Lewis Hamilton failed to live up to one pre-season Martin Brundle prediction at Ferrari

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The story of Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari started so long before his eventual debut in Australia in March that the hype around him reached almost unprecedented levels.

Thousands turned out to see Hamilton’s first pre-season test run at Fiorano, and he went into the 2025 campaign full of optimism.

What followed was a season with very few highs and plenty of lows for the seven-time world champion.

Lewis Hamilton failed to record a top-three finish outside of Sprint Races and finished 86 points behind his new teammate, Charles Leclerc.

Ferrari have to take a lot of the responsibility for this, with neither of their drivers happy with their cars across the campaign.

Hamilton disagreed with Loic Serra on how long Ferrari should develop their 2025 car after they quickly shifted focus to next year.

Finish the sentence: In 2027, the Ferrari driver line-up will be…

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It’s put even more pressure on the team and both of their drivers to deliver during the first year of F1’s regulation changes.

Looking back to before the season started, Martin Brundle made plenty of predictions ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like one of his assertions about Hamilton came true.

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

Martin Brundle saw Lewis Hamilton’s qualifying problems coming, but ‘still got it’ claim is in doubt

Brundle took part in a pre-season predictions discussion for Sky Sports F1 and backed Max Verstappen to win the title and McLaren to win the constructors’ championship.

He thought Oliver Bearman would be the most impressive rookie and Carlos Sainz would get the first podium outside of the big four teams, which actually went to Nico Hulkenberg.

He then correctly predicted Williams to finish fifth in the constructors’ championship, and when asked about Hamilton in 2025, he said: “We do see Lewis making a few more mistakes than he used to, in qualifying in particular, but if you look back to Silverstone last year – there was a race to be won, and he won it. He was also unbelievably fast coming back through the field in Las Vegas after his problems in qualifying.

“So, Lewis has still got it, and if Ferrari have a race-winning car and a championship-winning car, then Lewis is still capable of achieving both, but he’s got to beat some great teams and drivers along the way.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Martin Brundle’s George Russell prediction comes true at Mercedes in 2025

Another driver Brundle tried to predict heading into 2025 was Hamilton’s old Mercedes teammate, George Russell.

He said: “George carries a confidence; the kind of confidence I wish I had when I was driving.

“A self-belief that’s not uncomfortable, and I think that he will relish his leading role at Mercedes this year, finally out of Lewis’ shadow, even if he has outperformed him on many occasions.

“Unless McLaren and Ferrari really have got a performance advantage over Red Bull and Mercedes, then I think George is another one fully in the championship mix.”

Hamilton will be watching Russell’s progress at Mercedes in 2026 very carefully.

Rumours that Mercedes will have the best power unit are persisting, and if that’s the case, then it’s a battle of the designers at the four manufacturers using their engine.

Mercedes, McLaren, Williams and Alpine could end up being the quartet to beat, and if that’s the case, then even though Hamilton might not still have it as Brundle predicted, it wouldn’t matter anyway if Ferrari haven’t nailed the upcoming ruleset.