Since the introduction of ground-effect aerodynamics in Formula 1 in 2022, Lewis Hamilton has rarely displayed the dominant form that defined much of his earlier career. Whether the seven-time world champion can regain his previous peak performance remains uncertain as he continues to struggle with the current generation of cars.
Hamilton came agonizingly close to securing his eighth World Championship title in 2021, missing out by just one lap. However, since that near-miss, he has only managed to win two races, largely due to the fact that his cars have not been consistently competitive enough. In addition to this, Hamilton has increasingly found himself losing ground to his own teammates. Over the course of the 2022 and 2024 seasons, George Russell outperformed him, with last year’s intra-team battle heavily favoring Russell. This ongoing challenge has been compounded by Hamilton’s move to Ferrari, whose 2025 Formula 1 challenger appears even more unpredictable and difficult to handle compared to previous machinery.
Charles Leclerc has now begun to outscore Lewis Hamilton at a similar pace to what Russell achieved. As the 2025 season pauses for its summer break, Charles Leclerc leads Lewis Hamilton by 42 points, and based on recent race performances, that gap is expected to widen significantly during the second half of the year.
A major factor contributing to Hamilton’s difficulties has been the FIA’s clampdown on front-wing flexibility. According to an in-depth report from the Italian media, the current ground-effect cars present a unique challenge because they are inherently difficult to balance between high-speed and low-speed corners. This creates handling issues such as understeer during slow turns and oversteer when navigating faster sections of the circuit.
While these handling traits affect all drivers to some extent, they appear to be particularly incompatible with Lewis Hamilton’s driving style. Having started the second-highest number of races in Formula 1 history—behind only Fernando Alonso—Lewis Hamilton is known to have a consistent and established approach to driving, which he has acknowledged himself. Sky Germany analyst Ralf Schumacher has suggested that Hamilton struggles with the “nervous” or unstable rear end characteristic of these new cars, but this instability may be an unavoidable trait intrinsic to the current ground-effect regulations.
In late May, just before the Spanish Grand Prix, the FIA introduced a technical directive enforcing stricter load tests on front wings to clamp down on any illegal flexibility. Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur expressed optimism that this rule change might help Ferrari close the gap to McLaren. However, McLaren’s performance remained relatively unaffected, and Hamilton reportedly found the situation more difficult, with the directive exacerbating the oversteer problems he was already experiencing in high-speed corners.
While there is no dramatic shift in Hamilton’s race results before and after the front-wing clampdown, the rule change likely hindered his progress in building confidence with the SF-25’s handling. Earlier this season, Hamilton experimented with numerous setups in search of the optimal balance window for the Ferrari, but ultimately admitted that Charles Leclerc had been more successful in guiding the car’s development in the right direction.
Lewis Hamilton also communicated to Ferrari that he intended to reduce the level of experimentation he had employed at Mercedes, seeking instead a more consistent and stable approach. Despite this intention, his 2025 campaign has so far felt less like a fresh start and more like a continuation of the worrying decline in performance that accelerated last year.
With 105 race victories to his name, the Briton can only hope that the significant regulation overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season will offer him a chance to reset and return to competitive form. If this opportunity does not materialize, 2026 could very well mark the final chapter of his illustrious Formula 1 career.
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