Hamilton tensions reveal Ferrari deep rift – Since the Formula One summer break, Ferrari’s woes have gone from bad to worse. A team renown from coming back from the Autumn shutdown strongly has scored just thirty points across three Grand Prix weekends, Red Bull by way of contrast have scored seventy eight points.
Last season, Charles Leclerc scored 179 between F1’s return and the curtain falling in Abu Dhabi, while Lando Norris who led the charge to beat Max Verstappen to the drivers’ title claimed 175 points. Something has gone badly wrong with the team and the tension between Hamilton and Maranello is rising.
Coming home in P8 and P9 in Baku was the culmination of another poor weekend for the Scuderia drivers, yet their reasoning as to why the results were poor differed significantly. Charles Leclerc took it on the chin blaming his bad qualifying performance and was careful not to heap the blame all upon the team.
Leclerc and Hamilton disagree
“It’s always easy to blame the car and I think overall the car this weekend hasn’t been the strongest and it’s been a difficult weekend,” said the Monegasque driver. “But I think the main reason, and I am the first one responsible of that, is the mistake in Qualifying. When you start P10, it’s very difficult to change the situation.”
Hamilton who failed to even make the final qualifying session saw things differently. “Got a good start and progressed to P8 was positive,” he said in the post race media pen. “I think our ultimate pace was not great in the race and I think I lost a lot of ground in the first stint, particularly on the hard tyre compared to the guys on the mediums. But I came back towards the end but I think overall the pace was not really great and Qualifying clearly is key.”
Of course Leclerc put his car into the wall in qualifying, resulting in his lowly starting position yet Hamilton was the victim of the team’s sloppy errors. During second practice Ferrari had asked Lewis Hamilton to do an extra run on the medium tyre when compared to Leclerc which left him short on Saturday afternoon when this compound proved to be better than the soft tyre.
Hamilton slams Ferrari decisions
When asked if Ferrari could have handled his qualification runs differently, Lewis was quick to Pont out the error. “Yeah, for sure. Firstly, we would have done what everyone else did and have three [sets of] mediums going into P3, then into Qualifying we would have had three mediums, and we should have used a medium in Q2. I think it just shows that Qualifying is everything, we didn’t operate perfectly yesterday so we’ve got some work to do but we’ll take it internally and try to improve.”
“That’s what everyone else did. We knew that it was quicker… I can’t tell you why we didn’t end up using it, but we’ll take it internal. There’s been lots of progress.” The seven times champion concluded, “I’m still optimistic for the race I think, in terms of trying to move forwards. But wow, I honestly thought I was fighting for the top three, so it’s a big shock.”
This is not the first time Hamilton has beeb critical of the team. All be it in coded fashion which is missing the media impact of a rant, but hits all the spots internally with the Scuderia engineers. Speaking on German TV, Ralf Schumacher believes the rift between Hamilton and Ferrari is deeper than people realise and that the presence of the seven times champion is amplifying both the good and the bad in Maranello.
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Schumacher sees Hamilton/Ferraro rift
“The way they treat each other isn’t good. Then there’s Lewis’s criticism of the team. I’m sceptical of the combination,” said Schumacher. “And then there’s this failure to swap back with Leclerc before the finish line. Ferrari has to do its work internally, otherwise it’ll tear itself apart from within. A thunderstorm clears the air; that’s a thing of the past. They simply need to talk openly with each other. The limits and expectations need to be defined.”
“If Lewis no longer has trust in the team, and vice versa, that would be a great shame. Because if mistrust develops, then it’s better to let it go and go their separate ways at the end of the year,” concluded the ex-F1 racer.
Whether the great and good in the Ferrari group appreciate Hamilton’s consistent criticism of their F1 team or not is though debatable. Having failed to take a title since 2008, president of the Ferrari group John Elkann may have decided enough is enough and recruiting a somewhat divisive figure like Hamilton may indeed create the very “thunderstorm” to which Schumacher refers.
Hamilton to shake the Maranello tree
Back in May 2023, Lewis Hamilton famously accused the Mercedes engineers of repeatedly not listening to him. “Last year, there were things I told them, I said the issues that are with the car,” said Hamilton. “I’ve driven so many cars in my life, I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn’t need.”
“And I think it’s really about accountability. It’s about owning up and saying, ‘Yeah, you know what, we didn’t listen to you, it’s not where it needs to be’, and we’ve got to work, we’ve got to look into the balance through the corners, look at all the weak points and just huddle up as a team. That’s what we do.”
What was in effect a call for heads to roll had the desired effect. Within days technical director Mike Elliot had been sidelined and James Allison persuaded to return to the role he held during Mercedes championship latter winning seasons. The effect saw an improvement in the Mercedes troublesome bouncing car.
Whether John Elkann is hoping for a repeat from the seven times champion, to shake the tree in Maranello and remove some of the complacency from senior engineers – even see them walk on principle – is an unknown. But Schumacher is right in his analysis that the tensions are running deep between the parties right now with no improvements on the horizon.
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With seven races and three sprint events remaining, the 2025 Formula One season enters its decisive stretch. After a year characterised by McLaren’s resurgence, Red Bull’s resilience and glimpses of strength from Mercedes and Ferrari, the competitors gather in Singapore for the first of the remaining contests. Not only is the drivers’ crown at stake, but also the answer to the question that has dogged this campaign since March: who really has the fastest car?
For much of the season, McLaren have set the pace. Their MCL39 has been the most consistent performer across a variety of tracks, though it has its limitations. Meanwhile, Red Bull suffered spells of inconsistency, but countered with decisive upgrades that have kept Max Verstappen in contention.
Mercedes and Ferrari have also enjoyed success, but neither has managed to perform consistently. The order has shifted again since the summer break, and as the championship draws to a close, each circuit presents a new test of the teams’ strengths and weaknesses….. READ MORE
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
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