Ferrari is, without doubt, Formula 1’s greatest racing team, the one that all the great drivers aspire to race for, and most have. And in this era, we have Lewis Hamilton in the team.
The arrival of seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Hamilton at Maranello befits Ferrari’s tradition of hiring only the best of the best. But it's not proving to be a plug-and-play affair. In fact, even from the outside, it seems clear there are issues, begging the question: are there
problemi in paradiso?
Son of former Ferrari legend Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques, weighed in on the saga: “You can hear that Lewis Hamilton is not happy at all. Charles Leclerc has been stepping up more and more. And you can hear it in Lewis's comments.
"It's like Norris, once you start doing this, you're burnt. You lose your credibility, and people lose trust in you. They think he’s only there for the ride now. That's not the right image to show to a team like Ferrari, which is so fickle.
"Ferrari is like a volcano. You need those fireworks. You need the passion, the spark to set things off. If you don’t have the sparks, that’s a problem at Ferrari. There’s not much time,” warned the 1997 Formula 1 World Champion turned pundit.
Ferrari’s legacy of champion signings
For some pretext, it is worth noting that throughout its history, Ferrari has had its pick of the greatest drivers. Indeed, most of the sport’s legends, barring a few, have raced for the great Scuderia.
From the outset, Enzo Ferrari always courted the best of the best. While some Formula 1 world champions went on to become legends, Michael Schumacher was the most recent to cement that legacy.
Kimi Räikkönen, to a lesser extent, also delivered, though he did not join Ferrari as an established world champion. However, at the time, he was arguably the fastest driver on the planet and certainly world champion material, as proven by his 2007 title, the last Ferrari F1 drivers’ title on their CV.
Before and since, Ferrari pursued greatness. Alain Prost was brought in, but struggled to adapt to the Ferrari way of going racing after his time in Ron Dennis’s ultra-efficient McLaren team.
Into the 21st century, Ferrari maintained its ethos of signing the biggest names. Fernando Alonso joined at the height of his powers, and their partnership began with a bang when the Spaniard famously won on his debut for the team in Bahrain in 2010.
Alonso came close more than once, but ultimately failed to deliver a world title for the Reds, neither drivers’ nor constructors’, despite a strong partnership with Felipe Massa, who, alongside Räikkönen, helped Ferrari secure its last F1 constructors’ title in 2008.
From Vettel to Leclerc, new dreams and fresh blood
Then came the Sebastian Vettel era. That chapter was supposed to revive the Michael Schumacher glory days. But Vettel, a four-time world champion, arrived at Maranello just as Mercedes had become a superpower, arguably the most dominant team Formula 1 has ever seen. The Vettel dream faded, and Ferrari chose another path.
For several years, they began focusing on developing talent from within. Drivers like Jules Bianchi, spotted early by Ferrari scouts, embodied this vision. Tragically, Bianchi’s life was cut short. Others, like Antonio Giovinazzi, did not fare as well. After a few seasons with Sauber, Ferrari’s customer team, he failed to secure a long-term place and moved on to the WEC, where he is now building a respectable legacy.
From the Ferrari Driver Academy, Charles Leclerc emerged as the standout. A homegrown talent earmarked to lead Ferrari to future world titles, if given the machinery to do so. Promoting from within has proven wise, and Leclerc is world champion material if handed the tools to go into battle.
Then, Ferrari made a slightly different move, hiring Carlos Sainz. A young stallion brought into the stable to keep the other, Leclerc, on his toes. It worked. The two pushed each other hard and improved as a result. Together, they formed a solid, arguably one of the best driver pairings on the grid.
Hamilton arrives and reality bites
But that era came to an end when the opportunity arose to sign Lewis Hamilton. Although the announcement in February last year shocked the paddock, in retrospect, it felt inevitable. Hamilton to Ferrari was always on the cards. Had Ayrton Senna lived, many believe he too would have ended up there. We all know how Lewis feels about the great Brazilian.
The Hamilton–Ferrari news exploded online, sent Ferrari’s share price soaring, and marked the union of Formula 1’s greatest team with its most successful driver. The honeymoon began sweetly.
Hamilton arrived at Maranello dapper and respectful, embracing the legacy and determined to add to it with GP victories and, ideally, F1 championships. Tifosi swooned. Formula 1 was enchanted.
But the blissful honeymoon soon gave way to reality. After testing in Bahrain and the opening races of the season, it became clear: this was not going to be a plug-and-play transition for Hamilton.
The Ferrari SF-25 is a difficult car to drive
In the wake of two decades doing things the Mercedes way, Hamilton has had to adjust to the Maranello factory, to the people, and to the unique way Ferrari goes racing.
Most critically, he’s had to adapt to the SF-25, a car that is proving unfamiliar and difficult to drive for the Briton. But in the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Race, he proved that when he has a good piece of kit to drive, and the stars align, he is still a winner.
But that sweet spot Lewis found on that Saturday is proving to be an anomaly, by his own admission. Let’s be clear, 40-year-old Hamilton has made it abundantly clear that there should be no expectations in this first year as a Ferrari driver.
In contrast, Leclerc, despite facing the same challenges with the SF-25, has managed to extract more from the car, as results show.
Villeneuve gave his take: “At Mercedes, he was allowed to take his time. Not Ferrari. You need to be up there and bang. The sprint race in China seemed to be the spark. But no fire came out after that. There was no dry grass around to catch fire!"
Villeneuve: Ferrari pressure is like no other
JV continued: “The key thing for Lewis was to get to Ferrari with a new family and a new energy. Not a carry-on of what he had been living at Mercedes, which was relying on him thinking, ‘It will be easy because I'm so good’.
“That’s not how it works at Ferrari. And it's really odd. The key point is how it will be once they all get back to Europe. They haven't had time to take a breather. It's been a gruesome schedule. He seems to be at a loss for why things aren’t working out for him. Let’s wait until Monaco. Then we will see what happens.
“Lewis still brings a lot of image to the team, so I don't see any issues just yet. It's how much he starts doubting, that's the problem. If he starts doubting too much, then it will be hard to recover.
“I don't know Lewis well enough. It's really hard to know and understand Lewis. He has his own protective bubble, so it's really hard to read. He spent all those years at Mercedes, overly protected. And that seemed at the time to have been a necessity.
“Now he is not used to being exposed, and he doesn't know how to react to it particularly well. I guess he wasn't expecting what had happened at all," reckoned Villeneuve.
Miami tension, viral images and questions without answers
Ahead of this weekend’s return to Italy for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, asked if there is a way out of the rabbit hole for Ferrari's superstar.
Villeneuve said: “It’s very draining because Hamilton had a few bad years at Mercedes that were draining, the [2021] Formula 1 title loss to Max Verstappen, that’s when it started. The new Ferrari was supposed to be exciting and fun, and it was with that sprint race.
"Then suddenly it's a continuity of the last few years at Mercedes. The Italian crowd is a harder crowd. It’s not an easy place to be. He’s managed to bounce back in the past. He’s not weak. It just depends on who he has around him. He just needs a couple of people to be able to lean on.
“Last year, the car didn’t seem too complicated to drive. You have to ask the question whether he is with an engineer with whom he can work. Does Lewis have any freedom to work on his setup, on where he wants to go? Or is it a team that tells its drivers to drive and shut up? You just don’t know,” ventured Villeneuve.
No matter how you look at it, things do not look good for Hamilton at this early stage of his Ferrari career. So much so that this weekend, he was seen in earnest conversation with Team Principal Fred Vasseur. Images of their chat quickly went viral, circulating across social media.
Whether Lewis and/or Fred intended it or not, every lens, and there were many, in the Miami F1 paddock was focused on them. Their discussion followed a string of revealing radio messages, particularly during the Miami Grand Prix weekend, which laid bare the tension. Visuals that suggest, all is not well in paradise.
While inevitably prompting a slew of questions awaiting answers: What is actually going on? Why is Hamilton struggling? Why are there issues with the pit wall? And why is Leclerc beating him?
And then déjà vu: it feels a lot like the Seb Vettel saga replaying itself all over again. Let's see... (Source for Quotes: Vision4Sport)
Ferrari & Lewis Hamilton problems in paradise?
Latest News
Loading
