Red Mist: Ferrari gobbledygook and a surprise in the shadows?

Hungary was an interesting weekend for Ferrari. On the one side of the garage, the team’s communications dropped to the lowest level since newly installed Red Bull boss Mekies minced his words so badly that it ultimately cost him his Maranello job.

On the other, the dream is collapsing as suddenly as it started, as Italy bays for a surprise substitute for the struggling Lewis Hamilton.

First car #16. Leading up to Budapest, Charles Leclerc was hopeless about possible success in Hungary.

“Let’s just say that we are a bit in the middle of everyone, behind McLaren and ahead of the rest,” Charles pondered while admitting the Hungoraring was far from his favorite track.

“So, yeah, let’s see. I hope we can do something better in quali but in the race we need some pace.”

Then he went and put it on pole and shocked the world by quite literally driving away from the all-conquering McLarens. While curating that most impressive lead over the McLarens, Leclerc became involved in a terse radio dialogue with the team. On cue, the car fell off the cliff after the final stop and Charles plummeted to a miserable fourth. Even more confusing than why, however, were the Monegasque’s post-race comments.

Completely contrary to his hopeless pre-race predictions, the race was suddenly the only one the team could win in 2025.

“We had one chance to win a race his year, this weekend,” Leclerc confessed. “The first stint was perfect, the first laps of the second stint were really good as well, and I think we were on pace to try and win that race. The last stint was a disaster.”

Which is a pity. Will Ferrari really be that bad in the rest of the races? Leclerc himself was hopeless in the lead up. Yet he poled it and then drove away early in the race. Before whatever happened, happened.

By the by, this writer sits firmly with the school of thought that the final set of tyres was overinflated to avoid another thin plank exclusion. There really isn’t any other logical conclusion.

Let’s move over to car #44 now. Hamilton has certainly looked nothing like the savior he is supposed to be to bring Ferrari back to glory after so many years of frustration.

A broken man through the Hungarian weekend, he suggested his performance was useless. And that he should be replaced. That on the back of growing fury in Italy that Hamilton has delivered nothing of his, or Ferrari’s promises.

Insiders lament a breakdown in the internal system. Some complain that Hamilton’s new working methods are incompatible with Ferrari culture. Others point to a total lack of synergy between the Lewis and his Italian engineers.

Speculation is now rife that, in spite of his strangely public reappointment over the weekend, team boss Fred Vasseur is now under huge pressure too.

Some team members accuse the architect of Hamilton's arrival of making a significant and costly and strategic error that is ever increasingly costing the team in both a sporting and political context; so much so that the calls for Hamilton’s head grow by the day, and as quickly as empathy escalates to see Carlos Sainz back into the car many believe he should never have been removed in the first place.

Currently serving a 2-year Williams contract, the popular Spaniard is currently a key player in Audi’s future Formula 1 plan.

But now with the escalating Hamilton casino, it is understood that a Sainz return is rapidly becoming plausible at Maranello. While he’s struggled at Williams, Carlos made an excellent impression and retains several allies at the Scuderia.

The Tifosi however remain divided. On the one hand, many of us want to trust Hamilton. On the other, several see Sainz as the man to restore balance and consistency to Ferrari.

That said, however, further insider sources also report an unidentified young Formula 2 talent as Ferrari’s solution in a complete overhaul for 2026.

Either way, Vasseur has not at all been quick to defend Hamilton in public. As he always jumped to until now, all of which leaves most critics in agreement that, unless there’s a major turnaround from the seven-time F1 World Champion, the Lewis Hamilton era at Ferrari be over sooner, rather than later, and that the man he ousted in the first place, is ready to step straight back into his place in red…