F1 2025 recap: Life at Ferrari becomes a "nightmare" for Lewis Hamilton

“It’s a nightmare, I’ve been living it for a while”, was Lewis Hamilton’s frank summary of the 2025 Formula 1 season, for it was the year he arguably performed at his worst. The seven-time world champion finished sixth in the standings, 86 points behind Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc and, for the first time since joining F1 in 2007, he failed to score a Sunday podium across a whole campaign. 

That certainly wasn’t how the 40-year-old envisaged the season going, his first in Scuderia colours, particularly because it actually started off relatively well. Once everybody had got over the excitement of his blockbuster move from Mercedes and he got down to business, Hamilton was quick out of the blocks - scoring a sprint win from pole at round two in Shanghai. 

The Briton spoke about how he was “really feeling” the SF-25 that weekend and that his victory somewhat silenced the critics, who had only gotten louder and louder since his struggles began at the start of the ground-effect era in 2022. 

But it proved to be an anomaly; the 2025 Ferrari lacked general pace and its drivers struggled for consistency as a complete suspension change backfired. That’s not even mentioning the adaptation process for Hamilton, who opted for a complete life change following 12 record-breaking seasons at the Silver Arrows.

“I came in with a really open mind,” he said in May. “I didn’t know how tough it was going to be. I knew it was going to be challenging. It’s as challenging as it could ever be on all fronts.”

So, with Hamilton needing time to adjust, it’s no surprise that Leclerc had a number over his stablemate considering the 28-year-old has been at the team since 2019 and part of the wider Ferrari family since 2016. The Monegasque was thus able to maximise what he had, whereas Hamilton just kept encountering one hurdle after another. It also didn’t help that Ferrari stopped all car development midway through 2025 to prepare for F1's impending rule change next year.  

Shanghai sprint win a rare highlight for Hamilton this year

Photo by: Bryn Lennon - Formula 1

The Briton therefore had to put up with what he was given - a car built without any of his input - and he was basically stuck fighting in the midfield. Hamilton’s form in late spring/early summer was alright, fourth in Austria and Silverstone plus third in the Miami sprint, but everything just got worse from August onwards.

There was the crash at Zandvoort, the failure to execute a team order in Baku, and he became the first full-time Ferrari F1 driver to suffer three, consecutive Q1 eliminations from Las Vegas to the Abu Dhabi finale. And throughout those late struggles, it was clear Hamilton just wanted the campaign to be over via his increasingly downbeat media sessions - ones where he’d give no more than a few words per response. 

Such negativity even irked Ferrari chairman John Elkann, who was instrumental in bringing Hamilton to the Italian outfit. It was a move that was years in the making and one Ferrari cannot really afford to be unsuccessful, given it has been 17 years since its last F1 title.

But 2026 brings fresh hope, a new regulation cycle and a Ferrari car that actually involved Hamilton in the building process. And with Hamilton surely now more settled at the team, next year he has to be on the pace otherwise questions about his F1 future will return…