Italian F1 expert picks Max Verstappen to be a Ferrari driver in future as affection for Lewis Hamilton wanes

Leo Turrini, a renowned Italian F1 journalist, has picked Max Verstappen as a future Ferrari driver over Lewis Hamilton. Around half a year ago, the Prancing Horse brought in Hamilton to partner Charles Leclerc at Maranello, but the seven-time world champion has failed to match the Monegasque driver.

Ferrari parted ways with Carlos Sainz last year and brought the Mercedes star, and statistically the most successful F1 driver, Hamilton, to the team. However, midway through the season, Hamilton failed to match Leclerc and is looking vulnerable in the SF-25.

Amid talks about Hamilton's underperformance, Turrini picked Verstappen to be a Ferrari driver if contract talks and team dynamics were ignored. Speaking about this, he wrote in his blog Profondo Rosso, via GPBlog:

''If the question is purely hypothetical—free to ignore contracts, team dynamics, and all that—then I’d pick Verstappen every time. I actually think one day we’ll see him in red.''

Besides praising Verstappen, who incredibly kept Red Bull's hopes alive in 2025, Turrini criticized Hamilton for undermining Leclerc's driving prowess. He further added:

"In all honesty, Lewis underestimated Charles. He bought into the narrative that Charles wasn’t better than Sainz and all that talk. When he realized his mistake, coinciding with having a rather modest car, his mindset took a hit. But it’s up to him now to climb out of that hole.''

Currently, Charles Leclerc is in P5 in the Driver's standings with 151 points after 14 races and three Sprints. Compared to him, Lewis Hamilton is in P6 with 109 points. Leclerc has a pole and five podiums to his name, whereas Hamilton has only a Sprint win (China).

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Lewis Hamilton doubts his skill set after disastrous Hungarian GP

Lewis Hamilton was in a state of shock after he failed to deliver a promising race weekend at the Hungaroring. Speaking about his outing in Qualifying, the seven-time world champion stated that the team should find a new driver, as he was "useless."

Lewis Hamilton of the UK drives the (44) Scuderia Ferrari HP SF-25 Ferrari during the Formula 1 Lenovo Hungarian Grand Prix 2025 in Budapest, Hungary - Source: Getty

"It's me every time. I'm useless, absolutely useless," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. "The team have no problem. You've seen the car's on pole. So they probably need to change driver."

Lewis Hamilton's statement met with a lot of criticism as former Haas boss Guenther Steiner stated that it was not the right mindset for a multiple world champion. However, Hamilton's race weekend did not improve on Sunday as he finished in P12, the same place he started his race from.