Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari have to solve one ‘disconnect’ that keeps ruining their F1 race weekends

Ferrari are under no illusions that they need to find a way to help Lewis Hamilton adapt as quickly as possible to avoid the 2025 Formula 1 season derailing at this early stage.

Last season, Ferrari finished 14 points behind eventual champions McLaren in the constructors’ championship.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz did a fantastic job at the end of last season to put the pressure on McLaren and narrowly missed out on winning the team’s first title since 2008.

Just a few months later, Ferrari already find themselves 110 points behind the Woking-based team, and with just a single podium finish to their name.

Ferrari wouldn’t have considered signing Lewis Hamilton to be a gamble given his previous pedigree in the sport.

However, internally Ferrari are worried about Hamilton and the speed at which he’s gotten to grips with their car.

Leclerc has had his gripes with Ferrari’s 2025 car as well but has seemed far more comfortable in recent weeks than his new teammate.

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Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari experiencing feedback ‘disconnect’ during race weekends

Journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm was discussing what’s not quite going to plan for Ferrari and Hamilton after the first five race weekends.

He explained, “First of all, obviously, if they had a much better car. If it had a car that even Charles Leclerc was happy with the performance of, then things might be different.

“I know that Leclerc feels like he’s in a good place now in terms of where he’s got the setup and how he can use the setup and his drive and start to get the most out of the package.

“He’s still very unhappy with the overall performance of the car. And I suspect that even Leclerc would be able to drive this Ferrari better if it was just simply offering more all-round grip, which seems to be kind of his biggest complaint.

“The second factor is, can it be a little bit more in tune with what Hamilton needs in terms of live feedback?

“I think this was one of the things that we were talking about when we were in the paddock together at Suzuka, Mark [Hughes], that there’s a disconnect, quite often actually, between the way that Hamilton wants to know what’s going on through a qualifying session or practice session.

“I feel like Hamilton’s much more interested in that kind of live feedback and then apply it right away.

“Whereas maybe Ferrari, they’re a bit too vague with that sometimes and kind of wants to wait until everything’s back in the garage to debrief properly or to go over stuff.

“So there’s a little bit of kind of getting on the same wavelength there.”

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Lewis Hamilton and Riccardo Adami still improving their relationship at Ferrari

Hamilton created an incredibly effective partnership with race engineer Peter Bonnington at Mercedes.

He’s now having to rebuild that relationship with Ricciardo Adami at Ferrari, and while it’s not going badly, there are going to be blind spots that they both miss as they become accustomed to working with each other.

Hamilton sought advice from Sebastian Vettel on Adami before joining Ferrari to get an idea of the personality of his new engineer.

The German has played a bigger role in his old rival’s adaptation than many realise, with Hamilton copying some of Vettel’s methods during his time with the Scuderia.

Hamilton’s messages to Adami during the Chinese Sprint Race were aimed at some of his critics who believed he was being too harsh on the engineer following his debut in Australia.

However, it’s now apparent that the pair, and his Ferrari engineers in general, can work more effectively across a race weekend to get the most out of the car.