After experiencing a dazzling career filled with victories, records, and historic achievements, the last two seasons have represented the darkest and most difficult period of Lewis Hamilton’s entire Formula 1 journey. For the seven-time world champion, the 2024 and 2025 campaigns, spent with Mercedes and Ferrari respectively, have been the worst years of his personal sporting history.
In 2024, driving for Mercedes, “The Hammer” finished only seventh in the drivers’ championship, a position that felt far removed from the standards he had set throughout his legendary career, even though he still managed to claim two race victories. However, the situation deteriorated even further in 2025, his first season with Ferrari, which marked the lowest point Hamilton has ever reached in Formula 1.
During that year, Sir Lewis Hamilton failed to secure a single pole position and never stepped onto the podium. An unprecedented statistic followed: he became the Ferrari driver with the highest number of consecutive Grands Prix finished without achieving a top-three result. For a driver who built his legacy on dominance, consistency, and relentless competitiveness, the numbers told a brutal story.
These difficulties were evident, public, and at times extremely hard to accept. They were caused partly by the disastrous SF-25, a car that proved fundamentally uncompetitive and ended the season without a single victory, but also by a working relationship with the team that never truly clicked. After spending many years within British teams and particularly at Mercedes, surrounded by trusted, well-established collaborators, Hamilton found himself in a completely different environment.
The transition to Ferrari demanded not only technical adaptation but also cultural adjustment. For Lewis Hamilton, this proved to be a far greater challenge than expected.
Enormous change
In practical terms, Lewis Hamilton was forced to confront a drastic technical and cultural shift, one that ultimately had a negative impact on his entire season. For many observers, the scale of this failure brought back memories of what had happened to other world champions who arrived in Maranello after achieving success elsewhere.
Names such as Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel, and Fernando Alonso inevitably came to mind. All of them, despite their unquestionable talent and previous triumphs, encountered enormous obstacles when trying to impose themselves at Ferrari. The only true exception in Ferrari’s modern history remains Michael Schumacher, who managed not only to adapt but to reshape the team entirely around himself.
According to this interpretation, Lewis Hamilton is experiencing problems similar to those faced by other drivers who joined Ferrari after winning world titles with different teams. There is a growing sense that some of the cultural aspects connected to the Ferrari world may have been underestimated, elements that, in hindsight, appear decisive in explaining the disastrous 2025 season endured by the British champion.
These very points were addressed by respected Italian journalist Leo Turrini on his blog, “Profondo Rosso”. Leo Turrini did not hold back in his analysis and reflections, extending his thoughts beyond the present difficulties and openly questioning what the future might hold for Lewis Hamilton.
Turrini, what questions…
In his commentary, Leo Turrini focused on the symbolic moment of Hamilton’s birthday, using it as a lens through which to examine the wider crisis faced by the Ferrari driver.
“Lewis Hamilton reaches the milestone of 41 years,” Turrini wrote. “[…] The most difficult birthday of his legendary career. 2025 was the annus horribilis. […] The transition from excitement to depression was abrupt, brutal, and desolate. […] The SF25 was a certified piece of rubbish. But there is no doubt that the seven-time world champion was almost never on the level of Charles Leclerc. […] The grumbling within the Scuderia grew. The perplexities multiplied. The doubts exploded. […] Does Hamilton still have the desire? […] The answer lies within Lewis Hamilton himself, and the fear is that it might be the wrong one. […] I support the forty-one-year-old. First of all because I am a Ferrari fan. Then because I always, in any case, respect those who have offered evidence of greatness. And because shooting at the (Red) Cross is an exercise for cowards.”
Turrini’s words paint a stark and uncomfortable picture. On one hand, there is an acknowledgement of the objectively poor quality of the Ferrari SF-25, a car that failed to deliver competitiveness at any stage of the season. On the other, there is a clear suggestion that Lewis Hamilton himself did not manage to perform at the level expected, particularly when compared to his teammate Charles Leclerc.
The reference to internal “grumbling” within the Scuderia Ferrari highlights a climate of growing tension and uncertainty. As results failed to arrive, doubts multiplied both inside and outside the team, creating an atmosphere that weighed heavily on everyone involved, especially on a driver accustomed to being the reference point rather than the question mark.
The central question raised by Leo Turrini is perhaps the most uncomfortable of all: does Lewis Hamilton still have the desire, the hunger, and the inner fire required to fight at the highest level of Formula 1? At 41 years old, after achieving virtually everything the sport has to offer, the answer is far from obvious.
Yet Turrini’s conclusion is not one of hostility or dismissal. Instead, it is marked by respect and loyalty. As a Ferrari supporter, he openly declares his support for Hamilton, not out of blind faith, but out of admiration for a driver who has provided undeniable proof of greatness throughout his career. His final remark serves as a reminder that harsh criticism aimed at someone already down can be an act of cowardice.
For Lewis Hamilton, the most difficult birthday of his career thus becomes a moment of reflection, not only on a disastrous season with Ferrari, but on his own motivation, resilience, and future in Formula 1. Whether this low point represents the beginning of the end or the spark for one last reaction remains a question that only he can truly answer.
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