F1 Hungarian GP is Lewis Hamilton's first major litmus test at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton heads to Hungary this weekend in what is one of his most prolific tracks. The driver has won 8 times here, and it's not just a record built on dominant Mercedes machinery. The driver won even in 2013, when the German team was still trying to find its feet.

It would, however, be his 14th race of the season. The driver has been a part of Ferrari for a decent amount of time now, and he would be the first to admit that things have not gone the way he would have hoped.

Charles Leclerc, his teammate, has had a clear edge on him for the most part. There is an acclimatization period that's attached to every driver in F1, and Hamilton is no different. He's taken his time to get used to things, but now we're getting to a point where Ferrari would be keeping an eye on how the driver's performing.

The F1 Hungarian GP is arguably going to be Lewis Hamilton's first litmus test at Ferrari. Here's why.

We're reaching the halfway mark of the season

Technically, we've already crossed the halfway mark of the season, as we are now in the 14th race of the season, but this would be the last event before the summer break. Up until now, there have been talks about adaptation and other teething issues that Hamilton continues to encounter.

While the entire aggregation of a driver into a team is something that takes a long time for sure, that doesn't mean that it becomes the key narrative of every race.

Lewis Hamilton is not the only driver who has switched teams. There are others, including the likes of Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg, and Esteban Ocon.

While Carlos Sainz does appear to be one who has struggled the most at the start of the stint at Williams, he's not come out every weekend complaining about a lack of understanding of the car.

If you've completed as many as 14 races with a team, a driver as high profile as Lewis Hamilton is expected to be a match for his teammate at the very least.

We couldn't see much of it at the Spa, and hence the weekend in Hungary is going to be crucial before the summer break.

The eerie similarity with Lewis Hamilton's general form

The ground effect era has not been the best phase of Lewis Hamilton's career by a distance. The British driver has not found these cars to his liking, and that has led to a less-than-impressive last few years.

Even his last two seasons at Mercedes were characterized by the driver not having the best qualifying, which was followed by a drive through the field in races.

As he's moved to Ferrari, his performances in qualifying have not improved, but the race performances have taken a dip as well.

His last 3 seasons at Mercedes were characterized by constant talk of experimental setups, followed by talks of the car being difficult to drive. We've moved to Ferrari this season, and the complaints have remained the same.

A prodigious young talent suddenly falling into this loop is understandable, but for someone who's clocked 40 years of age, this can be a concern.

The ever-increasing gap to Charles Leclerc

Parts of Charles Leclerc's 2025 F1 season have not been optimal, and that has, in essence, hurt his overall points tally. The DSQ in China was unfortunate, the race in Imola got compromised by strategy, and then the race in Silverstone was shambolic from the driver himself.

Despite this, Leclerc's gap to Lewis Hamilton is worth more than a race win at this stage, and it could have been much more than that.

In the 2025 F1 season, we only have one race where we can definitively claim that Lewis Hamilton was the faster Ferrari driver over a weekend.

If you're signing someone on a project and paying him the kind of money that Hamilton is being paid, you would want to see better results at the very least.

Lewis Hamilton is a special talent around Hungaroring

Most importantly, the reason why the race weekend is so important is that we're heading to a track where Lewis Hamilton has been a phenom. The driver has won as many as 8 races around this track, and it's not just a number inflated by the dominant Mercedes. He's done so by beating some of the best talents sometimes while driving cars that were not as dominant.

If there is a track where Lewis Hamilton is going to be strong and dominant, it is the one in Hungary, and it has to be the one where he has to show Ferrari what he's capable of.

Conclusion

Lewis Hamilton's start to life at Ferrari has not been the best. The British driver has, however, made a few strides since the low points of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. With that being said, the gap still exists between him and his teammate.

The F1 Hungarian GP is a race where Lewis Hamilton has often done well. In his 14th race with Ferrari, the talk of still adapting to the car is over now, and quite a few would be keeping an eye on the driver to see how he does on a track he's been quite good on.