When Lewis Hamilton signed for Ferrari in early 2024, it looked like the move of a lifetime. The Scuderia was fresh from its best season in years, momentum was building, and the seven-time champion was eager to escape Mercedes’ string of tricky cars.
But halfway through 2025, Hamilton is still searching for his first full-length podium in red.
Despite winning the Shanghai sprint from pole in just his second weekend, the season so far has been a steep learning curve – both in and out of the cockpit.
“It just feels so alien, it really does,” Hamilton admitted. “I think we all get stuck in our ways, and I’ve been very stuck. I said, ‘I need to keep driving the way I’m driving to make the car come to me.’ But it’s not working. So I am adjusting myself now to the car.”
From Brembo brakes to Ferrari’s reliance on engine braking, even the smallest changes have demanded adaptation. And unlike his Mercedes days, Hamilton’s built-in familiarity with the car, systems and personnel is gone.
“Every time I go to the track it’s a new characteristic of the car at that track. When I start on Friday, I’m like, ‘Shoot, this is so different to what I raced here with last year.'”
Hamilton endured a new low in Hungary
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The Ferrari SF-25’s weaknesses haven’t helped. Updates have been slow to arrive, and even team-mate Charles Leclerc – in his seventh season with the team – has struggled to match the pace of last year’s car.
The real payoff, Hamilton insists, will come with the sweeping regulation changes in 2026. That car will be the first designed under Ferrari chassis technical director Loïc Serra – a close ally from Mercedes who, Hamilton says, knows exactly what he wants.
“I’m working with Loïc and the whole crew on next year’s front suspension and rear suspension,” Hamilton explained.
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“Addressing the understeer issues, making sure we’re learning from previous years and also what we’re learning from this year, so that next year is the best that we’ve ever had. That’s my main focus.”
Hamilton says he’s determined to have “some of my DNA” in the 2026 car, building a package that feels natural to him from the start. It’s a long-term approach, but one he believes is essential.
“The team have had amazing drivers – Fernando [Alonso], Sebastian [Vettel] – and yet they didn’t win a title with Ferrari. I refuse for that to be the case with me.”
For now, the focus is on laying the foundations – in engineering, in communication, and in culture – for Ferrari to become a championship threat again.
As Hamilton put it: “I feel like it’s my job to challenge everyone in the team, particularly those at the top.”
