Lewis Hamilton is already approaching the end of a turbulent debut season with Ferrari in 2025.
The Briton lies sixth in the drivers’ championship, but is still yet to achieve a first podium in red with 10 races to go this year.
The longer the drought goes on, the more Hamilton’s future will be brought into question. He currently holds a contract heading into the 2026 F1 regulations.
But, Ferrari will still want to see that he can cut it at the highest level. He hasn’t delivered any stunning performances this campaign, even though he desperately needs one.
Hamilton ‘lost’ one significant part of his identity before joining Ferrari, and he now has his work cut out to return to the top.
According to Juan Pablo Montoya, Ferrari are ‘realising’ Hamilton was right about their foundation for success not being good, and that changes must be made.
Photo by Kym Illman/Getty ImagesFred Vasseur thinks Lewis Hamilton ‘issue’ is that he’s too ‘extreme’ towards his Ferrari colleagues
Hamilton was shocked by one issue he faced when getting behind the wheel of his team’s simulator, and had expected to be able to access more setups.
At a time when he wants to experiment to try and solve minor issues all over the car, it’s less than ideal for him to be restricted.
Team boss Fred Vasseur has now mentioned an ‘extreme’ part of Hamilton’s approach that is a bit of an ‘issue’ at Ferrari.
“It’s true that Lewis, sometimes, he is a bit extreme on his guys and says: ‘I have a mega-big issue’. But is this really a mega big issue? In terms of results, yes,” he told The Race.
“That’s because today, if you are struggling with the brakes because they are a bit different compared to what you were used to deal with [in the past], then you are speaking about half a tenth.
“And half a tenth is the difference between getting into Q3 or not. And if you go into Q3, we then fix part of the issue on the tyres, and he can be on the first row instead of being P12,” he continued.
“What is difficult to understand from an external point of view is that sometimes, for details, less than one tenth on a weekend, it can change things massively.”
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How Lewis Hamilton is on the worst run of his 18-year F1 career
Hamilton has now gone 16 races without stepping onto the podium, doing so at last year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix in a race that he should have won.
The longest streak of his career before joining Ferrari was 11 races without a podium, and his current run doesn’t look like it will end any time soon.
12th place at the Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break marked the worst finish at the event by a four-time champion or more since Alain Prost in 1993.
With pressure mounting, the seven-time champion will hope that having four weeks off can revitalise his hopes and help him get back into contention for trophies.