Piero Ferrari explains the ‘very complicated’ reason why Ferrari can’t give Lewis Hamilton a race-winning car

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It has not been the dream start to life at Ferrari that Lewis Hamilton envisioned, with the seven-time world champion yet to win a Grand Prix with the Italian team.

Midway through the season, Hamilton sits 175 points off the championship leader Oscar Piastri having yet to even finish on the podium.

It has been a difficult season for Ferrari as a whole after Charles Leclerc failed to convert his pole into a win at Hungary, a track that is notorious for being difficult to overtake on and having a big advantage for the polesitter.

Leclerc was angry with his Ferrari engineers and kept referencing non-descript problems over team radio, with it speculated to be a known problem with their 2025 challenger.

Anthony Davidson and George Russell both suspected Leclerc was managing plank wear, which is what got them disqualified earlier in the season. Leclerc referred a chassis issue after the race, while Hamilton was downbeat after struggling in qualifying and failing to progress in the race.

Piero Ferrari, son of their founder Enzo Ferrari, has explained why it has been difficult for the team to win a title, when speaking to Gazzetta.

Piero Ferrari explains ‘very complicated’ reason for lack of titles at Ferrari

Ferrari last won a title in 2008 with Kimi Raikkonen, who took the Drivers’ Championship by one point after a battle with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Hamilton.

They have come close with Alonso in 2010 and 2012, but the last time they were within a shot was 2018 with Sebastian Vettel.

Ferrari believes the complicated reason behind their struggles is largely down to the changing dynamics in F1 over the last few years.

“I think it’s a matter of cycles, F1 has always worked like this, and when you start a negative one, you don’t know when you reach the bottom,” said Ferrari.

“Today, it is very complicated because you can’t spend more money to fill the gaps, since there are limitations on the budget cap. It is necessary to ring a series of winning aspects to change course”.

Piero Ferrari names Niki Lauda as favourite Ferrari world champion

Ferrari has seen some of F1’s greatest drivers in the sport’s 75-year history pass through the doors of Maranello, including Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost.

Hamilton is the latest but it was his mentor at Mercedes that Ferrari says was his favourite when asked who won the hearts of those at Maranello.

“Niki Lauda. My father had chosen him after seeing him run in Monte Carlo. He was a young man with a winning mentality who knew where to improve the car and team, not just drive and take risks. Over the years, we have built a beautiful friendship that I carry in my heart,” said Ferrari.

Lauda won his first F1 title with Ferrari in 1975 and brought success back to the team for the first time in 11 years, something Hamilton is now trying to emulate.