Last Updated on March 31 2025, 12:57 pm
Lewis Hamilton’s move to the iconic Ferrari racing team has captivated the world of Formula One in a manner rarely seen. Hamilton’s first day in Maranello attracted thousands of fans, such that the local mayor had declared a de facto state of emergency to ensure sufficient police were on hand for the event.
One other fan cut down a tree so he could watch Hamilton drive his new Ferrari car and the Italian media were incandescent when the Scuderia failed to ensure Lewis’ ride height was properly set at the recent Chinese Grand Prix.
La Gazette was brutal following the double disqualification of the Ferrari cars in Shanghai claiming it was “one of the ugliest pages in the history of the Prancing Horse.” They also described Hamilton’s sprint race victory as “another illusion to add to the enormous betrayal of the expectations from the winter,” suggesting it was lewis – not Ferrari – who set up the Sprint win in his second race for the red F1 team.
Hamilton rollercoaster start with Ferrari
As only the second seven times F1 champion, Hamilton’s move to Italy was always going to elevate Ferrari’s profile even higher than it already was. There has been an expectation that history could be made with Lewis and a Ferrari car as he and Leclerc battle it out for the F1 drivers’ championship.
Lewis’ debut with the Scuderia has been a rollercoaster of an affair. After struggling in Melbourne, Hamilton came home with just a single point from the Sunday race. Next time out in China he claimed Sprint pole with a lap from nowhere and pushed his pole advantage by leading the race from the off to the chequered flag – mostly unchallenged.
Then come the Grand Prix and in qualifying the Ferrari’s were fifth and six on the grid, before being disqualified hours after the race had ended. The Italian media have suggested Ferrari are just trying too hard with Hamilton, something Guenther Steiner rejects when speaking to the Red Flags Podcast.
The ex-Haas team boss believes Ferrari’s problems are in execution rather than a desperate desire for Hamilton to succeed. “I don’t think there’s a desperation set in, I think they just want to do a job and got a few things ,” said Steiner who argues Ferrari mishaps do happen and it is the extra-ordinary attention which Hamilton brings that has blown things out of proportion.
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Lewis focuses “brutal” spotlight on Ferrari
“The pressure is high. You see, as soon as he does something, how he catches the attention of everyone, right?” he observed. “It’s something brutal. It’s Lewis Hamilton,” says Steiner. The Italian believes Ferrari knew what they were taking on when they signed the British driver.
Hamilton is a global celebrity and his huge appeal naturally brings an increased focus on the team he is racing for. If Lewis is P10 – it makes the headlines as much as a Sprint win. “But I would think Ferrari knew when they took him what would happen, you attract attention,” adds Steiner.
To illustrate the impact Lewis Hamilton has brought to Ferrari, Steiner observes how his previous team is going somewhat under the radar this year. Mercedes’ George Russell has two podiums from the two Grand Prix competed this year and Mercedes are a comfortable second in the constructors’ championship behind McLaren and ahead of Red Bull.
Russell is a single point behind Verstappen in the drivers’ title race so on the whole the best start to a season for the silver arrows since 2021 when Hamilton was denied his record eight title at the finale in Abu Dhabi.
Mercedes flying under the radar
“Look at, for example, Mercedes now. I think Mercedes is doing a good job this year, obviously they are not beating McLaren, but nobody knows about it. It’s very unseen.” Steiner observes.
“You see more from Ferrari and Lewis’ performance, than the better performance of Mercedes. Because, it’s not Lewis Hamilton. Lewis attracts [attention], he’s a star. He is, so people are attracted to him.”
As if to prove the case in point, Jeremy Clarkson global media personality and former Top Gear lead presenter wrote in his colour for the Sun how Ferrari went from “quick” to “useless” in one grand prix weekend.
“It’s important to everyone in Formula 1 that Ferrari does well because all the other teams are businesses, and Ferrari is more than that. It’s the heart and it’s the soul [of F1],” he wrote. It was crucial then that the team’s new boy, Lewis Hamilton, came out of the traps like he’d been fired from a gun.
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“And how good would that be if it happened in China, in front of a crowd that thinks he’s a god. And blow me down, it did. For the sprint race in Shanghai last weekend, the elder statesman took pole position and then cruised away from the pack to win the race as well.”
Clarkson continues claiming it is “troubling” that just a few hours later, “Lewis could only qualify for the main event in fifth. And in the race itself, he was so slow he let his teammate overtake. And then he was disqualified.”
The rhetoric of the Amazon star of Clarkson’s Farm demonstrates Steiner’s point exactly. It was Hamilton who delighted the fans with his win in the Sprint. Of course both Ferrari’s were way off the pace in the Grand Prix and as Clarkson questions: “How is that possible? I can understand that a car might be quick at one track and the following weekend at a different track be useless,” Clarkson asks.
Failed setup change at Ferrari
“But to go from hero to zero at the same track? On the same day? It makes no sense,” he concludes. Clearly Ferrari were the ones to change the car from the Sprint to Grand Prix qualifying, something Hamilton made clear after the Shanghai race.
The team decided to try a setup used in pre-season testing by Charles Leclerc alone, with Hamilton making the point he had no reference to know whether it was a good or bad decision. Is Steiner right in that Ferrari expected the following when signing Lewis? When Hamilton wins its all about him and when he performs badly its all about Ferrari and the car they have built.
This isn’t a division Hamilton is seeking to promote or exploit, its merely the fact he has such a following who believe he can do no wrong, that this becomes the narrative and its something Ferrari will just have to put up with.
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Toto Wolff may be one of the newer kids on the block in terms of his membership of the Piranha club, yet his ability to weave a web of untruths is masterful. As the Formula One ground effect cars were introduced in 2022 and Mercedes flunked the technical examination, Wolff decided it best fitted his team to complain about safety to the FIA.
As far as Toto was concerned his car was the worst amongst the front runners and so any kind of regulation change could upset the pecking order in Mercedes’ favour. This earned him the infamous response from Christian Horner to “change your fucking car,” as Netflix revealed in their broadcast of the team principals’ meeting in Canada.
With Lewis Hamilton having told the world Mercedes’ was no longer the future as he dropped his bombshell move to Ferrari in 2024, Wolff had a strategy to divert some of the scrutiny away from his engineers and underperforming car. As the internal rows at Red Bull ramped up, Toto made a very public appear to Max Verstappen to join Mercedes, a theme he strangely pursued even when it was announced that Kimi Antonelli would be replacing the seven times champion…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
