Lewis Hamilton refutes what Fred Vasseur has just said about Ferrari’s miserable 2025 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton joined Ferrari in the 2025 F1 season to realise a childhood dream, but he has endured a nightmare that will now mark his worst campaign in the field so far.

The 40-year-old agreed to move to Ferrari for his 19th season in F1 on the back of producing his first winless seasons ever in 2022 and 2023 with Mercedes. Hamilton agreed to sign with Ferrari in February 2024, but 2025 is now likely to deliver his third winless campaign to date.

Hamilton also claimed upon his arrival in February 2025 that Ferrari had “every ingredient” to win a Formula 1 title. But he failed to claim a single Grand Prix podium across the first 23/24 rounds. Hamilton’s 152 points are also his fewest under the scoring system used since 2010.

Ferrari’s results not living up to Hamilton’s initial expectations have also seen his mood sour drastically in 2025. Hamilton claimed Ferrari should “change driver” after he qualified P12 in Hungary. Also, Hamilton admitted he is living a “nightmare” at Ferrari after retiring in Brazil.

Lewis Hamilton refutes Fred Vasseur claiming Ferrari’s 2026 focus caused ‘psychological’ damage

Hamilton has called 2025 his “worst season ever”, too, having never before failed to claim at least one Grand Prix podium in a term. Charles Leclerc has taken seven podiums this season, but he is guaranteed to finish fifth in the F1 drivers’ championship and Hamilton is just sixth.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about F1’s 2026 engine and aero regulations

Part of Ferrari’s problems stems from their decision to cease developing the SF-25 in April to use their wind tunnel resources on their car for the 2026 F1 regulations. Team principal Fred Vasseur has admitted that he “underestimated” the “psychological” damage of their move.

But Hamilton does not believe that Ferrari focusing on F1’s 2026 regulations at the expense of any aerodynamic updates for their 2025 car had any psychological impact. He also urged the Scuderia to shift their focus to the 2026 F1 season early on as it needed to be the focus.

Hamilton stated, via SPEEDWEEK: “It had no psychological impact on me. This decision was absolutely correct, and I advocated for us to abandon the 2025 project and focus everything on 2026. I was convinced. We can’t afford to fall behind in terms of development for 2026.

“I still believe it was the right decision, because it was clear early on that we wouldn’t be in contention for the world championship title.”

Jacques Villeneuve feels Fred Vasseur is ‘burdening’ Ferrari with ‘a lot’ of expectations

Ferrari were not the only team to shift their resources onto F1’s 2026 regulations at an early stage of the 2025 season. Williams were one of the first teams to prioritise next season, and McLaren even stopped developing their 2025 title-challenging car to focus on 2026 in July.

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

So, 1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve does not buy Ferrari’s excuse that focusing on the 2026 regulations was what ruined their 2025 campaign. Vasseur has also now put “a lot” of pressure on Ferrari to deliver in 2026, as they will now be expected to produce a lot more.

Villeneuve told Gazzetta dello Sport: “Williams also stopped developing this car very early, but without any updates recently, they’re doing better than Ferrari.

“By doing this, Maranello is burdening themselves with a lot of expectations, and setting their sights on themselves for next year, especially given Hamilton’s position.”

Ferrari finished the 2024 season second to McLaren atop the constructors’ standings by just 14 points. Yet the Scuderia are guaranteed to finish 2025 in fourth place, and they head into the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with a 418-point deficit to McLaren on 800 points.

Vasseur will hope Ferrari’s sacrifice pays off next year, with the pride of Italy also making an array of changes to their set-up. Ferrari will run push-rod suspension on both axles in 2026, having accepted that moving to pull-rod suspension for the 2025 campaign was a mistake.