Lewis Hamilton is suffering in the Ferrari alongside Charles Leclerc like Sebastian Vettel did back in 2019.

That is the theory put forward by former Ferrari engineer Luigi Mazzola, who despite making that comparison – a concerning one for Hamilton – stressed that the “real problem” is their SF-25 challenger.

Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari: A Vettel 2019 scenario?

It has been a challenging start to the F1 2025 campaign for Ferrari, with Leclerc’s P4 finishes in Japan and Bahrain their best Grand Prix results thus far, Hamilton failing to finish ahead of Leclerc in any Grand Prix so far since joining from Mercedes, though he did win the China Sprint from pole.

Hamilton also outqualified Leclerc for the first and only time in Chinese GP qualifying, though his one-lap pace was the source of fresh disappointment in Bahrain, the gap six-tenths to Leclerc with Hamilton’s downbeat self-assessment triggering flashbacks to his difficult final season as a Mercedes driver.

And Mazzola is seeing parallels between Hamilton’s current situation and that of Vettel’s – the four-time World Champion and former Ferrari driver – when Leclerc arrived on the scene at the Scuderia in 2019.

Leclerc that year outscored Vettel by 264 points to 240, with Vettel’s form severely declining the following season in what proved to be his final year with Ferrari.

Speaking on Sky Italia’s ‘Race Anatomy’, Mazzola said: “The real problem with Ferrari is obviously the car, which is really difficult to drive.

“However, I praise the performance of Leclerc, who, at the moment, I see a bit like Verstappen at Red Bull.

“That is, only he can drive a difficult car. I praise his qualities. Unfortunately, he never has a decent car to show them off.

“I see Hamilton a bit like Vettel in 2019: that year too, the car wasn’t easy and Leclerc managed it better.

“It depends on driving styles and making the car fit accordingly. Maybe with some developments it will become easier to drive.”

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc head-to-head in F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

While Hamilton’s sombre tone after Bahrain qualifying could be seen as cause for concern at Ferrari – with Hamilton claiming he is “not doing a good enough job” – team principal Fred Vasseur explained why, actually, he “liked” what he heard.

“You won’t replace 12 years of collaboration in two weeks or in two races,” Vasseur insisted.

“For sure, we need to improve, but this is true for everybody in the team, in the paddock, that the DNA for our sport is to try to do a better job.

“It’s good to have Lewis with this mindset ‘I have to improve also myself, and to adapt myself to the car’ and we will adapt the car to Lewis, but he had to do a step. This is done in a positive way and a very constructive way between us.

“The fact he was a bit down yesterday evening [after qualifying], I like it. He comes back and says ‘I’m 10th, it’s a shame’, so he was disappointed because he was better in the rest of the weekend.

“In F1 today, if you make a mistake you lose six or seven positions. That was not the case three or four years ago.

“We have to stay calm in terms of judgment of the performance, because sometimes, for almost nothing, you can change a good weekend into a very poor one.

“I appreciated the direction of Lewis on Saturday and I did my best to push him a little bit, and on Sunday he was in very good shape.”

Hamilton recovered from P9 on the grid to P5 at the chequered flag, and was more upbeat after the race, hailing a potential key breakthrough ahead of this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

“Yeah, much more positive,” Hamilton reflected on his race when speaking to the media, including PlanetF1.com.

“The middle stint, I felt really aligned with the car. My driving style seemed to be working in that moment.

“And so learned a lot today, and this weekend, actually. A lot. Probably more than all the other weekends.

“The key is to try and get back to it every weekend. It’s clear our car really does require a different driving style, and I think I’m slowly adjusting to that.

“And also set-up, I’ve been a bit all over the place, a long way from Charles the past two weekends, and then slowly migrated towards him.

“So I think, if I start the weekend with a more convenient spot, and apply the techniques that I learned this weekend, hopefully we’ll be in a good place.”

Hamilton sits P7 in the Drivers’ Championship standings, seven points and two positions behind Leclerc.

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