After over a decade of dominance in silver, Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was meant to be a rebirth. Instead, it’s beginning to feel like a reckoning.
The seven-time world champion, who left Mercedes after 12 seasons and six titles, has found himself wrestling with an entirely new machine – one that refuses to bend to his will. Despite the promise of a fresh start, Hamilton’s early days in Ferrari red have been turbulent.
His recent comments reveal a man caught between the ghost of his past success and the harsh reality of adaptation. “What’s clear is that, as humans, we really get stuck in our ways,” Hamilton admitted. “I’ve been driving with the same team for such a long time… and now I’ve moved to a new car that demands a completely different driving style.”
At Ferrari, the legendary Brit is learning to drive all over again. From engine braking – a concept foreign to him after 15 years with Carbone Industrie brakes – to recalibrating his muscle memory for Brembos, nothing feels familiar. “The car requires a much different driving style,” he confessed. “I’m adjusting to that. Slowly, it’s getting into my head.”
Despite a hard-fought Sprint Race win in China, Hamilton remains far from his peak form. A fifth-place finish in Bahrain shows flashes of progress, but not dominance. He’s now leaning on his teammate, Charles Leclerc, for insight.
“Charles starts with a setup and rarely changes it through the weekend,” Hamilton observed. “Meanwhile, I’ve been all over the place. In Japan and Bahrain, I only got close to his pace just before qualifying – but then my settings were off.”
There’s a sense of frustration beneath his words. “I’ve got to make it easier for myself. Right now, I’m doing things the hard way. But I think I’ve figured out how the car likes to be driven. If I can qualify better, I’ll have a much better weekend.”
Hamilton’s quest to master the Ferrari SF-25 isn’t just a technical journey – it’s a psychological one. At 39, he’s proving that reinvention is possible, but painful. With 105 Grand Prix wins under his belt, he currently sits seventh in the 2025 drivers’ standings with 25 points. The numbers are not what fans – or he – expected.
But the season is long. And Hamilton, if nothing else, is no stranger to comebacks.
Leave a Reply