Lewis Hamilton’s first season at Ferrari has taken another turn for the worse at Imola. This could be their most damaging weekend yet, rather than a launchpad for their season.
Hamilton is donning scarlet red in Italy for the first time. Before the weekend, a Ferrari source said morale was low, but a strong showing at this event in particular would have given everyone at the team a lift.
Instead, the pressure on Fred Vasseur increases. The Scuderia suffered a double Q2 exit for the first time since the 2024 Canadian GP.
Hamilton now trails Charles Leclerc 6-1 in the intra-team head-to-head. Neither Ferrari driver improved on their final run during the second segment.
One individual who knows him well says beating Leclerc isn’t Hamilton’s priority right now. Instead, he wants to focus on elevating the team’s performance and finding comfort behind the wheel of the SF-25.
Ted Kravitz says Ferrari insiders have played down Lewis Hamilton’s Imola brake issues
Hamilton’s main gripe so far at Imola has been the Ferrari brakes. It’s not the first time he’s raised concerns as he adjusts from Carbon Industrie material at Mercedes to Brembo.
The seven-time world champion said it felt like he was playing the ‘lottery’ when he applied the anchors. He doesn’t know what to expect every time the team made a change.
Investigating these complaints, Ted Kravitz spoke to Ferrari staff. Hamilton had called the impact ‘massive’, but the team insist that they shouldn’t affect lap time.
“Lewis Hamilton saying that he doesn’t really know with these brakes how the car is going to be when they put new brake material, and sometimes it’s different from time to time,” Kravitz said on his Notebook.
“I spoke to the team, and they say it’s not entirely the case in that there are small differences, but nothing in particular that would cost lap time. Just to clear up what Lewis was saying after Friday practice.”
What Carlos Sainz had to say about Ferrari woes after beating them yet again
Hamilton retains the full backing of the Tifosi despite his individual underperformance. Leclerc is showing that there’s more in the car, but the Monegasque isn’t taking any overt satisfaction from dominating the battle.
For the most part, it seems Ferrari fans are focused on the problems with the car. They’re currently wasting what many have called the best driver line-up on the grid.
Vasseur says Hamilton is finding it ‘even more difficult’ to adapt because the handling is inconsistent. It was always going to be a steep learning curve after 12 years at Mercedes, but he didn’t expect the car to be so unpredictable.
He hasn’t even been able to match Carlos Sainz, the driver he replaced at Williams, in recent qualifying sessions. Natalie Pinkham noticed that Sainz smiled when she drew the contrast, though he insists that his new team are his sole focus.
