The 2025 Formula 1 campaign is heading toward a disappointing conclusion for Lewis Hamilton, and many in the paddock are wondering how much Ferrari’s performance drop has contributed to the seven-time world champion’s dramatic decline. His Qatar weekend was arguably one of the toughest of his entire recent career, with Hamilton finishing eighteenth in both the Sprint qualifying and the Grand Prix qualifying sessions, beating only Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto. It was a result few could have imagined for a driver of his pedigree, and it inevitably triggered intense debate.
This topic took center stage in the latest episode of the Terruzziracconta podcast, where Giorgio Terruzzi, Pino Allievi, and Stefano Nicoli broke down one of Hamilton’s most puzzling weekends of the season. From his earliest races in red, Hamilton has consistently struggled against Charles Leclerc, but the Qatar outcome took those difficulties to a new level.
Pino Allievi opened the discussion with a blunt assessment: “Think about it for a moment: Lewis Hamilton eighteenth in qualifying. He only puts Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto behind him. Do you think this is the real Hamilton?”. He continued sharpening the debate: “That Hamilton is disappointing this year is understandable, and that he’s slower than Leclerc can also be expected. But that he belongs on the second-to-last row? No, absolutely not.”
Stefano Nicoli agreed, highlighting the magnitude of the gap: “There’s a chasm there, it’s obvious. Hamilton comes out on the losing end compared to Leclerc in both qualifying and the race, but eighteenth place is not normal for him.”
Pino Allievi then added an observation that raised even more questions about the internal dynamics at Ferrari: “And despite what president John Elkann said, insisting the team is very united, at the end of all the chaos in Qatar, Lewis Hamilton turns around and says, ‘I made a long list of things we need to change.’ So who’s the real team manager here — Hamilton or Vasseur?”
The 2025 Formula 1 season remains deeply problematic for the British driver. Between difficulty adapting to the SF-25 and losing key battles against Charles Leclerc, the seven-time world champion has struggled to find rhythm and consistency. Qatar, with its double P18, stands as the clearest snapshot yet of a crisis Ferrari must urgently solve ahead of the 2026 regulation overhaul — a season that now feels like a crucial turning point for both team and driver.
If Maranello doesn’t start listening to those famous Lewis Hamilton notebooks very soon, the most expensive driver signing in F1 history risks becoming the biggest disappointment as well.
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