Having been defeated by a team mate twice across a three year cycle, Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was heralded as a renaissance for both parties. Ferrari have failed to win a drivers’ title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 and their last constructors’ championship was the year of Lewis Hamilton’s first drivers title in 2008.
Ferrari had the best car during the closing races of the 2024 season and were closing in quickly on McLaren who managed to cling on to their lead to take their first team championships since 1998. Despite the current car design regulations being in their final year before a seismic overhaul, Ferrari decided to go big for 2025 with what it described prior to the launch as a “completely new” F1 car.
They switched the layout of their front suspension from their previously preferred pushrod design to a pull rod system which improves the aerodynamics in that area of the car. Yet their layout of the suspension rods is less aggressive than that of the McLaren car, which has in turn has strengthened the MCL39’s anti dive characteristics, something which prevents the nose from dipping under heavy breaking and unsettling the cars underfloor aero balance.
Leclerc changes his driving style
The struggles of the Scuderia were epitomised at round two in China. With Hamilton having claimed pole and the win in the Sprint, Ferrari changed their setup of their cars for Grand Prix qualifying and the race on Sunday. Both cars were disqualified following the race for different reasons, but both were due to errors made by Ferrari.
In Miami, Charles Leclerc explained the length he has gone to in an effort to tame the unruly SF-25. “On my side, this year we’ve gone in quite extreme directions in terms of set-up, in order to extract a bit more out of the car, so I feel like I’m changing quite a lot of my driving style in order to fit the new requirements from this car,” he told assembled media.
The Monegasque denies reports that the car has been designed to suit his skills over those of seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton insisting he is in fact making some significant changes to his won driving style to accommodate the Scuderia’s 2025 car design.
“It’s been seven years that I’ve been with Ferrari, so there are most likely things that are also very natural to me now, after so many years with the team that I don’t realise enough, even though I feel like I’ve been driving quite differently this year, just because this car requires a different setup and a different way of driving,” said the Ferrari man.
Hamilton told by Vasseur to be positive
By way of contrast, Lewis Hamilton appeared to lay the blame for his inability to match his team mate’s performances this year on his particular car when he said following the Japanese Grand Prix. “Through the first three races there’s been a bit of a deficit between both sides of the garage on some elements of the car. On my side, underperforming. With what I had, that is the best result I could get.”
The backlash Lewis received from the Italian media following him implying his Ferrari was faulty, has seen the British driver now fall into line over what is expected of the drivers from F1’s most iconic team. Criticising the Scuderias cars is a big ‘no no’ and it saw Alain Prost sacked after doing so, with one race remaining in 1991.
Fred Vasseur responded to questions about Hamilton’s plight in Jeddah when he told assembled journalists: “We will work on the car to adapt the car to Lewis, but he also has to do a step. And I think this, between us, is done in a positive way and a very constructive way,” said the Frenchman. In other words stop the negative complaints.
Ferrari’s subtle denouncement of FIA 2026 engine rules
The gap to Leclerc is growing
Since round three in Japan, Hamilton has been visibly subdued in his media appearances., whether before, during or after the weekends F1 action. Whilst Leclerc since China has raised his game finishing P4, P4 and P3 last time out, Hamilton’s results leave a lot to be desired. His qualifying too has deteriorated, having been just a couple of tenths behind Leclerc in the season openers.
In Bahrain the deficit was a shocking 6/10ths of a second which improved slightly last time out in Jeddah when the gap between the Ferrari team mates was a mere half a second. His post race interview in Saudi lasted just 32 seconds where Lewis said there was nothing positive for him to take away from the weekend. Leclerc finished third with a trophy to boot, whilst Hamilton was down in seventh some 30 seconds behind his team mate.
Hamilton monosyllabic Miami answers
Come Miami most expected Hamilton to arrive refreshed with his love for spending time in the USA, well documented. He was elected as one of the six drivers’ to attend the FIA’s Thursuyda press conference with former team mate George Russell and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg. When asked by host Tom Clarkson what was preventing him from unlocking the car’s full potential, Hamilton gave the shortest and least coherent of all the responses made so far.
“Many things,” he said. “Lots of different things. There’s not one particular.” When asked by Sky presenter David Croft, whether a new driver inn a team could be expected to be quicker than his longer standing team mate another ‘Comme Ci, Comme ca’ style answer came forth. “I mean, there are elements of that that are true,” Hamilton said. “But it’s different for everyone.”
Speaking on the BBC’s Chequered flag podcast, veteran pit lane reporter Jennie Gow was critical of Hamilton’s performance. She said, “He spoke in the press conference today, but I think the word ‘speak’ is going over the top. Single-word answers, it’s hard for our producer to cobble something together that made any sense. He was just not into it.”
Hamilton has experienced periods of feeling down in his long F1 career, but his public demeanour since Japan is one of a racing driver who is defeated before even getting into his car. Leclerc has been making big changes to his driving style with an extreme setup, which Hamilton’s side of the garage has gravitated towards. Yet the seven times world champion is far from matching his younger team mate, making some paddock folk wonder whether some old dogs simply cannot learn new tricks.
Drastic mid-season F1 rules changes considered by FIA
Once the game has begun, changing the rules before it finishes is considered to be unfair. There would be questions asked about the motivation to change the regulations together with someone who benefits more than another. This is why rule changes mid-season in Formula One are a rare thing.
Of course the FIA will tidy up grey areas with technical directives, but something like changing tyre compounds (done once for safety) will affect the pecking order, with some teams winning whilst others lose out.
However, Formula One has a problem at present and much of it is around the design regulations for the cars. There are fixes coming next year to reduce the amount of dirty air a driver behind an other car suffers, but for now this is proving a significant issue, with four of the first five Grand Prix this year being won from pole position… READ MORE
The Judge, a nom de plume of an experienced F1 journalist and site founder with long-standing sources across the paddock. 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.
