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Ferrari Explains Lewis Hamilton’s Troubled 2025 Season Amid Team Struggles
Ferrari vice chairman Piero Ferrari has stepped forward to shed light on the Italian team’s disappointing 2025 Formula 1 campaign, a season that was supposed to be marked by resurgence but has instead been defined by struggle. Much of the attention has inevitably fallen on Lewis Hamilton, who joined Ferrari this year in one of the sport’s most highly anticipated moves in recent history. However, the team’s results so far have painted a far different picture than fans and analysts expected.
After finishing just 11 points behind McLaren in the 2024 constructors’ championship, optimism around Ferrari’s prospects for 2025 was sky-high. The addition of seven-time world champion Hamilton was viewed as the final piece needed to transform the Scuderia into title contenders once again. Many hoped that Hamilton’s vast experience and competitive edge would help Ferrari secure its first championship—either drivers’ or constructors’—since 2008.
Instead, the season has spiraled into frustration. Across the first 14 races of the year, Hamilton has yet to claim a single podium finish. This statistic is staggering when contrasted with his career, which has been defined by consistency, race wins, and record-breaking performances. Equally worrying for Hamilton’s fans, he has been regularly outpaced by teammate Charles Leclerc, who has outqualified the Briton in 10 of the 14 rounds. The once-dominant Hamilton, long regarded as one of the fastest qualifiers in Formula 1 history, suddenly finds himself struggling in both single-lap pace and race-day performance.
Yet, according to Piero Ferrari, Hamilton’s struggles cannot be seen in isolation. The problems run deeper than just one driver’s adaptation to a new team. Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Ferrari vice chairman—who is also the son of the legendary Enzo Ferrari, founder of the iconic brand—emphasized that the root cause lies in a broader cycle of underperformance, compounded by modern F1’s stringent financial rules.
“I think it’s a matter of cycles,” Ferrari explained. “This sport has always worked in phases. There are moments when everything aligns, and you find yourself competing for victories. But there are also downturns, negative cycles that are difficult to escape. When such a cycle begins, you can never truly predict when you will hit the lowest point.”
One of the most significant obstacles, according to Ferrari, is the cost cap introduced in recent years. Designed to level the playing field between big-budget teams and smaller competitors, the budget cap restricts how much each team can spend during the season. While the regulation has been praised for improving competitiveness across the grid, it has also made it harder for teams like Ferrari to recover quickly when they find themselves on the back foot.
“Today it’s very complicated,” Ferrari continued. “In the past, if you discovered that your car was behind, you could simply allocate more resources and invest heavily to close the gap. Now, with the budget cap in place, that option doesn’t exist. You cannot simply spend your way back into contention. The only solution is to carefully align a series of winning factors—innovation, reliability, team coordination—and hope they come together in time to change course.”
Ferrari’s remarks highlight a painful reality: despite their prestige and resources, the Scuderia are currently 299 points adrift of championship leaders McLaren in the 2025 constructors’ standings. This gulf reflects not just an underperforming car but also a lack of adaptability under the new financial and technical constraints of modern Formula 1.
For Hamilton, the situation represents a dramatic reversal of fortune. His move to Ferrari was intended to mark a new chapter in his career, perhaps even the crowning achievement of an already historic journey. Instead, it has thus far been a humbling experience, with doubts emerging over whether Ferrari can provide him the machinery capable of competing at the front before the end of his contract.
Still, Piero Ferrari insists that Formula 1 is cyclical and that difficult moments eventually give way to revival. “We know this team has the talent and the determination,” he said. “The key is to remain patient and focused, because even though the rules limit what can be done in the short term, success always comes back around with the right persistence.”
For now, Hamilton and Ferrari must endure the challenges of 2025, hoping that this low point becomes the catalyst for future redemption.
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