Lewis Hamilton said joining Ferrari was the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition when he signed on in 2024. The move didn’t come right away, though – it wasn’t until the following year that he officially made the switch.
According to team principal Fred Vasseur, Hamilton had been talking about joining Ferrari since his early days in racing. Vasseur, who managed him during his time in junior categories, remembers those conversations well.
But as Hamilton later admitted, that dream turned into something very different in 2025. For the first time in his career, he failed to reach the podium even once, despite having done so at least five times in each of his previous 18 seasons.
The record for most Ferrari starts without a podium also now belongs to Hamilton with 24 appearances. Before him, Louis Rosier held that unwanted mark with 15 races for the team back in the 1950s.
Lewis Hamilton frustrated by limited input in Ferrari’s strategic planning
Hamilton’s first season at Ferrari was marked by a tense relationship with race engineer Riccardo Adami.
Despite Hamilton dismissing talk of a falling-out, Adami’s move to the driver academy hints at a lack of chemistry between the two.
Hamilton had built what Gazzetta dello Sport described as a ‘symbiotic’ partnership with Peter Bonnington during their 12 seasons at Mercedes, which included six world titles. In contrast, he felt sidelined from key strategy decisions at Ferrari.
He reportedly pushed back against his exclusion from strategic discussions but was met with resistance and told it was simply the way things were done.
Ferrari have often been criticised for sticking to tradition over flexibility. It’s not just Hamilton who has taken issue; both Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel have raised concerns about Ferrari’s decision-making during races in the past.
Ferrari have chosen Hamilton’s new race engineer
Ferrari are expected to appoint Cedric Michel-Grosjean, who previously worked on Oscar Piastri’s engineering team at McLaren.
Hamilton was paired with an interim engineer during the Barcelona Shakedown last week, which Sky Sports pundit Karun Chandhok found surprising.
The delay could be due to Michel-Grosjean still serving gardening leave following his exit from McLaren.
While the Frenchman hasn’t been a lead race engineer before, he brings experience from a championship-winning environment. Hamilton might appreciate the fresh approach.
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