The announcement of Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari felt less like an ordinary transfer and more like a seismic shift. After all, he experienced unprecedented success at Mercedes, but it is understandable to seek new challenges when all other goals have seemingly been met. Still, the seven-time champion swapping silver for scarlet red was immediately framed as the story of the season, a fairytale arc dripping in nostalgia and mythology. After all, Ferrari is not just a team. It’s arguably Formula 1’s cathedral, its historical lore written by Michael Schumacher’s glory, followed, unfortunately, by decades of heartbreak.
The question now, as the paddock pauses for the mid-season break, is whether Hamilton’s debut in red has delivered on the dream, or whether reality is proving significantly more complicated. The expectation was high. Ferrari ended 2024 on a high, and Hamilton, with all of his pedigree, records, and titles. Perhaps the prospect of a full-blown title fight wasn’t quite in the mind, but race wins most definitely were. However, as early as pre-season testing, the prospect of even race wins seemed improbable. Nevertheless, in China, with a pole and Sprint win, Hamilton showed glimpses of the fairytale, and Ferrari started looking like the Ferrari of yesteryear.
But the good times were short-lived, and a combination of embarrassing strategic blunders, ineffectual decision-making, and Hamilton’s inability to adapt to the 2025 car has brought an abrupt end to the fairytale. Some time to get used to a new environment, a new car was unquestionably needed. But halfway through the season, it seems even Hamilton doesn’t quite understand his lack of performance. It’s fairly clear now that the honeymoon period is well and truly over.
What is even more noticeable is Charles Leclerc’s performance on the other side of the garage. While the Monegasque isn’t setting the world alight. A handful of podiums and some admittedly performances in qualifying have shaded Hamilton. Despite upgrades to the car, which have edged Leclerc forward very slightly, Hamilton seemed mired in the doldrums. Naturally, it’s raising some eyebrows. It tends to suggest that Hamilton isn’t adapting quite as quickly to the handling characteristics of the Ferrari as many thought and expected he would.
Ferrari is, even from the outside, a completely different experience from Mercedes. There is the relentless Italian press baying for results and decrying the lack of performance. The passionate tifosi and, not least of all, the highly political atmosphere within the team. Still, Hamilton seems mostly composed and clearly determined to improve not only his performance but the overall operation too. But some cracks are showing not least of fuelled by the startling statement, from Hamilton himself, that the team should replace him with another driver. It’ll take some time for Hamilton to be fully embedded into the Ferrari mythology, but the question is, is there enough time, and does he have enough patience at which is very much the twilight of his F1 career.
From all evidence, Ferrari doesn’t do patience. For tifosi and critics alike, the mid-season break is less a pause than a countdown: to podiums, to wins, to proof that Hamilton’s gamble was worth it. Legacy moves are rarely judged in months, but the tone of his first Ferrari chapter will colour everything that follows. The fairytale ending is still possible, but it demands that Hamilton bend not just the car but the team’s culture to his will. In Formula 1’s most unforgiving spotlight, the scarlet story has only just begun.
