F1 world champion reveals the simple change Ferrari must make to solve Lewis Hamilton’s struggles

Ferrari proceed to seek for options to the issues which have plagued each Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc because the starting of the 2025 System 1 season. The SF-25 had been billed because the automobile that might lastly deliver an finish to Ferrari’s lengthy await a world championship, however up to now the truth has fallen nicely wanting expectations.

After coming near overtaking McLaren within the battle for second place in 2024, Ferrari entered this season with renewed hope. The arrival of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was anticipated to offer the ultimate push to take the staff again to the very high. On the similar time, Charles Leclerc had closed the earlier marketing campaign in excellent type, arguably as one of many quickest and most constant drivers on the grid. Nevertheless, regardless of such sturdy foundations, the early months of 2025 haven’t unfolded as Ferrari had deliberate.

Because the calendar strikes deeper into the season, the Scuderia are nonetheless ready for his or her first race victory of the 12 months. With McLaren sustaining an imperious run of performances, there’s a rising concern inside the paddock that Ferrari may finish the marketing campaign winless earlier than System 1’s laws are reset in 2026. Group principal Frédéric Vasseur just lately prolonged his contract to guide Ferrari into this new period, however alongside the optimism about long-term management comes a wave of questions on how he intends to show the staff right into a constant, championship-winning outfit.

Amongst these providing their views is former System 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, who believes that the answer to Ferrari’s struggles could also be easier than many count on. In keeping with Villeneuve, the important thing lies not in radical technical innovation, however within the driver-engineer relationships on the coronary heart of the staff’s race operations.

Villeneuve’s recommendation: change Hamilton and Leclerc’s race engineers

Throughout protection on Sky Sports activities F1 forward of the third free follow session at Zandvoort, Villeneuve was requested what three modifications he would make at Ferrari to assist them rediscover a profitable edge. The Canadian champion responded by suggesting that Ferrari ought to take into account changing each Hamilton’s and Leclerc’s race engineers. In his view, the staff would profit from engineers who join higher with the drivers and permit them better freedom to work in partnership. Villeneuve confused that an excessive amount of interference from exterior voices was limiting efficiency and that what Ferrari actually wanted was a stronger, extra pure bond between the drivers and their instant trackside engineers.

Lead commentator David Croft interpreted Villeneuve’s level as an argument in opposition to micromanagement, highlighting that the precedence ought to be placing the precise individuals in the precise roles. Villeneuve agreed, insisting that Hamilton and Leclerc ought to be trusted to construct an efficient working relationship with their engineers with out an exterior third affect making an attempt to handle each automobiles identically. He concluded his feedback by noting that past such modifications, the remaining could be right down to hope, endurance, and the pure development of the staff.

The present engineer pairings at Ferrari

The topic of Hamilton and Leclerc’s race engineers has already drawn important consideration this season, largely as a result of each drivers have often expressed frustration over staff radio about ongoing points with the SF-25.

Lewis Hamilton, who made the high-profile swap from Mercedes to Ferrari this 12 months, is now working with Riccardo Adami. This represents a serious change for Hamilton, who had spent greater than a decade alongside his trusted race engineer Peter Bonnington at Mercedes. Adami, who was beneficial to Hamilton by Sebastian Vettel following their collaboration at Ferrari, is an skilled determine, however their partnership has not but developed the identical chemistry that Hamilton as soon as loved with Bonnington. All through 2025, a number of of Adami’s radio calls have been criticised for being unclear or complicated, and though Hamilton has publicly acknowledged that there is no such thing as a private concern between them, the shortage of pure synergy has been evident.

On the opposite aspect of the storage, Charles Leclerc continues to work with Bryan Bozzi, who changed long-time engineer Xavi Marcos final season. Rumours have circulated for months that the connection between Leclerc and Bozzi just isn’t totally clean. Regardless of Ferrari’s makes an attempt to make changes behind the scenes as a way to assist each drivers extra successfully, tensions stay, and the communication has not at all times appeared seamless throughout key race moments.

Villeneuve’s feedback underline a broader concern that Ferrari’s inner construction remains to be not functioning in the simplest manner. In his view, the problems can not merely be blamed on automobile efficiency, but additionally on the operational and interpersonal dynamics inside the staff. For him, it’s the accountability of Fred Vasseur to deal with these issues directly if Ferrari are to provide their star drivers the platform they should struggle persistently for victories.

Aug 31, 2025Maria Lombardi

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