Lewis Hamilton should be demanding answers from Ferrari after one 2025 gamble backfired dramatically

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Lewis Hamilton joined a Ferrari team that seemed to be on the precipice of ending a 17-year title drought. They had finished just 14 points behind McLaren in the constructors’ standings.

While the final margin was agonisingly close, Ferrari had been the top-scoring team on the grid over the last 10 races. It was a run that included victories for Charles Leclerc in Italy and the United States, and one for the departing Carlos Sainz in Mexico.

Thus, it seemed Hamilton was arriving at the perfect time. But after five races, Ferrari have slipped to fourth in the table.

Such has been the way at Maranello ever since their last title in 2008 – get close, fall away again. They’re only 11 points behind Red Bull, who are as close to a one-car team as you can get in modern Formula 1, but any title ambitions are fading fast.

Ferrari didn’t need to overhaul their F1 car before Lewis Hamilton joined

Speaking during the winter, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said the 2025 car would be 99% new. The headline change was the shift from pull-rod to push-rod front suspension.

With hindsight, the Scuderia’s gamble has backfired. Upgrades may yet deliver consistent podiums and occasional victories, but it’s highly unlikely they overtake McLaren from here.

And it could be argued that they were always taking an unnecessary risk. After a fairly successful 2024, perhaps only minor tweaks were needed.

Hamilton should be demanding answers as to why Ferrari abandoned that formula. Even Leclerc, who has been comfortably quicker, has complained that the car is difficult to drive.

“The reason why we were so excited about Ferrari going into the season is because, in Leclerc’s hands, that car was one of the best in the final 10 races of the year, if not the best,” Laurence Edmondson said on the ESPN Unlapped podcast. “It was consistent, it was fast, it won races. It’s not doing that right now. This is the big surprise.

“Ferrari changed a lot on that car, they changed the front suspension dramatically. They just don’t seem to have been able to unlock the performance since.

“An interesting thing about Leclerc is that he thinks – this is what he said after qualifying and after the race [in Saudi Arabia] – he’s getting the very best out of the car.

“He can set it up to understeer, oversteer, but no matter what he does, no matter how he tries to adapt his driving style to the car, it was still only good enough for fourth on the grid. And that was his frustration.

“Right now, it’s just fundamentally lacking performance, lacking downforce, compared to the rivals.”

Ferrari sound like Michael Schumacher-era Mercedes when they talk about Lewis Hamilton

When Hamilton is comfortable in the car, he can still perform at a world-class level. He showed that as recently as last month, when he converted pole in the Shanghai Sprint.

Hamilton also came alive when Mercedes were contenders for victory during his final season. Had he been driving the Ferrari of late 2024, he would potentially be far closer to Leclerc.

Of course, that’s all hypothetical. In reality, he’s at a loss as to how to extract performance from the SF-25.

Hamilton is experiencing the same issues Michael Schumacher faced in his F1 comeback with Mercedes. Back then, team boss Ross Brawn admitted that the car didn’t Schumacher, and Schumacher didn’t suit the car.