For all the media briefing about how passionate Lewis Hamilton is over doing a Michael Schumacher and making Ferrari great again (MFGA) he farewell in Abu Dhabi was a disconsolate throwing in of the towel.
Lewis has repeatedly claimed this year he has been sending in documents for the perusal of the Scuderia senior management in an effort to wake the sleeping giant in Maranello. He spoke of “structural re-organisation” in the summer when asked about the contents of his ‘documents’ together with specific deficiencies in the SF-25
The ‘Hamilton files’ have not gone down well in certain corners of Ferrari’s HQ as engineers resent being told ‘this is the way we did it at Mercedes.’ Yet this is none of Lewis’ fault, its all part of Ferrari arrogance based on a once glorious past.
Hamilton notes Alonso & Vettel failures
On media day before the F1 seasons finale, Lewis again spoke of him taking a ‘hands on approach’ in terms of Ferrari reform and how he refused to accept his tenure with the Scuderia will go the same disappointing ways as Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.
“It is a huge organisation and there’s a lot of moving parts and not all of them are firing on all the cylinders that need to be. That’s ultimately why the team’s not had the success that I think it deserves.
“So I feel that it’s my job to challenge absolutely every area, to challenge everybody in the team, particularly the guys that are at the top making the decisions. If you look at the team over the last 20 years, they’ve had amazing drivers.
“You’ve had Fernando, you’ve had Sebastian. All world champions. However, they didn’t win a World Champion[ship] with Ferrari. And I refuse for that to be the case with me, so I’m going the extra mile,” claimed the seven times champion.
Marko fudges his Red Bull exit explanation
Another Q1 exit in Abu Dhabi
Yet another bruising experience on Saturday afternoon which saw him knocked out of the first qualifying session for the fourth consecutive time appeared to break Hamilton’s initially positive approach to the weekend.
“I don’t have the words to express how I feel, just a lot of anger,” Lewis told Rachel Brooks of Sky F1 as the noise of the remaining F1 cars in qualifying was heard in the background. Despite having a decent race which saw him climb through the field to finish in P8, Hamilton remained inconsolable.
“I’ve said all I can about this season already, so there’s not really much more to add to it,” Hamilton mustered in the media pen. He has previously described his maiden year with Ferrari as a “nightmare” and “the worst of my life.”
All the hope of winning an eighth title with the iconic red team was quickly banished after e brief highlight in the Chinese Sprint which Hamilton won. The following day his car was disqualified after the Grand Prix for running too low to the ground. And its been downhill ever since.
Indcar wins a long battle for FIA recognition
Leclerc schools Lewis all season
It hasn’t helped matters that Hamilton has been well and truly schooled by his young team mate Charles Leclerc, who despite an adversarial relationship with his SF-25 managed seven podiums this year. For Hamilton it was the first time in his nineteen year long career where he failed to make the presentation even once at the end of Sunday’s racing proceedings.
Leclerc has qualified ahead of Hamilton 19-5 and in the Grand Prix went one better with the head to head 20-4 in favour of the Monegasque driver. His deficit to Leclerc was a whopping 86 points and his contribution to the Ferrari cause saw him score just 39% of the team’s annual tally.
There’s been much talk that the ground effect era F1 cars have been the nemesis of Lewis Hamilton and all cold change in 2026. Yet all thoughts that Hamilton would be heading straight back to Maranello to continue his mission of reform were dashed given his comments after the race in Abu Dhabi.
“I can’t wait to get away from all this. Every week, photoshoots and all that kind of stuff,” he explained. “That’s the thing I look forward to one day, not having to do it all.” Hamilton went on to say he was unplugging from the “matrix”, going off grid, hardly the fighting talk he’d expressed previously about turning things around at Ferrari.
Marko out, Vettel in at Red Bull Racing?
Hamilton lacks the Schumacher levels of commitment
Whether Hamilton’s fading powers are due to his age is a topic repeatedly discussed in F1 circles, although the paradigm of Fernando Alonso is usually raised as the proof that age doesn’t matter given he repeatedly out qualifies and races his young team mate.
Yet Alonso does not have the mental baggage which Hamilton has always carried around and is able to focus more on racing rather than being distracted by the persistent Hamilton media show. Yet Lewis profited from this attention when his Mercedes car was dominating F1 and now he’s in the doldrums, its difficult for him to wish away the attention he once craved.
The winter break is the shortest for F1 in living memory, with the cars hitting the track for testing on January 26th. It sounds like Hamilton needs a complete reset, but with just a couple of weeks before pre-season work begins, Lewis will not get the away time he claims he needs. Gone is all the talk about revolutionising Ferrari, Schumacher style, who in his off season would rack up 1000’s of kilometres for the Scuderia developing the Bridgestone tyres.
Wolff identifies Verstappen’s 2026 “advantage”
Sim racing drivers have 2026 F1 advantage
Further, the radical new cars will require lots of time in the F1 team’s simulators for the drivers, as they get to grips with the much bigger workload of energy management they have for next season’s racing. Hamilton known for his hate of the virtual racing world and said when at McLaren, simulators made him feel queasy, another poor indicator he will be prepared fully for 2026.
Even if the 2026 Ferrari F1 car is more to Hamilton’s liking than the ground effect era designs, he has the small task of beating Charles Leclerc ahead of him. Him making it clear he has no use for the virtue world now pits him against a bunch of fresh faced kids in the sport, many who jump out of their cars and pull all nighters on sim racing rigs at home.
This constantly improves their race craft and car management skills, together with an intimate knowledge of all of the tracks. Even were it not for age, Hamilton by refusing to get to grips in a simulator is already on the back foot before he plugs back in again to the matrix in January.
F1 misses the point of hybrid future
Formula One will enter a new future in 2026, with its beefed up hybrid power units where the electrical output is 50% of the total horsepower. The battery element will produce some 350kw almost three times of the current units first introduced in 2014.
Whilst the statistics prove that hybrid technology is now dominant in the global auto industry, it was intended to be a transitional technology as the consumers were educated away from traditional internal combustion engines.
The latest ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association) data reveals that across the first ten months of 2025, hybrid electrical vehicles were the most popular tyre of power as chosen by the consumers as plug in hybrids (PHEV) gained further momentum…. READ MORE
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When Schumacher came to Ferrari, it wasn’t just him – Jean Todt arrived from the highly successful Peugeot Le Mans program to lead Ferrari, and he was joined by Rory Bryne who had just designed two title-winning F1 cars and Ross Brawn, from Michael’s previous team and in addition to that they brought a host of others from their former teams with them too.
As far as we know, right from the outset Hamilton was told he had to accept Adami as his race engineer, and it’s clear that the heavy restructuring that happened during Michael’s first couple of years wouldn’t be happening, it’s back to the principles of 1980-1994.
Ferrari have reverted to type of signing big name drivers, and just moving people from around Ferrari and Fiat Group, around.
It’s also worth noting that when Schumacher joined Ferrari he was 27, whereas Hamilton was 40 and in a completely different phase of his career, closer to Rosberg and Lauda going to McLaren perhaps – I don’t think it’s that surprising how things have gone.
Truth is just coming out. LeClerc is a better driver than Hamilton. Sir Lewis Hamilton was never a very good driver. He only won with Mercedes because all those years they had the best car. Any driver would have those championships in the mercs.
Is it time for Hamilton to retire ? He has achieved a lot in his career and was at the pinnacle of F1 for many years, that is undeniable BUT the stats of the 2025 season are here in black and white. Two drivers in the same cars for the same team. Hamilton figures on the left.
Points 156 242 Leclerc
Race Result 3 18 Leclerc
Qualifying 5 19 Leclerc
Fastest Lap 10 13 Leclerc
Laps in Top. 10 1110 1288 Leclerc
Best Result 4th (x4). 2nd (x2) Leclerc
Sir Lewis joined in a different era from the one that Schumacher reigned in Ferrari. Todt had 3 years to build a team that can accommodate a talent like Schumacher. Right off-the-tee, Todt placed his dominance on the team. A clear message came when he went to meet Montezemolo in July 1995 in Monaco, he showed up in Mercedes, to which Luca was not amused, but the deal was signed. One of the conditions he stipulated was: he needs 6 months to look and observe before he pronounces himself on his plans. It emerged later that apart from signing the best talent at the time, the change of culture was the key for all the successes that came wayyy later: year 2000.
About Ferrari: It is considered a Citadelle Fortress and not a Castle. Means to conquer it, one needs to know, study and unlock the smallest outpost doors, then the main fortress gate opens. That’s what MSC did exactly. He blended with the team. ~He knew every mechanic’s family member’s name, the kids, the mom etc… He spent nights in the factory. The most important part: MSC was there for the long game and not the short swing. It took him and the Scuderia 4 (FOUR) years to nail that 1st Drivers Championship.
Now here we are in 2025 and Lewis walks into the fortress carrying his 7 titles and a host of records and thinking it’s gonna be a smooth sail at the Italian Embedded Culture Fortress Scuderia. Italy might one day disappear from the map but Ferrari is Ferrari and will always be there. What we have witnessed in the past downhill years at Mercedes is a Lewis Hamilton more focused on fashion business, movies producer, social causes etc… What he needs is a reset button to 2007 when he dashed as a rookie in the arena – Period.
The concern will be in 2026 is whether he can adapt his driving style to the new cars. No one knows how these cars with 50/50 power will handle. We cannot predict if Max, Charles, George, Lando or any other will be competitive in these cars. There is a better chance that rookies coming from F2 and never experienced the ground effect era they may fair better than the established grid aces. Rollup the sleeves and reset: that’s the message to Lewis to succeed at Ferrari.