Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari in ‘Full Crisis’ After D…read more
The fallout from the Spanish Grand Prix has ignited a media firestorm in Italy, with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari team facing intense scrutiny. Hamilton, who joined Ferrari amid much fanfare for the 2025 Formula 1 season, endured another disappointing outing in Barcelona, finishing sixth and notably behind Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg. The result has further deepened the growing concerns over Hamilton’s form and Ferrari’s competitiveness, prompting leading Italian publications to declare the union between driver and team in “full crisis.”
In a scathing assessment, Corriere della Sera painted a bleak picture of Hamilton’s current state, describing him as “an opaque star” lacking the brilliance that once made him F1’s most formidable force. “The respect for the great champion, the melancholy in seeing him like this: beaten and dejected,” the paper wrote. “On the track, in radio communications, in the interviews he has to endure by contract, even though he would like to run away, shut himself away who knows where.” The initial euphoria that followed Hamilton’s dramatic move to Maranello has, in their words, turned into a painful memory — a once-celebrated partnership now showing signs of emotional and professional disintegration.
Hamilton himself did little to dispel the sense of crisis. In a dejected post-race interview, he openly blamed himself for what he called a “terrible” race. The contrast between his current struggles and the early optimism surrounding his switch from Mercedes to Ferrari has become a focal point of media criticism. “He is unable to keep up with Leclerc’s pace,” Corriere added, highlighting his consistent failure to match the performances of team-mate Charles Leclerc, who has recently found success with podium finishes in Monaco and Spain. Leclerc’s ability to extract the most from the SF-25 has only magnified Hamilton’s difficulties.
Ferrari, for its part, has shown glimpses of promise but remains far from consistently challenging for wins. Their struggles have only compounded Hamilton’s woes, as the car often lacks the outright pace to fight at the front. However, the team’s competitiveness has not been uniformly poor — Leclerc’s recent results suggest the car is at least podium-capable in the right hands. That leaves Hamilton’s slump more difficult to explain and all the more concerning for Ferrari management and fans.
The situation has led to a swirl of speculation about Hamilton’s physical and mental state. Critics have pointed to his age — he turned 40 earlier this year — as a possible factor. His former Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg added weight to that argument, suggesting that Hamilton’s decline might be the natural consequence of aging in a sport that demands peak reflexes and razor-sharp precision. “Even the greatest of all time, at some point, you are going to get a little bit slower,” Rosberg said on Sky F1. “When you’re 40, it’s going to happen sooner rather than later… even a tenth makes a huge difference, especially when you’re up against the new generation’s best, like Charles Leclerc.”
With only a sprint race win and a fourth-place finish in Imola to show for his efforts so far in 2025, Hamilton’s confidence appears increasingly fragile. Whether he can regroup and reignite his form remains to be seen, but the task ahead is daunting. The narrative of a champion in decline is growing louder, and unless there is a marked turnaround in performance, the romantic story of Hamilton’s final chapter at Ferrari may well go down as a case of unfulfilled promise — a love affair, as the Italian media puts it, “in full crisis.”
