Ferrari accused of breaking promises to Lewis Hamilton with Charles Leclerc receiving preferential treatment

Follow us on Google Discover

Lewis Hamilton’s horror show at the 2025 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix has left Gian Carlo Minardi with the feeling that Ferrari are giving Charles Leclerc preferential treatment.

The Scuderia stars produced very contrasting performances in Budapest last week. Leclerc took pole position for the Hungarian GP and he even fought for the win, before finishing the race in P4. Hamilton, on the other hand, could only qualify in and also finish the race in P12.

Hamilton finishing outside of the top 10 at the Hungaroring, a track he loves, also makes the Hungarian GP the first race he finished for Ferrari where the 40-year-old did not get a point. The Briton had earned at least one point in each of his first 12 classified finishes this season.

Only when Hamilton was disqualified from the Chinese GP in Ferrari’s first-ever double DSQ back in March had he left a Grand Prix without a point for the Scuderia this term before the Hungarian GP. His Q2 exit in Budapest was also the fourth time he did not reach Q3 in 2025.

Gian Carlo Minardi thinks Lewis Hamilton is unhappy with Ferrari’s broken promises

Such was the Briton’s plight last week that Hamilton called himself “useless” after qualifying P12 for the Hungarian GP, during the same session in which Leclerc scored Ferrari’s first pole of the 2025 F1 season. Leclerc was 0.247s faster than Hamilton in Q2 as he advanced in P6.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family

But a suspected chassis issue derailed Leclerc’s Hungarian GP, as the Monegasque fell from fighting for the win to finishing P4 and 37.560s behind the lead before his five-second time penalty. The 27-year-old lost all of his pace after making his second pit stop on Lap 40 of 70.

Listening to Hamilton beat himself up in Budapest also gave Minardi the impression that the seven-time F1 champion now feels Ferrari have broken their promises to him. The former F1 team owner even feels Ferrari are trying to help Leclerc improve, more so than for Hamilton.

Minardi told Gazzetta dello Sport: “From various interviews, I understand [that] Lewis is complaining about things that were promised to him but haven’t arrived.

“It’s difficult to make judgments, in any case. I think Ferrari are trying to find a better direction for Leclerc right now.”

Charles Leclerc has now scored 42 points more than Lewis Hamilton as Ferrari teammates

Hamilton left the Hungarian GP questioning if he can help Ferrari, too, after watching Leclerc score their first pole position of the season and fight for their first win while the Briton failed to fight through the order. Ferrari are the only one of F1’s top four teams yet to win in 2025.

While Ferrari sit second in the constructors’ championship at the summer break, Hamilton is only sixth in the F1 drivers’ championship with 109 points after 14 rounds. He also now trails Leclerc in fifth spot by 42 points, even though Hamilton won the F1 Sprint at the Chinese GP.

The best days of Hamilton’s Ferrari career thus far have come in Sprints, having also secured P3 in the Miami Sprint. His fourth-place finishes during the Grands Prix in Imola, Austria and Great Britain are the best main race results the 105-time race winner has scored for Ferrari.