Ferrari has once again become the subject of ridicule, as repeated failures have seen the team and Lewis Hamilton unable to produce results in their debut Formula 1 season together.
2025 should have heralded a new era for Ferrari. Hamilton made his blockbuster move from Mercedes, with Ferrari only just missing out on the Constructors’ Championship in 2024. Hopes were high that form would continue as the competitiveness of the SF-24 saw an upward trajectory, bringing it into championship contention.
As a result, the tifosi had stratospherically high expectations ahead of 2025. However, these have deflated faster than a bouncy castle punctured by a problem child at a birthday party. The reason behind this is simple: Ferrari has become reduced to memes online due to its frankly amateur operations and decline.
A quick look on social media on weekly basis showcases reels and memes of material relating to Ferrari’s latest faux pax over a race weekend. Gen Z called it “delulu over Ferrari”, amongst other more blunt terminology by millennials and those in F1 circles.
It is now the only top team in 2025 not to win a race, and the SF-25 shows no signs of producing a win in the closing races. The Scuderia is now trapped in a dangerous spiral of shedding credibility.
The arrival of Hamilton, at the cost of firing the in-form Carlos Sainz, should have improved the quality of work at Ferrari. Instead, the team has become about as reliable and dependable as a 2017 Honda power unit shaking itself into failing. Hamilton must, behind closed doors, be wondering how Fred Vasseur convinced him to join.
Ferrari’s struggles boil down to driver performance, strategy and communication, and an inability to learn from past errors. All will impact and possibly destroy hopes for beyond 2026, with its driver situation far from clear cut. These factors are threatening a new, dangerous legacy for F1’s most famous marque.
Ferrari and Hamilton living in shadow of former glories
Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s Ferrari was revered and feared for its strategic genius. Rivals had an eye on the scarlet pit wall, as it was usually one step ahead of the rest.
Take Hungary 1998 as an example. Michael Schumacher, locked in a battle with the McLarens of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard struggled on pace to keep up with the Silver Arrows. McLaren, running a two stop strategy, looked to have the race in the bag. But Ferrari played an absolute blinder. The legendary tactician Ross Brawn made one of the most famous radio calls in F1 history. Schumacher was requested to put in 19 qualifying laps after his second stop to create a 25 second gap to perform a third stop.
Schumacher wrestled victory from the jaws of defeat in one of the all time greatest strategy calls, winning by 9.4 seconds. It was outrageous and genius. The feat was made possible after calm, methodical analysis of McLaren’s performance during the race.
Fast forward to 2025, and the idea the team can pull off a similar feat would be met with hysterical laughter and justifiably so. It is incapable of getting the basics right, yet alone pulling off strokes of genius.
The season opener in Australia became an omen of what awaited Ferrari fans this season. Changeable conditions hit the Albert Park Circuit in the closing stages. McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes all reacted immediately.
But Ferrari, with its drivers now at the front of the field, but on the wrong tyres, opted to wait two full laps before pitting for Intermediates. Charles Leclerc and Hamilton plummeted down the order, finishing eighth and 10th respectively.
A quicker reaction would have ended in a higher finishing position, where however, we will never know. Vasseur quickly downplayed the blunder, but admitted Ferrari had made “the wrong call”. This could, and should have been the team’s only mishap. Analysing the race, the team should have learned from the failure, avoiding a repeat. Subsequent races paint a very different picture.
Consistent strategic and communication blunders
China demonstrated one of the biggest blunders in F1 memory by Ferrari: a double disqualification for technical infringements.
Just 24 hours after Hamilton took a surprise Sprint win, he and Leclerc were thrown out of the race for excessive plank wear.
This a basic 101 requirement in F1, going back to 1994. If a car has more than one millimetre of wear (10 per cent), it is disqualified for running too low to the ground. That Ferrari ran its car so low in China laid bare the ride height issues of the SF-25, a problem the team still has not recovered from. The car has not been disqualified again, but is unable to unlock the performance of ground effect utilised so well by McLaren as it is forced to run at a higher level.
A quick internet search will show a lego set of Ferrari HQ with a wheel of fortune in the strategy room. Whilst an exaggeration, the incidents seen this year sadly support this metaphor of decline. Fans enter a weekend with hope, only for poor strategy and communication from pit-wall to the drivers wreck opportunities presented.
Miami saw a painfully slow call to swap drivers. Hamilton sarcastically took to the radio, stating his team should have a cup of tea. One could almost see the engineers waiting to see what option the wheel of fortune would land on.
In Montreal, Hamilton was brought in for fresh tyres, only to emerge into traffic, after yet more poor communication and panic setting in faster than a first-time viewer of Alien.
Equally embarrassing was Hamilton’s Q2 exit in Baku. Despite data clearly showing that medium tyres were the best option in the changing conditions, Ferrari chose to put Hamilton on soft tyres. An amateur error, it crippled his weekend after practice showed good pace and is indicative of his struggles and decline since joining Ferrari.
Hamilton struggles to adapt to Ferrari amidst team decline
Citing wanting new challenges after 12 seasons at Mercedes, Hamilton’s signing for Ferrari drew more hype than the Star Wars sequels. Those in the know on those films, and indeed F1 history, know the danger of getting caught up in mass hype. Instead, when looking at facts, an all too familiar cycle develops.
Ferrari driver moves in the 21st century have not gone to plan, to put it mildly. The likes of Fernando Alonso and Sebastien Vettel saw their high profile moves to the Scuderia decline before ending acrimoniously.
New drivers bring hope to the Tifosi, fuelling morale. Results rarely come immediately, but team and driver have inherent belief before it starts to fade from reality. Hamilton’s hope and belief has understandably waned during 2025 as he battled unfamiliar machinery.
Talk of Hamilton openly struggling at the Scuderia began immediately, with insiders citing the change of brakes and car build blocking progress for the seven-time world champion. Limited testing exacerbated an existing confidence problem with ground-effect cars, and adapting to a new car philosophy.
In Australia, the dynamic between him and new race engineer Riccardo Adami could described as a diamond. Hamilton requested limited radio, while Adami, to quote Gen Z again, “yapped” instructions and data. This dynamic continues to be perplexing, far from the relationship forged with Pete Bonnington at Mercedes.
Publicly, the situation remains that all parties are searching for a way forward. Hearing Hamilton call for Ferrari to replace him after Hungary was heartbreaking for fans everywhere. While this has calmed since the summer break, fundamentals blockers remain to him reversing this decline and returning to form not seen since 2021.
His rapid decline is attracting the ire of former drivers, with former 1980s driver Marc Surer branding the seven-time world champion “a “spoiled child”, capable of only winning in the best car.
Limited upgrades and time with his team have not resolved a difficult situation. The result is a qualifying whitewash to Leclerc, trailing 12-5 to the Monegasque, and no Grand Prix podiums to date. Leclerc meanwhile, has five rostrum visits to his name this season. A way forward must be found if the history of Vettel and Alonso is to be avoided.
Disappointment from the protégé
That is not to say Leclerc’s 2025 has been a bed of roses. While he has five podium visits to his name this season, Leclerc has made mistakes of his own. Costing results, consistency in this case, has not been key.
Crashes in practice and qualifying ruined races in Canada and Baku. Montreal saw a practice crash requiring his SF-25 to be rebuilt. His qualifying efforts were ruined by a mistake, resulting him starting eighth. He finished fifth. He confirmed after the race more had been possible.
Baku saw Leclerc’s frustrations with his car boil over. Pushing the limits of the SF-25 and the track, he crashed out in Q3. Starting down in 10th, finishing only only one place better in ninth.
HIs annoyances at the strategic errors made by Ferrari has seen his emotions also get the better of him in post race interviews. He widely regarded as the fastest driver over a single lap in modern day F1, but his mistakes are caused by frustration at his team’s seeming inability to learn to from repeating the same errors. Bad luck has also played a part. His clash with Antonelli alone added more pain to his difficult year.
Can Ferrari rebound with new rules on the horizon?
Hamilton and Leclerc are locked into deals until the end of 2027, though Hamilton’s tenure rests him exercising an option to race past next season. Both will race under F1’s new technical regulations new season.
The cancellation of all remaining upgrades for this season to focus on 2026 is a bold decision, taken to firm up the competitiveness of the challenger for the massive reset expected next year. The loss of second place in the Constuctors’ Championship is likely the first of many gut punches as 2025 nears its crescendo.
Acting as a much needed reset for Hamilton in terms of car design, this could unlock performance that is sorely lacking. However, the regulations also act as a last chance saloon for him, Leclerc and Vasseur. Hamilton is entering the twilight of his career. With Oliver Bearman waiting in the wings he needs to up his game to avoid a humiliating firing. Part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Bearman known to the team after his substitute drives last season and is the next hope for Ferrari, once Hamilton fulfils his use.
However, Leclerc must cut out errors if he is to remain Ferrari’s prodigal son and keep his drive. His Canada and Baku errors alone cost Ferrari a shot at a good result. Time is money in F1 and his is beginning to run low.
Ferrari’s board have a history of twitchy fingers, acting on impulse. As the waters roughened earlier this season, Vasseur was re-signed on a multiyear deal to steady nerves in Italy. But as the mistakes mount up, the board will not tolerate failure for long. The arrival of Hamilton came with the demand Ferrari’s 18 year title drought would show signs of ending.
Ferrari continuing a dangerous precedent in decline
Instead, the opposite is threatening to emerge. No one wants to see F1’s most famous team return to the nadir of the early 1990s. Nor does anyone want to see the team reduced to memes online after repeated strategic blunders. Memories of the catastrophic title implosion of 2022 are resurfacing.
Ferrari is now heading down all too familiar path with every race. By cancelling all upgrades it has bought itself time, and almost an excuse for poor performance for the rest of 2025. However, the toxic cycle of expectation fuelled by hype and hope will reset. This will just lead to the same questions being asked next year of the team and Hamilton.
No clear solution exists to Ferrari’s problems. They are systemic, endemic and have repeated countless times in the last ten years. Unlike other teams, it is not corporate interference crippling the Scuderia. Instead, it is inability to make clear cut, logical decisions.
F1 is rightly known as the piranha club. Every decision can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and high stakes accompany pit-wall calls. Ferrari continuously fail under pressure to act logically. Montreal, Miami and Baku this year alone prove that.
The precedent has been set, and now has become the norm. Ferrari needs to urgently act to change this. Max Verstappen has a win in a Ferrari after his debut in GT3. That Leclerc and Hamilton are left wanting is perhaps the most damning fact of all in 2025.
Internet memes are now least of the Scuderia’s worries. A return to its nadir years is not just a possibility, it is becoming a reality. The metaphorical wheel of fortune to many is now part of Ferrari. May it land on a favourable option in Singapore.
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton outlines the areas of improvement still needed at Ferrari
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