Twelve months ago, when I visited Maranello for Ferrari’s traditional end-of-season Christmas debriefing, it was a trip full of anticipation. With Lewis Hamilton set to join the team in just a few weeks, the long wait is as good as it gets, with Ferrari finally allowing Carlos Sainz to start talking about his future after thanking him and spending some quality time with him as he departs for Williams.
The potential was enormous. Ferrari made a comeback in the second half of 2024, but missed out on the constructors’ championship at the final race of the season. If this upward trend continues, it could threaten McLaren in a number of ways. And Hamilton knows exactly what it takes to win the title.
You can feel the excitement of a new era. Teaming up with the most successful driver in the history of the sport and the most iconic and successful team seemed like a dream scenario.
A year later, the situation facing both parties is more like a nightmare.
Ferrari had struggled early in the season and had clear weaknesses that needed to be addressed. By that time, they had effectively dropped out of title contention, and with new regulations just around the corner, it was no longer justifiable to focus on catching up.
The development taps are mostly off, and there will be no late-season resurgence this time around. In fact, there hasn’t been a single Grand Prix win all year, not even a podium for Hamilton.
“I think we started this season a little bit poorly in Bahrain, but then we had some problems defensively.”qualifications “The second race in China put us in a difficult situation,” said Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur. (Additional note: Charles Leclerc’s car was under the minimum weight and Hamilton’s car had excessively worn rear skids). “Honestly, I was very happy with the team’s response, because we came back in three or four races and got back to a decent pace.
“But if you look at this, we lost 110 points to McLaren in the first half of the season and at this stage of the season we were two or three tenths behind McLaren, so it was pretty much over.
“What we have to learn is that every little detail, which is always the case in my business, can make a huge difference. And the reason for the disqualification… I think I had to pay a third of the season.”
Ferrari introduced suspension modifications later this year to address set-up issues, but it was as much a learning experience for 2026 as it was hoping to see improvements in 2025.
In other words, it was a season in which both drivers competed for the front three rows. While Leclerc took pole position, his average qualifying position was 5.46, while Hamilton’s late-season form saw him drop to 9.04 after losing Q1 for the third year in a row.
Only Kimi Antonelli separated them in average qualifying position, but for Vasseur, the team’s competitive position and very close field highlighted Hamilton’s struggles.
“I think it was difficult for Lewis and that was probably a small word because after 20 years – I say 20 years because for me McLaren was McLaren-Mercedes and then Mercedes. So he spent 20 years with Mercedes – it was a big change,” he said.
“I personally underestimated this step. It’s not that what we’re doing is getting worse or better, we’re just doing it differently. It’s not just the food and the weather. All the software is different, all the components are different, the people around him are different, and if you’re not on top of everything, you’re going to be left on the table in a few hundredths of a second.
Hamilton and Vasseur’s relationship dates back to when they won championships together at junior level, but Vasseur admits he underestimated just how big of an adjustment all the other arrangements for a move to Ferrari would be for the seven-time champion. Simon Galloway/Getty Images
“And today, with the field we have…I think it was Abu Dhabi in Q2, we had a tenth covering fifth and 15th.” (ED: 0.076 seconds, covers P8 to P15). We didn’t have complete control over all the details and packaging, so we kind of lost track of the season a little bit like this.
“At times less than a tenth of a second – I remember in Budapest – Charles was a tenth faster than Lewis in Q2, Lewis finished 11th (final finish: 12th, 0.247 seconds behind Leclerc) and again Charles finished on pole. position.
“That’s not an excuse, it’s not a valid reason. You have to be in front of everyone, and at the end of the day, we’re talking about details. And I think we probably underestimated the change in culture, the change in the people around us, the change in everything.”
“Even if we got back to a decent pace, I’m not talking about classification, I’m talking about collaboration and understanding the car in the second half of the season, I think it was tough.”
Ferrari and Hamilton knew it would be difficult, but not by much. Upon arriving in Fiorano in January, the seven-time world champion stood in front of Enzo Ferrari’s house with an image that defined the beginning of a new era. Wearing a long black coat, he looked determined and strong, like the Godfather.
Now, if it were to be recreated, Hamilton would be standing in front of a building site, but the house has undergone extensive renovations and is just a shell covered by a roof.
Although necessary, it is still very impressive to see such an iconic building go through so much work. But perhaps this is a metaphor for the fact that Ferrari also needs to try to get the most out of Hamilton in 2026.
“I think it has to come from everywhere,” Vasseur says of how Ferrari can support Hamilton’s progress. “I think the team’s mindset and the driver’s mindset has to be, ‘Let’s do a better job everywhere.’
“Just because one thing isn’t working doesn’t mean the rest won’t work. At the end of the day, we have to improve. We have to improve our collaboration with Lewis. We have to improve within the team. Maybe he has to improve how he gets the best out of the car he has.
“I know what you’re thinking. The brakes, for example, are something he spent 20 years with one supplier. They’ve changed from this season. Now we have much more control. But every last detail makes a difference.”
“Just because you’re three-tenths of a second behind someone doesn’t mean they have a magic bullet or have components in their car that are three-tenths of a second faster. It often means there are 10 topics where you’re three-hundredths of a second slower. We have to take each point one at a time.”
“To be honest, it’s both a matter of mindset and a matter of understanding each other. In this case, I’m talking about the garage side, because Charles and I know each other. But in this case, it’s more important to understand exactly what he needs and what he wants. And for him, the same for me, it’s about understanding exactly what he wants to do.”
Rather than resting apart, Ferrari and Hamilton know they need to work closely together again this winter.
There may be some hope for next year’s new rules, but there is also a sense of anxiety that more efforts are needed on a number of fronts to make Hamilton feel even more at home. But just like Enzo’s home, Ferrari will spare no effort.
