"Whatever is good or whatever is bad is amplified by having Lewis Hamilton there": Pundit points out major limitations for Ferrari

Former F1 world champion and pundit Jacques Villeneuve believed that Lewis Hamilton being at Ferrari has amplified their struggles in the 2025 season. The British driver joined the Italian team at the start of the year after announcing his switch from Mercedes at the beginning of the 2024 season.

There was much hype and expectations surrounding two of the biggest names in the sport coming together, but the results have been disappointing thus far. The seven-time F1 world champion is yet to score a podium in the main race with just seven races and three Sprints remaining in the 2025 season.

Reflecting on the SF-25's disappointing campaign, Villeneuve told OLBG that Ferrari's lacklustre season has been more publicized owing to Lewis Hamilton's presence in the team. The Canadian, who works as a pundit for Sky Sports, reflected on the Brit's disappointing debut season with Ferrari and said:

"Ferrari are completely lost right now and obviously needs some direction. Lewis is big there. Both Lewis and Ferrari took a risk by going together because if the team doesn’t go well with the image that Lewis and the attention that Lewis brings to the team, it makes it even bigger. Whatever is good or whatever is bad is amplified by having Lewis there.

"When races go wrong, a season goes wrong; it looks worse than it is and vice versa. That’s what Lewis also brings to the table, and that’s the gamble Ferrari took, and Ferrari has the same effect on the driver. It’s always been like this with Ferraris. It’s either great or awful to a bigger extent. But when you put Lewis in it, this is even a bigger concept."

The Prancing Horses are yet to win a race in the 2025 season and have only a pole position to their name in Hungary thus far.

Former F1 driver reflects on Lewis Hamilton's future in the sport

Former F1 driver David Brabham stated that Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton should have ended his time in the sport already after enduring tough campaigns with Mercedes and the Italian team for the past four years.

Speaking with RacingNews365, the Brit gave his take on the subject and said:

“I fear for him in the sense that he’s gone into quite a challenging situation with Ferrari to get them to become world champions again. I can understand why he feels he could do that. Time will tell whether he can. For me, he probably should have retired a couple of years ago and gone out on a real high.”

Lewis Hamilton has a contract with Ferrari until the end of the 2026 season and has an option to further extend for 2027. The most successful F1 driver in history has previously claimed that he had no plans to stop racing anytime soon.