Quote Originally Posted by airshifter View Post
Both drivers had much better finishes after China, and Leclerc even managed two back to back podiums in the last 1/4 of the season. But I'm sure Charles is shaking in his drivers shoes.

Unless you want to count that one Sprint win as something important, Leclerc beat Lewis in virtually every metric that a driver is judged by. That can always change, but it's hard to ignore that one driver managed 7 podiums in races while the other had none.


No doubt the Ferrari was far from the best car this season, but considering the double DSQ in China, and two more races with double DNF's, they could have easily beat RB in the constructors points. For that matter had Lewis matched Charles on points they would have beat Red Bull. AND Mercedes! Granted Red Bull is essentially reliant on a single driver, but performance alone kept Ferrari from being higher in the WDC either way. But Ferrari is Ferrari, and the car isn't going to suddenly be on top because they hired a new driver.

He picked his poison, he paid the price. I'm sure Kimi is ok with the decision though, he had a better car and a podium in his rookie season.
On paper you would be right. But 2025 was a season for Hamilton and the Ferrari team to build an on-track relationship in preparation for 2026. The dismal performances that we have seen was not down to Hamilton solely. The Ferrari engineers have a lot to blame for most of it. If we take the Abu Dhabi race, Hamilton's qualifying 16th is a good example of it. With good pitwall analysis and execution, there is no reason why both Ferraris should not qualify in the top ten.
After some analysis, I think most of the poor showing of Hamilton was due to poor co-operation between the Ferrari engineers and strategist. They just failed to gel together, which suggests that 2026 may be another painful season for the seven-time world champion.

LeClerc has been in the team for six years before Hamilton joined. He knows the Ferrari chassis and the workings of the team like the back of his hand. He was expected to do better than the new comer thiss season, and he did. Nothing new there.

As far as Ferrari goes, we did not learn anything new about them this season. It was a wasted season, which unfortunately puts a lot of doubt on their 2026 chances. You don't leap to the front from a bad reference point. It is new regulation, so anything is possible.