Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes for Ferrari with the ambition of winning his eighth title and breaking F1’s all-time record, but his time in red has started very disappointingly.
The 40-year-old bounced from Brackley to move to Maranello ahead of the 2025 F1 season, having endured the two worst years of his career across the last three campaigns. Hamilton suffered his first-ever winless term in 2022 and had his worst championship finish in 2024.
Hamilton had won at least one Grand Prix in every season he spent on the grid from 2007 to 2021, yet he was then winless in 2022 and 2023. So, in February 2024, Hamilton and Ferrari agreed on a two-season, £39m-a-year contract for the Briton to move to Maranello in 2025.
His parting gift from Mercedes would be the Stevenage-born star’s lowest-ever finish in the F1 drivers’ championship with seventh place in 2024. But Hamilton has suffered further lows since joining Ferrari, with the seven-time champion just sixth in the standings on 109 points.
Photo by Gabriele Lanzo/Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesKey F1 paddock figures ‘still believe’ Lewis Hamilton can win his eighth drivers’ title
Hamilton has also now hit his first summer break as a Ferrari driver still without a Grand Prix win this term. He is even yet to get a Grand Prix podium finish with the pride of Italy after 14 rounds. The Briton had previously made at least one rostrum in the first 10 races every year.
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CategoryLewis HamiltonCharles Leclerc2025 points109151Grand Prix results*211Grand Prix qualifying410Grand Prix wins00Grand Prix poles01Grand Prix podiums05Best finish4th3rdDisqualifications11Retirements00Retirements (classified finish)00Fastest laps00Grand Prix points finishes1212Sprint results21Sprint Qualifying12Sprint wins10Sprint poles10Sprint podiums20The 2025 F1 teammate head-to-head battle of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc
*Both Ferrari drivers were disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix
The problem has been Hamilton’s difficulties adapting to Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car and their ways of working after 12 years at Mercedes. So, after only qualifying P12 for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton suggested Ferrari “need to change driver” and even called himself “useless”.
But while Hamilton has not performed at the levels he wanted or is expected of a 105-time Grand Prix winner, Auto Sport Web reports that ‘key’ F1 paddock figures ‘still believe’ in his ability to not only return to winning races but also earn his record-breaking F1 drivers’ title.
Also, Hamilton ‘is aware’ that the unnamed key figures in the Formula 1 paddock positively rate the Ferrari star’s chances of winning the eighth title that circumstances robbed him of in 2021. Max Verstappen prised the title from Hamilton on the final lap of the 2021 campaign.
Michael Masi and F1’s ground-effect regulations have cost Lewis Hamilton in his title bids
Photo by Joe Portlock – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
Had the FIA’s ex-F1 race director Michael Masi not intervened to ensure the 2021 season did not finish behind the safety car, then Hamilton would have lifted his eighth drivers’ title that year in Abu Dhabi and also edged clear of fellow seven-time champion Michael Schumacher.
Masi only removing the lapped traffic between 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix-leader Hamilton and Verstappen, who pitted under the safety car for new tyres, left the Briton a sitting duck for his Red Bull rival’s last-lap attack. Verstappen won his first of four F1 titles by nine points.
SEASONTEAMWINSPOLESPODIUMSPOINTS2008McLaren5710982014Mercedes117163842015Mercedes1011173812017Mercedes911133632018Mercedes1111174082019Mercedes115174132020Mercedes111014347Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 drivers’ championship-winning seasons
It was an emotionally crippling outcome for Hamilton, who has been desperately seeking an opportunity to win another drivers’ championship since. But the introduction of the current ground-effect regulations in 2022 has persistently remained a hurdle Hamilton cannot clear.
Hamilton’s driving style, which won him seven titles, 105 Grands Prix and 104 pole positions, is based on braking late and carrying speed through the corners. But the ground-effect cars in use since 2022 require a very different approach, which Hamilton has never adjusted to.
Now, his first term in Maranello has effectively been a write-off to prepare for the 2026 F1 aero and engine regulations. Hamilton will hope the largest overhaul of the rulebook in F1’s history allows him to get back the magic he lost in 2022, if Ferrari can deliver a winning car.