Juan Pablo Montoya says he can see Lewis Hamilton’s biggest problem ‘a mile off’

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Ferrari would have expected Lewis Hamilton to be comfortable in their 2025 F1 car by now. The Italian Grand Prix will be his 16th race for the team.

But on the evidence of recent races, Hamilton may be drifting further away from his target. He has only scored points in one of his last four starts, including the Belgium Sprint.

That run has included three qualifying eliminations and a highly uncharacteristic error at Zandvoort. Hamilton’s race ended in the barriers when he was competing for a top-six finish.

The seven-time world champion felt he’d made progress during the Dutch GP weekend before that crash. But the headline statistics remain brutal – he has lost out to Charles Leclerc in 25 of the 33 competitive sessions where both drivers have been classified.

Juan Pablo Montoya says Lewis Hamilton hates Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car

Speaking on the AS Colombia YouTube channel, former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya cast doubt on whether Hamilton could solve his problems this year.

His work ethic isn’t in doubt. Nico Rosberg has heard that Hamilton has been pushing like ‘crazy’ behind the scenes, even if the benefits aren’t obvious at this stage.

For Montoya, the biggest issue is that Hamilton ‘innately hates’ the SF-25. Perhaps it’s fundamentally at odds with his driving style.

This isn’t an admission he could make in public. But Hamilton has been sending Ferrari documents of feedback and may be suggesting radical changes for 2026.

“He looks uncomfortable, super uncomfortable in that Ferrari, and he’s worked hard, you can tell he’s worked really hard, he’s put in a lot of hours, and it’s a car he innately hates,” Montoya said.

“Obviously, he can’t go out and say he hates the car, but you can tell a mile off.”

Lewis Hamilton receives the best possible news about 2026 F1 car

Hamilton issued a rallying cry to Ferrari fans before Monza, and if there is some cause for hope heading into this weekend, it’s his performances at ‘home’ events in 2025.

On his first visit to Italy as a Ferrari driver (for the Emilia Romagna GP), he was fourth, and he repeated that result at Silverstone. Those remain his best showings in a Grand Prix.

Hamilton charged from 12th on the grid at Imola and looked like a contender for British GP pole before faltering at the end of his qualifying lap. It will be difficult to deliver a repeat this weekend given his five-place grid penalty, but he does appear to drive with additional motivation at landmark events.

In 12 months’ time, he’ll hope to arrive at Monza as a title contender. Hamilton will be delighted that the 2026 cars are completely different, according to a driver who’s tested them on the simulator, because he and Ferrari need a reset.