Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari stint seems destined to fail with too many red flags

Lewis Hamilton joined Ferrari early in 2025 with a lot of hype and a lot of fanfare. The moment the announcement of his move from Mercedes was made, the prospect of the most successful driver with the most successful team was certainly enticing.

To couple with that, Ferrari's 2024 F1 season was quite impressive, as the Italian team almost won the championship against McLaren.

17 races in, the hype is more or less dead, and the reality has sunk in. Lewis Hamilton seems destined to become the driver that took the most number of races before securing a podium for Ferrari, and a potential title run in the future seems to be a distant dream.

More importantly, however, it does appear that the partnership that was announced with so much fanfare is destined to fail. Let's take a look.

Ferrari's fickle senior management

Ferrari's biggest problem throughout its lean patch, that goes back to 2008, has been a board that is not only impatient but also too fickle in its thought process. The tendency to bet on a horse at one point and lose faith in him soon after his first failure is something of a characteristic of the team. As a result, the top management at the team has often been a sliding door.

First it was Stefano Domenicali, then it was Marco Mattiaci, followed by Maurizio Arrivabene, who was toppled by Mattia Binotto and then replaced by Fred Vasseur.

What's concerning is the reportage during the F1 Canadian GP that suggested Fred Vasseur had lost the confidence of the senior management and they were looking for a replacement. While the rumors were quashed and Fred Vasseur was handed an extension, the team's form has continued to dwindle. Lewis Hamilton, on his part, has slowly gotten better, but he's yet to hit a level that could be termed acceptable against Charles Leclerc.

What if Ferrari is still not contending for the title next season? What if the power unit or the car is just not up to the mark? What happens in that case?

The unfortunate reality is that it won't take long for the senior management, including John Elkann, to take a dim view of what Fred Vasseur has contributed to the team and hand him his marching orders.

The 2026 power unit program

The best decision Lewis Hamilton ever made in his career was making the right call to select Mercedes as his next home in 2013. The German team nailed the 2014 regulations and built a brilliant power unit, which meant that the advantage was locked in for the entire regulation set.

In 2026, we are looking at the introduction of a new power unit. If the internal reporting around Ferrari's power unit project is correct, then things don't look great. The project is in a position where it has just lost the top 2 men who were leading the operation to Audi.

You don't lose the leading lights of an operation if things are fine, and that should tell you everything about the project.

If the Ferrari power unit is not competitive, Lewis Hamilton can forget fighting for another title with the Italian team, and unfortunately, that's what the momentum seems to be tending towards.

Fred Vasseur doesn't inspire confidence despite Lewis Hamilton's backing

Fred Vasseur is rated very highly by everyone across the paddock, but some of his recent calls have left a lot to be desired. The call to go for a completely new concept for 2025, even though the 2024 package was impressive, is something that does come down to him, but that's not the only one, as Vasseur has been at the forefront of some of the more questionable calls.

The way he continues to refute the car's potential, the manner in which he's been forced to run cover for Lewis Hamilton, or the fact that we still have questionable team order calls—it's a sign of the team continuing to make the same mistakes that it has done for the last few years.

Even before Lewis Hamilton joined Ferrari, the team had a few teething issues. The fact that those are still not resolved and there has been an increase in the number of question marks over the team's prospects ends up leaving everyone with a lack of confidence in what Vasseur can accomplish as a team boss.

Conclusion

The situation that Lewis Hamilton ends up finding himself in is the one where he's currently the second driver in the team. Charles Leclerc continues to have an edge over him, but that's not all, as even if that alone was the problem, he could have worked on himself. The concern at the moment is what the team itself is capable of, and if one takes a look at Ferrari, this team shows no signs of being ready to fight for a title.

Which is precisely why the objective behind Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari seems unlikely to be fulfilled, and the late-career experiment is headed towards failure.