Juan Pablo Montoya slams former Lewis Hamilton engineering crew for failing to spot obvious cockpit crisis. Juan Pablo Montoya identifies the key reason behind Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari turnaround.

Juan Pablo Montoya believes Ferrari overlooked Lewis Hamilton’s biggest problem

Former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes Ferrari’s biggest mistake during Lewis Hamilton’s first season with the Scuderia had little to do with outright speed or technical upgrades. Instead, the Colombian argues that the real issue was psychological, claiming the team failed to recognize that the seven-time world champion simply did not trust the car underneath him.

After a frustrating 2025 campaign in which Lewis Hamilton failed to score a single podium across the entire 24-race season for the first time in his Formula 1 career, Ferrari decided to reshape the engineering structure on his side of the garage. Carlo Santi replaced Riccardo Adami as Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer, while former McLaren engineer Cedric Grosjean also joined the Maranello squad as part of the team’s wider technical reinforcement.

Although Carlo Santi‘s appointment was initially viewed as a temporary solution before Cedric Grosjean potentially assumed a larger role, Lewis Hamilton has repeatedly praised his new working relationship with the Italian engineer. Ferrari is now understood to be fully committed to maintaining its current engineering lineup after the partnership delivered encouraging results during the opening phase of the 2026 Formula 1 season.

Confidence, not talent, was the missing ingredient

Speaking on the Pit Lane Torque podcast, Juan Pablo Montoya explained that the warning signs had been visible throughout Lewis Hamilton’s onboard footage during the 2025 season.

According to the former Williams and McLaren driver, Lewis Hamilton never appeared comfortable behind the wheel because he lacked confidence in the Ferrari, making it almost impossible to extract the car’s full performance.

Juan Pablo Montoya argued that Ferrari’s previous engineering group expected the British driver to adapt to the team’s established setup philosophy instead of adapting the car to suit one of the most successful drivers in Formula 1 history. In his view, this created a vicious cycle in which Lewis Hamilton was unable to build the confidence required to consistently push the SF-25 to its limits.

The Colombian suggested that onboard footage made the situation obvious, as Lewis Hamilton looked hesitant through corner entry and never seemed fully convinced by the car’s behaviour. Without complete trust in the front end and overall balance, even a driver of the Briton’s calibre would inevitably struggle to deliver the lap times Ferrari expected.

Ferrari’s response for 2026 was to involve Lewis Hamilton much more closely in defining the handling philosophy of the new SF-26. That collaboration has been widely credited as one of the major reasons behind the British driver’s resurgence and his return to race-winning form.

A bold strategy that rewarded Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton’s remarkable victory at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has further reinforced the belief that Ferrari is moving in the right direction. After claiming his first podium of the season only a few races earlier, the seven-time world champion followed it up with a memorable maiden Ferrari victory.

Ferrari’s strategy team adopted an aggressive three-stop approach for Lewis Hamilton while most of the frontrunners remained committed to a conventional two-stop race. Although a late Virtual Safety Car reduced part of the strategic advantage, Mercedes later indicated that the Briton’s pace suggested he would likely have won regardless.

Juan Pablo Montoya believes Ferrari’s willingness to take a strategic gamble highlighted an important lesson for the rest of the Formula 1 paddock. According to him, the significant tyre-life advantage created by an aggressive strategy allowed Lewis Hamilton to overtake rivals much more easily while minimizing the time normally lost in traffic.

The former Formula 1 driver argued that extending a stint by only one or two laps rarely produces meaningful gains. However, creating a tyre offset of ten to fifteen laps can completely change the race, particularly on circuits where tyre degradation reaches several tenths of a second per lap. Under those circumstances, even defensive driving becomes largely ineffective because the pace advantage is simply too great.

Ferrari’s new direction paying dividends

Juan Pablo Montoya’s analysis reflects a broader transformation that appears to be taking place inside Ferrari. Rather than expecting Lewis Hamilton to adapt entirely to the team’s traditional methods, the Scuderia has increasingly tailored both its engineering processes and the characteristics of the SF-26 to better suit the seven-time world champion’s driving style.

Combined with stronger communication, greater technical collaboration and a growing level of trust between driver and engineers, those changes have allowed Lewis Hamilton to rediscover the confidence that was missing throughout much of his first Ferrari campaign. If Barcelona was any indication, Ferrari may finally have unlocked the full potential of one of Formula 1’s greatest drivers as the 2026 championship battle intensifies.