Ferrari told why they are to blame after Lewis Hamilton ‘gave up’ in the 2025 F1 season

Follow us on Google Discover

Charles Leclerc has no reason to “boast” about beating Lewis Hamilton in most of the F1 head-to-head duels at Ferrari during 2025, as the Briton “gave up” on the season.

Hamilton joined Leclerc at Ferrari in 2025, as the seven-time F1 champion finally realised his childhood dream of driving for the pride of Italy. But his move to Maranello turned out to be a nightmare, as the 40-year-old produced the worst campaign of his 19-year F1 career so far.

Despite the optimism that Hamilton voiced at the start of the term when he claimed Ferrari had “every ingredient” to win a title, the Stevenage-born star would only achieve sixth place in the F1 drivers’ standings on 156 points. Leclerc also only earned 242 points for fifth place.

Ferrari also failed to win a Grand Prix in a season for the first time since 2021, and Hamilton failed to get a single Grand Prix podium in a season for the first time in his F1 career. Leclerc took seven Grand Prix podium finishes in 2025, with highs of P2 in Monaco and Mexico City.

Describe the head-to-head battle at Ferrari in 2025 in three words…

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

Lewis Hamilton ‘gave up’ as he does not yet feel ‘integrated’ in the Ferrari F1 team

Leclerc also destroyed Hamilton in the head-to-head duels, as he won 19-5 in qualifying and 18-3 for Grand Prix results, when at least one of the Ferrari drivers finished. The 26-year-old even led the Scuderia’s efforts in Sprint Qualifying 4-2, but they tied 3-3 for F1 Sprint results.

READ MORE: 2025 F1 teammate head-to-heads, including Grand Prix and Sprint results

Former Ferrari F1 driver Arturo Merzario believes Leclerc has no reason to celebrate beating Hamilton, though, as the latter “gave up” as he does not yet feel like he is a part of the team in Maranello. Hamilton’s relationship with Ferrari was often a point of debate through 2025.

Merzario told Automoto.it: “Who would boast about competing against a seven-time world champion like Hamilton, when in reality Lewis gave up because he didn’t feel integrated into the team? Why would he give 110% under these circumstances?”

Charles Leclerc knows every inch of Maranello, while Lewis Hamilton is still learning how Ferrari operate

Leclerc is a part of the furniture at Ferrari and knows how the Scuderia work, with 2025 his seventh season in red. Hamilton, in contrast, had to learn how Ferrari’s engine works, how the Maranello natives set up a car and how they operate, which he does not feel is perfect.

Hamilton gave Ferrari documents listing various changes he thinks they must make to return to the top of the Formula 1 summit during 2025, having compared where he thinks they fall short with what he knew at Mercedes. He won six titles in 12 seasons for the Silver Arrows.

It is said, however, that some at Ferrari resented Hamilton’s documents and even dismissed some of his ideas, as they believed his feedback was essentially an audit of their operations. Hamilton’s mood this term was also not helped by Ferrari focusing on F1’s 2026 regulations.

Team principal Fred Vasseur halted the development of Ferrari’s 2025 car in April, as he did not want to waste any of their permitted wind tunnel hours on aerodynamic updates at the expense of next year’s car. Vasseur quickly accepted that a title fight in 2025 was unrealistic.