Turbulent waters: two words that unfortunately perfectly encapsulate and describe the current internal atmosphere and competitive scenario of Scuderia Ferrari in the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship season, as the current campaign reaches its halfway point amid a string of disappointing results. Looking ahead to the 2026 Formula 1 championship, there is one critical and potentially damaging mistake that the Maranello-based team must absolutely avoid—an error intrinsically linked to multiple interconnected factors. Foremost among these is the performance level and competitive potential of the car, likely to be named the SF-26, which must never be developed or designed to specifically suit the personal preferences, driving style, or comfort of one individual driver over another. What truly matters, and must always be the primary focus, is the overall performance potential and competitiveness that the car is capable of delivering on track against its rivals.
Adaptation mindset stems from a technically uncompetitive design base
This philosophy is not a recent concept. Reigning four-time World Champion Max Verstappen has long spoken publicly and candidly about this issue. The Dutch driver, known for his blunt and unfiltered manner of communication, consistently expresses his views with remarkable clarity and without ambiguity. This trait—often described as a “flaw” by some—is actually widely appreciated by fans and insiders alike, as it brings crucial and decisive truths into the spotlight. Max Verstappen has consistently emphasized, both in interviews and through his on-track behavior, that it is not the responsibility of the car to adapt to the specific style or requirements of the driver. Rather, it is the driver’s responsibility to adapt to the machine. Those who are truly capable of mastering a modern Formula 1 car under any circumstance are the drivers who demonstrate their skill and resilience.
In this context, two separate but parallel issues emerge, both equally relevant and currently playing a central role in Ferrari’s 2025 campaign. These issues are directly related to how Ferrari is managing both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, especially in light of the various technical challenges and performance limitations presented by the SF-25 car. Lewis Hamilton, who joined Scuderia Ferrari at the beginning of the 2025 season after leaving Mercedes, is a newcomer within the Maranello outfit. Naturally, he has had to face a learning curve to familiarize himself with a completely new environment, technical team, and machinery.
However, contrary to the assumptions and speculation circulating among some fans and observers, the seven-time Formula 1 World Champion’s primary difficulty is not strictly related to the differences in car philosophy between the Mercedes W15 and the Ferrari SF-25. Instead, his main struggle lies in the challenges associated with modifying and recalibrating his personal driving style in order to establish a stronger synergy and better alignment with the characteristics and behavior of the new car. This process is far from easy and is widely considered one of the most complex adjustments a top-level driver can be asked to make. Up until now, Lewis Hamilton has attempted to compensate by opting for car setups and configurations that more closely resemble those used during his Mercedes years—setups that provide him with a higher degree of familiarity and confidence behind the wheel.
And the result? Very little, if anything, has changed in terms of performance improvement. What was truly required in this case was an adaptation of the driving technique to align more closely with the defining aerodynamic and mechanical traits of the Ferrari SF-25. Only through this adaptation could Lewis Hamilton hope to improve his performance levels and partially compensate for the car’s existing weaknesses—leveraging his immense talent even at the cost of driving with a setup that feels less natural or comfortable to him. Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, has always done this throughout his time at Ferrari. Even during the current 2025 World Championship season, the Monegasque driver has had to suppress elements of his natural driving style in order to manage the numerous limitations of the car, sacrificing personal comfort in favor of team performance and development.
What truly matters: maximizing performance over tailoring the car to individual drivers
This entire discussion connects directly to the next era of Formula 1, beginning with the 2026 season, during which the technical and sporting regulations will undergo a significant and wide-reaching overhaul. Undoubtedly, drivers must be granted an active voice and meaningful input in the car development process. Failing to involve them in the feedback loop would represent a major strategic and operational error. The same principle applies when considering the various phases of technical development and evolution of the car. However, when it comes to conceiving and building new generation Formula 1 cars, there must be a single, clear goal above all else: to create the most competitive and high-performance car possible, regardless of which driver ultimately finds it more comfortable.
During the previous 2024 Formula 1 season, there were numerous articles, rumors, and opinions circulating within the motorsport media and among fans that suggested Ferrari was actively designing its future car specifically around the preferences and needs of Lewis Hamilton. The idea being circulated was that the car would be custom-tailored to match the British driver’s most valued handling traits—especially his demand for stability under braking and predictability in corner entry. Now, one year later, it has become abundantly clear that those claims were unfounded and not rooted in reality. In fact, this was already foreseeable to those who closely follow the team’s internal dynamics and technical strategy. Yet in recent days, the same narrative has begun to surface once again.
It is certainly correct and necessary to protect the interests of the drivers and to provide them with all the tools—both technical and psychological—to help them build confidence in the car and perform at their best. However, the most important priority of all remains the technical one: decoding and mastering every single aspect of the forthcoming 2026 regulations, and using that knowledge to construct a car that is fast, effective, and capable of challenging for race wins and world titles. Everything else—driver preferences, stylistic nuances, setup compromises—must be considered secondary or even tertiary in importance. It is telling to observe that when a Formula 1 car is genuinely quick—quicker than the rest of the grid—no one speaks about the need for drivers to adapt, or about setup struggles. Just look at the dominant cars in recent seasons, such as the Red Bull RB19 or the Mercedes W11—driver adaptation was never a talking point.
Scuderia Ferrari has the absolute duty and responsibility to get its 2026 car project right. This is not merely an aspiration—it is an obligation. It is also important to note that a driver’s feedback can be valuable in specific scenarios, especially when a new car is developed as an evolution or refinement of an existing model. In such cases, the experience and insights of a driver who is familiar with the predecessor can help guide the development path. But when the only similarity between two cars from completely different regulatory eras is the fact that both have four wheels, what truly makes the difference is not the driver’s setup preferences, but rather the ingenuity, creativity, and engineering excellence of the technical department. It is the work of the engineers and aerodynamicists that ultimately defines success or failure in Formula 1.
— see video above —
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