This year saw the debut of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton make his the Ferrari racing team debut on the Formula One (F1) championship grid. After driving for Mercedes for 12 seasons, the move to Ferrari was a massive shift among the teams. While Hamilton’s debut season with Ferrari has not gone exactly the way the British driver may have hoped, there does seem to be hope and progress following the most recent Austrian Grand Prix. However, there are still reports that the driver is looking ahead to 2026.
Hamilton makes his Ferrari debut
Hamilton’s first racing season without Mercedes this year has been a much-anticipated event. After winning four back-to-back championships between 2017-2020 as well as in 2015 under Mercedes, the move to Ferrari marked a significant turn in his racing career, with Ferrari still being recognized as one of, if not the most, iconic symbol of race car driving.
Coupled with a showstopping racing career and the Ferrari legacy, expectations have been high for Hamilton from the start when he joined Charles Leclerc this season as a teammate. However, the 2025 season has proven to be a challenge, with unexpected setbacks and frustrations, specifically relating to the 2025 season car. It has been reported that Ferrari’s car this year has a key weakness in that it cannot run as close to the ground as both drivers and team would like due to the risk of wearing the plank down.
“More often than not we go through FP1 and then at previous races, FP2 has not been so great because there’s been something wrong with the car, like the floor’s not working or the rear wing’s stopped working,” said Hamilton after the Montreal qualifying.
Disputes over Ferrari’s underperformance
With the current 2025 season already midway through, it appears that Hamilton may have already given up on this season’s performance, focusing instead on the vision for next year.
“For me, I know we’re not fighting for a win this year, I know we’re not in the championship, which is not a great feeling,” he said. “We don’t have the performance currently. Hopefully with an upgrade, maybe at some stage, we’ll be a bit sharper.”
While both drivers Hamilton and Leclerc have been open about the current season’s car needing significant upgrades, however, Ferrari racing head Fred Vasseur has been adamant that Ferrari’s lack of performance has stemmed from underwhelming execution on race day and has less to do with the car itself.
“We will have an upgrade soon, before the UK. And perhaps another one a bit later, said Vasseur following the Canadian Grand Prix where Leclerc placed fifth and Hamilton sixth. “But honestly today, I think there is much more into the execution and what you are getting from the car than into the potential of the car itself.”
Hamilton begins to look ahead to the 2026 season
After a disappointing performance at the Canadian Grand Prix, Hamilton expressed that the team’s best strategy may be to focus on the 2026 season at this point in the racing calendar:
“I don’t know what upgrades we have coming. We haven’t had an upgrade for quite some time. We’ll keep pushing with what we have but, before too soon, I’ll be just saying focus on next year.”
However, things may be looking up for the team, with the most recent Austrian Grand Prix seeing Leclerc take a podium position in third place, with Hamilton placing just behind in fourth. While Hamilton may have had an unanticipated difficult start to adjusting to racing in red, the recent Austrian performance may give him a more optimistic outlook for the remainder of the season, especially considering this Sunday’s race will be hosted at his home turf at the Silverstone Circuit.
