Lewis Hamilton forced to reckon with 'unheard requests' at Ferrari

Hamilton and Leclerc frustrated by Ferrari limitations

Although his final year at Mercedes was slightly awkward, Lewis Hamilton enjoyed a very good relationship with the Silver Arrows for over a decade. Considering the number of title-winning cars produced in Brackley, this partnership was always a positive one.

Infamously, the first cracks in the Hamilton-Mercedes combination emerged in 2022, when the 7-time Champion expressed his dissatisfaction with the team’s concept.

Ultimately, the 2023 season demonstrated that former Technical Director Mike Elliott’s ‘zero-pod’ gamble had failed. This vindicated the 40-year-old, who expressed clear reservations about the team’s baseline for the ground-effect era.

His move to Ferrari, in many ways, was seen as a clean slate. Hamilton’s Sprint Race win in China added to the initial excitement of his move to Maranello and what it could bring in 2025.

It soon became clear, however, that Ferrari would not be contenders in this year’s title race. Perhaps more worryingly, the team’s entire development direction has been called into question. It was at the Chinese GP that both Hamilton and Leclerc were disqualified for excessive plank wear.

Ferrari’s immediate response was to increase floor clearance to avoid further disqualifications. Unfortunately for the Scuderia, this has come at a significant cost to overall performance – and they have not found any remedies.

The Singapore GP saw both drivers, but particularly Leclerc, grow frustrated by team instructions to lift and coast. This instruction from pit-wall was necessary, though, since the SF-25 is still on the very limit with regards to floor wear. Lifting and coasting, therefore, becomes a necessary evil to minimise plank wear in the braking zone.

Hamilton ‘expected to have more influence’ in Ferrari decision-making

The main takeaway from this year, unfortunately for team principal Fred Vasseur, is that Ferrari have been out-developed. More specifically, their development direction with the SF-25 was fundamentally incorrect.

Unlike Mercedes, who are understood to have made great strides with the W16’s front-wing, the Italian team essentially abandoned development in this area after the Spanish GP technical directive. More generally, the SF-25’s baseline is not reliable enough to consistently extract performance.

This has been a key problem for the Scuderia’s drivers, who often report big swings in performance across sessions. Hamilton is particularly vocal on this point, lacking a real connection to his car.

Since the summer break, the 7-time Champion has appeared slightly more comfortable in the SF-25. Unfortunately for the British driver, these improvements have coincided with Ferrari hitting a clear ceiling with their package.

Rivals Red Bull and Mercedes, meanwhile, have made clear progress. Another year of poor development has created a fresh wave of reports about issues behind the scenes. The growing impatience of Charles Leclerc, for example, has become a key talking point.

New information from Corriere suggests there is dissatisfaction about the team’s trackside operations, which are described as too inflexible. Hamilton is said to have expected more influence on how Ferrari reacts to its limitations.

Instead, per the Italian outlet, Hamilton is being met with “unheard requests” at a team failing to adapt and evolve. These comments are not unique to this season, with previous drivers experiencing similar problems at Maranello.

In any case, it is becoming increasingly clear that Ferrari are in a moment of immense unease. Not only does this create a somewhat pessimistic atmosphere for the remainder of 2025, but it also means there will be no margin for error with next year’s regulation.