substitute, they opted for a drastic change.
Given this, the Bruton, who joined Ferrari with excessive expectations, must be questioning why the workforce deserted the earlier profitable formulation. Even Charles Leclerc, who has been notably faster, has voiced his frustrations, stating that the automobile is troublesome to deal with. In response to 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 automobile’s setup to his driving model, together with setting it as much as understeer or oversteer, he nonetheless managed solely a fourth-place qualifying place, which left him annoyed. This case displays a automobile 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 snug along with his automobile, 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 means 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 potential that his outcomes would have been nearer to these of Charles Leclerc. Nevertheless, the fact 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 workforce boss Ross Brawn admitted that the automobile didn’t go well with Michael Schumacher’s driving model, and conversely, Schumacher was not the perfect match for the automobile. This comparability appears to echo Hamilton’s present scenario, as he grapples with the challenges of adapting to the Ferrari SF-25, a automobile that doesn’t appear to unlock its full potential regardless of quite a few efforts. Identical to Michael Schumacher, the seven-time F1 world champion finds himself ready the place he’s uncertain the best way to make the automobile carry out to its greatest means, leaving each the workforce and its star driver in an unsure place for the remainder of the 2025 Formulation 1 season.
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