Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are forming a team with Ferrari, despite the odd-year curse continuing to make its presence felt. By a strange twist of fate, the Maranello cars built in 2021, 2023, and 2025 have failed to live up to expectations. While the SF21 marked a clear step forward compared to the unfortunate car from the previous year, in both 2023 and this year the ambitions at the start of the Formula 1 season were high.
It is clear that the SF-25 needs significant interventions just to get back on track. It’s inaccurate to speak of evolutionary or corrective updates, even if they are expected to be introduced in the coming rounds of the 2025 Formula 1 season. The Italian engineers are effectively forced to create a sort of “B” version of the technical project 677, which under the constraints of the budget cap is an extremely complex challenge.
The life cycle of the SF-25 and the management of the 2026 F1 technical project are being completely reassessed in terms of resource allocation. The effort being made proves that 2025 was never intended as a transitional year ahead of the new regulatory framework. It is equally clear that the release of the most significant aerodynamic updates has nothing to do with the introduction of technical directive TD018.
At first, it was thought that the aerodynamic updates for the Ferrari SF-25 would be introduced at the Imola Grand Prix. Then the decision was made to wait until the stricter front wing deflection tests came into effect. But in reality, the extent of the modifications to Charles Leclerc’s and Lewis Hamilton’s car requires time, precisely because these are not simple updates.
Six Grands Prix out of twenty-four are already behind us, namely 25% of the season. In this span of time, Ferrari hasn’t managed to limit the damage due to well-known technical issues and unforgivable lapses, such as the double disqualification at the Chinese Grand Prix. The Ferrari drivers understood as early as the Bahrain pre-season testing session that the season was heading in a very different direction from what they had hoped for.
The championship was set as a target already at the launch of this year’s car. For both drivers, it has been a disappointment that is difficult to digest for various reasons. Charles Leclerc, despite having developed strong “immunity” over his long stint at Ferrari, now seems resigned. Lewis Hamilton was looking for that spark at Ferrari in order to reignite the speed that had so often been stifled by the lack of competitiveness of the ground-effect Silver Arrows.
After just six race weekends, despite small satisfactions in the sprint races, he is facing the same difficulties seen in recent seasons. What’s making this early part of his adventure in red even more complicated is his clear dissatisfaction with the work done by his Maranello engineers at the track. There hasn’t been a single round where the seven-time Formula 1 world champion’s performance improved over the course of the weekend.
At Ferrari, seniority and titles don’t count: serving the team is what matters. Caring deeply about the fate of the Prancing Horse, it’s naturally our hope that the rest of the season can bring great satisfaction to the Italian team. However, we must consider the objective data and base our assessments on rationality. At this moment, thinking that the historic Maranello-based team can overturn the current balance of power is an act of faith.
Most likely, Ferrari’s drivers will need to set aside their early-season ambitions and roll up their sleeves in service of the greater good — the team’s interests. The pathetic string of team radios between the pit wall and the drivers in the second half of the Miami Grand Prix is exactly what must never happen again. Individual ambitions need to be shelved, especially when the fight is for minor positions.
In this regard, Ferrari’s driver pairing will need to prove capable of working in harmony, as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz did in 2021 and 2023. Yes, because although there were frictions between the Monegasque and the Spaniard in those years as well, the two were able to maximize results with the material at hand and contribute to the car’s performance growth.
After all, the teams Carlos Sainz has raced for have always grown significantly after his arrival — that’s a fact. Aware of the typical egotism of top-tier drivers, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton will have to put themselves at the team’s service — at least until the car is worthy of its drivers and allows them to squabble over something far more prestigious than a seventh place.
— see video above —
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