The excitement surrounding Lewis Hamilton’s high-profile move to Ferrari for the 2025 Formula One season has so far failed to live up to the immense expectations placed on both the seven-time world champion and the iconic Italian team. While Hamilton did score a thrilling sprint victory in China, his overall form in the early rounds of the season has left fans and pundits wondering if his best days are behind him.
Following his underwhelming seventh-place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix, the criticism reached a boiling point – prompting Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur to come forward in defence of his star driver.
Ferrari’s new era with Hamilton was to signal a new beginning for both parties: Hamilton, hungry for an eighth title, and Ferrari, eager to regain its former dominance. But with three Grands Prix completed and Hamilton currently eighth in the Drivers’ Championship, questions have arisen as to whether the partnership has lived up to the hype.
Vasseur, however, insists that much of the narrative surrounding Hamilton’s performance is not only exaggerated – it is completely unfair.
A frustrating start in red
The spotlight has never been far from Lewis Hamilton since he joined Formula 1 in 2007. Over the years, he has become accustomed to both the adulation and the scrutiny.
But his start at Ferrari has brought a different kind of pressure. With 15 points in the bag after the first three races, Hamilton trails his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc by five points, a gap that isn’t huge but certainly enough to spark speculation. And while Leclerc has managed to squeeze a little more performance out of the SF-24, the broader reality is that Ferrari as a whole have not found the consistency or pace to challenge Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the front.
The Japanese Grand Prix was a stark reminder of these struggles. Hamilton, who struggled with handling issues and a general lack of grip throughout the weekend, could only manage a seventh place finish, nearly thirty seconds behind race winner Verstappen. While Leclerc finished a respectable fourth, the gap between Ferrari and Red Bull was impossible to ignore.
Nevertheless, the belief in Hamilton remains unwavering in the team garage. According to Vasseur, the criticism leveled at the British driver since the start of the season has not only been harsh – it’s completely misguided.
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Vasseur comes to Hamilton’s defence
Speaking to French sports newspaper L’Équipe, Vasseur passionately defended Hamilton, challenging the growing narrative that the 39-year-old driver is past his prime.
“You have to admit that some of the criticism has been very harsh,” said Vasseur. “To say that Hamilton is worn out, that he is no longer at his best, is harsh. It’s also wrong.”
The Frenchman pointed to Hamilton’s performances at the end of last season with Mercedes as evidence that the veteran still has plenty to offer. In particular, he cited the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where Hamilton staged a dramatic comeback from 16th on the grid to finish fourth, overtaking teammate George Russell in the process.
“Look at his last race last year,” added Vasseur. “He started 16th and finished fourth, overtaking his team-mate. That doesn’t look like a driver who’s done, does it?”
It’s a valid point. Hamilton’s racecraft, tactical acumen and ability to extract the most from a car in difficult situations have long been his hallmarks. While the machinery at his disposal this season has yet to match the performance of the dominant Red Bull RB20, Vasseur believes it is premature and unfair to single out Hamilton for the team’s wider problems.
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The Shanghai sprint win: A glimpse of promise
Despite the overall inconsistency of Ferrari’s start to the season, Hamilton has already given fans a taste of what might be possible once the team gets on top of the car’s limitations. At the weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, which returned to the calendar after a long absence, Hamilton secured pole position for the sprint race and then went on to win the 100-kilometre race in commanding style.
It was a classic performance: clean, calculated and composed under pressure. The victory not only gave Hamilton his first official triumph in red, but also served as a morale boost for the team and its fans around the world. But the momentum was short-lived. In the main race that weekend, Hamilton dropped back through the field and finished outside the top five – another sign of Ferrari’s unpredictability and difficulty in managing tyre degradation and overall balance over longer stints.
And that has been the theme of the year so far. Flashes of brilliance surrounded by frustrating inconsistency. The challenge now, for both Hamilton and Ferrari, is to find stability and pace as the European leg of the season approaches.
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Team struggles, not just individual ones
It’s important to recognise that the performance gap doesn’t rest solely on Hamilton’s shoulders. Ferrari, for all its historical prestige and competitive fire, has yet to find the right formula this season. Even Leclerc, with his slightly better points haul, has had his own share of challenges and neither driver has been in a position to seriously threaten Verstappen for race victories.
While the SF-24 has improved in some areas over last year’s car, it still lacks the downforce and tyre management capabilities of the Red Bull. On circuits that demand high-speed cornering and aerodynamic efficiency, Ferrari has consistently found itself fighting for ‘best of the rest’ status rather than challenging for wins.
In this context, Vasseur’s defence of Hamilton makes even more sense. The problems are systemic, not personal, and the solution will require more development time, better execution on race weekends and perhaps some patience from the tifosi.
Hamilton still has a lot to prove – and time to do it
There’s no question that expectations were high when Hamilton announced his blockbuster move to Ferrari. It was, after all, a move steeped in romanticism: the sport’s most successful driver joining its most iconic team. But even fairytales take time to build, and three races is far too short a window to make sweeping judgements.
Hamilton, now one of the most experienced drivers on the grid, has been in this position before. He knows how to deal with the pressure, ignore the noise and focus on the long-term goal. Whether that goal includes race wins in 2025 or a genuine title challenge in 2026, when the new F1 regulations come into force, remains to be seen. What is certain is that Hamilton won’t back down from the challenge.
In the meantime, voices like Vasseur’s are crucial – not only in defending a driver’s legacy, but in reaffirming the team’s faith in its new chapter.
As the F1 calendar moves to Europe, the microscope will remain firmly on Hamilton and Ferrari. But if Vasseur’s words are anything to go by, both team and driver are in this together – and still believe the best is yet to come.
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MORE F1 NEWS – Plans to eliminate boring F1 races
The new and greener Formula One calendar has seen the start this campaign return to Melbourne before heading logically to China and again to Japan which is also in the Pacific rim. Interference from Ramadan last year saw the first two Grand Prix take place on Saturday’s in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, this year F1 is returning to the Middle East, kind of on its way back home to Europe via Miami.
One advantage of this shift in the calendar is while fans in Europe on the whole sleep, two of the least entertaining circuits are already out of the way for the year. China and Japan often host processional affairs as it turned out the year in both Shanghai and Suzuka.
In fact in the last ten Japanese Grand Prix, only three times has the race been won from pole and on two of those occasions it was a Mercedes’ driver beating the other dominant Mercedes car. There was promise of rain for Sunday and whilst the track was moist when the hit lane opened, come the start of the race there was little water to trouble the drivers who were all on slick tyres….. READ MORE ON THIS STORY
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.
Why do you question Hamilton/Ferrari’s ability to catch Verstappen ‘at the front’, when it is Lando/McLaren at the front and Max in second place? Sloppy journalism or did you just use AI to write the article?