Whispers coming out of Maranello suggest that Lewis Hamilton’s increasingly vocal demands for sweeping changes inside Ferrari are starting to seriously irritate the engineers and mechanics who have spent their careers building cars the “Ferrari way”.
After another disastrous weekend in Qatar – where Hamilton qualified a shocking 18th, ahead of only Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto – the seven-time world champion once again went public with his frustration, declaring he had compiled a “long list of things we need to change” before 2026.
Italian media believe this constant public criticism, combined with a perceived air of superiority, is creating real tension between the Briton and the people who actually design and run the car.
“18th place is NOT the real Hamilton”
Speaking on the latest Terruzzi Racconta podcast, legendary La Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Pino Allievi didn’t hold back:
“Just think about it for a second: Hamilton eighteenth in qualifying. He only beat Stroll and Colapinto. Is that the real Lewis Hamilton? Sure, we can accept that he’s having a disappointing year. We can accept that he’s slower than Leclerc. But eighteenth, second-to-last row? No. That’s simply not him.”
Fellow panellist Stefano Nicoli agreed:
“There’s an abyss between the two drivers right now, it’s obvious. Hamilton is losing the head-to-head with Leclerc in both qualifying and the race, but eighteenth place is not his level.”
“Who is actually running this team?”
Allievi then turned his fire on Hamilton’s post-race comments and his apparent desire to overhaul Ferrari’s entire working culture:
“Even after president John Elkann came out saying the team is totally united, Hamilton still goes on television after all the chaos in Qatar and says ‘I’ve made a long list of everything we have to change’. So tell me – is the team principal Lewis Hamilton or Fred Vasseur?”
The clear implication from the Italian press box is that Hamilton’s Mercedes-honed methods and his willingness to air grievances in public are clashing badly with Ferrari’s more traditional, hierarchical structure. Engineers who have spent decades perfecting their own processes are said to resent being told – especially on global television – that everything they do is wrong.
With Hamilton currently trailing Charles Leclerc by a huge margin in the intra-team battle and the SF-25 proving almost undriveable in Qatar, the seven-time champion’s leverage inside the factory is at an all-time low. Until he starts delivering results on track, his “long list” risks falling on increasingly deaf ears in Maranello.
Abu Dhabi this weekend will be the final chance in 2025 to reset the relationship – but the damage from a difficult first season together may already be done.
