Lewis Hamilton recently expressed in a press conference that he is determined to avoid experiencing the same disappointing fate as Sebastian Vettel during his time at Ferrari. While the German achieved several race wins with the Scuderia, he was never able to secure a Formula 1 World Championship with the team.
Between Sebastian Vettel’s arrival at Ferrari in 2015 and his early exit in 2020, he claimed 14 Grand Prix victories—a tally surpassed only by legendary Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher, with 72 wins, and Niki Lauda, with 15. Although Ferrari produced a car capable of challenging for titles in 2017 and 2018, Vettel was ultimately unable to overcome the dominance of Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes team. Subsequently, Charles Leclerc emerged as a formidable teammate and competitor, outperforming Vettel in 2019 and effectively forcing the four-time world champion out of the team, albeit unintentionally.
Lewis Hamilton made it clear that he refuses to miss out on another championship in a way similar to Vettel or Fernando Alonso, but the current reality is that he remains far from securing a race victory this season. The seven-time world champion has yet to reach the podium after the first 14 race weekends of 2025. Even with Charles Leclerc in good form, the Ferrari SF-25 has not shown the capability to consistently reach the top step of the podium.
The resurfacing of Sebastian Vettel’s 2020 criticisms at Ferrari has sparked debate among Formula 1 fans about whether anything has truly changed within the team. The 2020 season marked a particularly low point for Ferrari, deepening their title drought, which now extends to 18 years. That year, the team fell into midfield contention, finishing sixth in the constructors’ championship.
At the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix—round six of a 17-race calendar—Leclerc and Vettel qualified in ninth and eleventh positions respectively. During the race, Leclerc was forced to retire with approximately 30 laps remaining due to mechanical failure. Vettel, left as the sole Ferrari driver on track, publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the team’s strategic decisions. A notable exchange between Vettel and his race engineer, Riccardo Adami—who now works with Lewis Hamilton—has recently been shared widely online.
In the conversation, Riccardo Adami asked Vettel what he thought about finishing the race on his current set of tyres. Sebastian Vettel replied that he had been pushing hard for three laps and questioned what he needed to do to maintain his position. Riccardo Adami instructed Vettel on the lap times required to stay ahead, to which Vettel responded that he was capable of hitting those targets and was willing to try, acknowledging they had nothing to lose.
This conversation has recently gained renewed attention on Reddit, where a post sharing the exchange received over three thousand upvotes. The general consensus among fans was that Ferrari’s operational problems persist, unchanged since Vettel’s tenure.
One fan commented that nothing seems to have improved, while another cynically suggested that Ferrari suffers from “extremely incompetent people protected by money or politics.” Some even went as far as to label the team a “dumpster fire,” attributing ongoing issues to internal politics and power struggles that prevent decisive action. Fans expressed hope that Lewis Hamilton would avoid suffering the same disappointments as Vettel and Alonso.
A final remark on the thread cynically noted that Ferrari appear to still be “checking” their issues, implying a lack of effective solutions.
Despite these criticisms, Ferrari’s 2025 season has not been entirely disastrous. The team currently holds second place in the constructors’ championship, and Charles Leclerc claimed pole position at the recent Hungarian Grand Prix. However, the intensity of the criticism stems from the high expectations following an excellent 2024 campaign and the signing of Lewis Hamilton, which raised hopes that Ferrari would be genuine title contenders.
During the Hungarian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc seemed to be controlling the race until a chassis-related problem significantly affected his pace, dropping him to fourth place by the finish and leaving him more than 40 seconds behind the winner. Meanwhile, Hamilton started and finished in 12th place after a one-stop strategy backfired. Though he managed several overtakes on fresher medium tyres, he ultimately fell short of scoring points.
Hamilton joined Ferrari in what is likely to be the final chapter of his Formula 1 career, but concerns are growing that he could face a reputational setback similar to Michael Schumacher’s difficult comeback at Mercedes. Schumacher struggled over three seasons after returning to Formula 1 in 2010, and Hamilton risks a similar fate if Ferrari cannot provide a race-winning car and competitive environment.
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