Nico Rosberg ‘happy’ for Lewis Hamilton after he ‘finally adapted’ to Ferrari

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Lewis Hamilton is ‘racing with joy’ again at Ferrari after his nightmare first season, former teammate Nico Rosberg has said.

For the first time in his F1 career, which began in 2007, Hamilton failed to score a single podium in 2025, but it only took him two races to put that right this year.

Rosberg and Hamilton, who were friends when they were growing up, fell out while fighting for the title at Mercedes between 2014 and 2016.

Lewis Hamilton is now ‘integrated’ into Ferrari, Nico Rosberg says

In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Rosberg was asked about Ferrari’s progress this year.

McLaren may have supplanted them as Mercedes’ nearest challengers, but Rosberg still expects Ferrari to win races in the near future. Their last victory came at the 2024 Mexico City GP.

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While Hamilton had a disappointing weekend in Miami, finishing seventh in the Sprint and sixth in the Grand Prix, 49 points is still a solid return at this stage. Indeed, it took him until round seven to reach that figure last season.

Rosberg thinks Hamilton is now ‘integrated’ into the Ferrari team after an adaptation process that was far more difficult than all parties expected.

“Good, they started off strong and the car is good,” Rosberg said of Ferrari. “They’re missing something to get the wins, but they’ve done a great job compared to last year, and I think they’ll soon be back winning Grands Prix.

“I’m also happy for Lewis Hamilton, who finally seems to be back to his level and racing with joy after a truly tough 2025 season for him. Integrating with the new team wasn’t easy, but now he seems to have finally adapted.”

Is Lewis Hamilton’s demeanour starting to change for the worse at Ferrari?

Before the Miami GP, Fred Vasseur explained that Hamilton had an input into key development decisions for the SF-26. This apparently made him feel like a leader internally.

The car itself is now better suited to his preferences, and the consensus is that Hamilton prefers the new generation of cars to their ground-effect predecessors.

Hamilton has had some thrilling battles with Charles Leclerc this season, having rarely got close to the Monegasque on either a Saturday or a Sunday in 2025.

But even though Leclerc’s penalty demoted him to seventh in Miami, he has had a clear upper hand at the last two races. The sample size is still too small to declare that Hamilton is truly back.

Progress has clearly been made, but the energy and positivity that characterised Hamilton at the opening two rounds has given way to a slightly more downbeat demeanour at the last two events.