Lewis Hamilton’s debut season with Ferrari has fallen short of expectations, leaving both the driver and the team disappointed. The 40-year-old Brit shook the Formula One world last year when he ended an 18-year tenure with Mercedes to join Scuderia Ferrari for the 2025 season, aiming to replicate the title-winning success he achieved over many years with his previous team.
Having matched Michael Schumacher’s record of seven Formula One World Drivers’ Championships during his time at Mercedes, Hamilton arrived at Ferrari with high hopes. Despite this, his performances last season have been underwhelming, highlighted by struggles such as his 12th-place finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where he openly questioned whether the team should consider changing drivers.
How Ferrari Misjudged the Difficulty of Hamilton’s Transition
Fred Vasseur, Ferrari’s Team Principal, has admitted that the team made a significant miscalculation regarding how difficult it would be for Hamilton to adapt to Ferrari’s environment. In a recent discussion with The Race, Vasseur accepted responsibility on behalf of Ferrari’s leadership for underestimating this adjustment period. He emphasized that Hamilton’s long tenure in a single system made the transition especially challenging.
“Lewis and I, we collectively, probably underestimated the change of environment, and the fact that he spent, for me, 20 years in the same team. McLaren was Mercedes, and then he moved to Mercedes: an English team, same engine guys, that same culture and so on.”
Vasseur contrasted Hamilton’s situation with other drivers more familiar with changing teams frequently, pointing out that Hamilton’s long-term association with similar team environments was unlike others on the grid. For example, Carlos Sainz has switched teams multiple times over eight years, making him more accustomed to adapting.
“So he spent 2006 to 2024, 18 years, in this environment, and then he arrived at Ferrari. And we were stupidly expecting that he will have everything under control. Culturally speaking, there is a bigger difference between Ferrari and Mercedes than between Mercedes and McLaren. And this we underestimated.”
—Fred Vasseur, Ferrari Team Principal
Current Performance and Prospects for Improvement
At the 2025 summer break, Hamilton sits sixth in the Drivers’ Championship standings, trailing McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by 175 points, a substantial gap given the competitiveness of the championship. Despite this, Vasseur remains confident in Hamilton’s capabilities and believes the driver will build momentum into the latter part of the season and beyond.
“It took Lewis four or five races to be a bit more in control. And I would say that from Canada, Spain, UK, Austria, he was there. He was. In Spa he had a tough weekend, but for different reasons with a difficult qualifying. But then in the race, he was very good. And [Hungary] I think it was more details. If you have a look at the classification, you see one is P1, the other is P12. But we were not far away from having Charles P11 and Lewis P12.”
—Fred Vasseur
He added,
“
I don’t want to give details, but point by point, I think we are fixing the issues.”
Team Performance and Long-Term Objectives
While Hamilton’s struggles have been apparent, his teammate Charles Leclerc has contributed significantly to Ferrari’s position in the Constructors’ Championship. Currently, Ferrari holds second place, but they trail frontrunners McLaren by a large margin of 299 points, making a championship win this year highly unlikely.
As a result, Ferrari’s strategy for the remaining ten races seems focused on laying the groundwork for a stronger 2026 campaign. This includes allowing Hamilton more time to acclimate to the car and the distinct culture within the Ferrari team, providing a foundation for improved results in future seasons.