The Ferrari Formula 1 team, under the leadership of Fred Vasseur, has been grappling with challenges after a difficult 2025 season, leading to team-wide crisis discussions following Lewis Hamilton’s disappointing debut year. The struggles of Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 2025 efforts, combined with a lackluster performance, have prompted the team to reflect and strategize for the looming regulatory overhaul in 2026.
Ferrari’s Energy Drops After Challenging Season
As the 2025 Formula 1 calendar concluded, Ferrari found themselves lacking the momentum seen in rival teams like McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes, all of whom celebrated race wins. Ferrari, on the other hand, were only occasional contenders for podiums at selected tracks such as COTA and Mexico’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, rarely matching the speed and consistency of their competitors.
The team’s final fourth-place position in the constructors’ championship was shaped by an early strategic move: halting development of their SF-25 car in April. Shifting focus towards preparing for the new 2026 regulations, Ferrari put most resources into future development, sacrificing immediate results in the process.
Fred Vasseur, speaking to Sky Sports Italia, acknowledged the toll the season had taken on the team, both in terms of results and morale.
Low on energy, but everything’s fine,
Vasseur said.
I think you can learn something from every single season. It’s not about results or position. You can win races, but there’s always a long list of things to work on. And I think that list will ultimately be the same after the 2024 season.
Hamilton’s Arrival and the Impact on Performance
The much-anticipated arrival of Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, failed to ignite a Ferrari resurgence; the British driver endured the toughest season of his career, missing out on podium finishes entirely. Both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were also disqualified at the Chinese Grand Prix, which cast a shadow over the team’s prospects for much of the year and contributed to their overall sense of frustration.
It’s definitely been a difficult year. We had a difficult start with the tests in Bahrain, then the disqualification in China. That probably put us at a bit of a disadvantage,
Vasseur explained.
We had a good recovery and started to get the situation under control, but by the end of April we were already 110 points behind McLaren. And I think it was the right decision at that point in the season to focus on 2026.
The decision to switch focus away from 2025 development reflected a calculation that the championship was already out of reach. As a result, the Ferrari squad turned their attention to the sweeping technical changes expected in the upcoming 2026 Formula 1 season.
Crisis Talks and Rebuilding for 2026
Fred Vasseur described the atmosphere within Ferrari as both weary and determined, revealing extensive internal discussions aimed at diagnosing problems and aligning the team for the future. The conversations have involved drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, as well as key figures such as race engineers and technical staff, striving to ensure unity ahead of the next chapter.
The end-of-year message, but I think we’ve spent so many hours together that we’re completely aligned, is that we all know the season wasn’t good,
Vasseur continued.
We’ve had time to discuss why. But the message is that 2026 is a completely different story. New chassis, new engine, new battery, new fuel, new tyres, everything new.
Vasseur expressed optimism about the opportunities presented by the revised 2026 rules, emphasizing the technical collaboration needed between the chassis and engine departments, and noting the importance of rapid development in the coming months as Ferrari retools for a new era.
It will be a different approach, but it’s a great challenge for the team.
What Lies Ahead for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari
With a strong tradition but few recent results to celebrate, Ferrari’s leadership, including team principal Fred Vasseur and key drivers, face the task of leveraging lessons from a bruising 2025 campaign as they prepare for sweeping regulatory changes. The Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 2025 struggles and the subsequent internal rebuilding underscore the high stakes and constant pressure in modern Formula 1. As development shifts to 2026, the team’s success will depend on how effectively they can translate this year’s adversity into future progress, with keen eyes on whether Hamilton and Charles Leclerc can return Ferrari to the top echelons of the sport.
