Ferrari now ‘will not’ give Lewis Hamilton what he’s asking for but risk ‘making things worse’

Lewis Hamilton has endured a disappointing first season with Ferrari and his time in red may not improve any time soon, as tensions also begin to develop in Maranello.

The 40-year-old left Mercedes to move to Ferrari in the 2025 F1 season as Hamilton hoped a change of scenery would help get him back on top. Mercedes fell off their perch as the team to beat after F1 re-introduced ground-effect cars in 2022 and never grasped the regulations.

Hamilton even recorded the worst season of his Formula 1 career last year after agreeing to an initial two-year contract with Ferrari effective from 2025 in February 2024. Never before had he finished as low as seventh in the F1 drivers’ standings, yet he is now sixth for Ferrari.

Ferrari have seen Hamilton score only 71 points in the first nine rounds of the season ahead of this week’s Canadian Grand Prix, a race he has won a joint-record seven times. He is also yet to get a Grand Prix podium finish, with Hamilton’s best result for Ferrari just P4 at Imola.

Ferrari ‘will not’ answer Lewis Hamilton’s request to change his power steering settings

Team principal Fred Vasseur was instrumental in Hamilton’s £39m a year Ferrari contract, as the pair reunited after winning the 2006 GP2 Series title together. But the Scuderia’s woes in 2025 and Hamilton’s plight sparked claims Vasseur has three races to save his job at Ferrari.

Yet Ferrari now risk ‘making things worse’ for Hamilton, as RMC Motori reports the Scuderia ‘will not’ answer the seven-time F1 champion’s request to change the power steering on his SF-25. Hamilton wants Ferrari to change his settings as the mapping differs from Mercedes’.

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Hamilton loses thousandths of a second per lap as Ferrari’s power steering has a slight delay between the moment he turns the wheel and when the steering occurs. So, the Briton is still struggling to find confidence to push the car as he cannot modulate his braking as desired.

But Ferrari will not change the power steering settings on Hamilton’s car as it can take a year to refine a new set-up. So, the 40-year-old faces waiting until next season for Ferrari to offer a potential answer for one of his biggest problems adapting after 12 seasons with Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc is showing Lewis Hamilton what Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car is capable of

Hamilton’s plight persisting owing to Ferrari being unable to change his power steering set-up during the 2025 F1 season could add yet more pressure on Vasseur’s shoulders. He may need the Briton to find a way to drive around Ferrari’s power steering like Charles Leclerc is.

Leclerc has driven for Ferrari since 2019 and he is leading their efforts so far this season with three podium finishes plus 94 points to date. The Monegasque can also get onto the podium at a third Grand Prix in a row if he does so in Canada after his P2 in Monaco and P3 in Spain.

But life may not be all that rosy between the two racers in the Scuderia’s garage, as well. It is even said that Leclerc is annoyed about the attention Hamilton gets from Ferrari’s engineers with the Briton dominating the pre and post-race debriefs to try and get on top of the SF-25.