Hamilton poised for welcome reception in Imola despite early struggles

While the gap to Charles Leclerc is slowly closing after a difficult adaptation period to life at the Scuderia, Lewis Hamilton is far from happy – and he won’t be, even if he manages to get the edge over his team-mate. Because his goal with Ferrari isn’t to beat the guy in the other red car; it’s to win. Yet, despite some early promise, the conditions to do that simply aren’t there.

Looking beyond the outright results, Hamilton showed in Miami that he could get very close to Leclerc. After the difficulties encountered in China, Bahrain and especially Jeddah, the Briton managed to get the most out of what the SF-25 has to offer during the first US weekend of the season – at least returning to the same orbit, with only marginal gaps to his team-mate.

However, while Hamilton has at least started to see light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the internal battle, the broader picture remains clouded by disappointment – both within Ferrari and among the public. That disappointment, though, isn’t about Hamilton’s results, but rather the car’s overall performance.

The euphoria around Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari peaked in February at Fiorano, where nearly 7,000 spectators turned up to watch his first laps in red. And while many more will be watching his first race in Italy for Ferrari this weekend at Imola, the level of enthusiasm has clearly taken a hit. But that has little to do with the driver himself.

Call it surprising, but even the general public in Italy seems to understand that Hamilton needs more time. You’d expect people to say, “He’s a seven-time world champion – he shouldn’t need it,” but so far that sentiment has been limited to a few media outlets.

The tifosi, who turned up on a cold February morning at Fiorano to welcome him, are still behind him. And just as they shared the initial excitement over the dream they were about to live together, there is now a shared feeling between Hamilton and the Italian fans – that of disappointment with the SF-25.

Hamilton has been immersed (and still is) in the most accelerated learning process possible, working to shed the habits built up over 12 years at Mercedes and adapt naturally to life at Ferrari, both in and out of the cockpit. But that’s only one step – and one that was always expected to take time when he arrived in Maranello.

Even in his final season at Mercedes, the initial feeling with the W15 was far from ideal. Interestingly, after the first six race weekends (excluding sprints), the internal score with his team-mate George Russell was 5–1 in qualifying and 4–1 in races in Russell’s favour (in Australia, neither driver saw the chequered flag). Twelve months later, the comparison with Leclerc follows a similar trend: 5–1 in qualifying and 5–0 in races, excluding China where both Ferraris were disqualified.

In 2024, Hamilton finished second in the Shanghai sprint (with Russell eighth), while this year he won it with Leclerc in fifth. Overall, after six races last year, Hamilton had scored 27 points to Russell’s 37; this year, he has 41 points to Leclerc’s 53.

It rings a bell, doesn’t it?

There’s not much that’s different about Hamilton’s start to 2025 – in fact, it almost feels like deja vu in a different colour scheme. But the Hamilton we’re seeing this year has a noticeably different attitude compared to the one at the start of 2024. He wasn’t exactly glowing back then, but he certainly didn’t look as downcast as he has over the past two months.

“Don’t expect a smiling Hamilton just because he finishes ahead of Leclerc,” says one close observer. “That might be a step, but it’s not the end goal – not if that step is only good enough for fifth or sixth.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Jade Gao – Getty Images

Last year, Mercedes didn’t reach the podium until Canada, but in the five races that followed, it took three wins and two more top-three finishes. The season changed drastically: Hamilton won his home race at Silverstone, and the early frustration was soon forgotten.

This year, the expectations were very different – and the outcome of the internal fight with Leclerc isn’t something Hamilton is particularly interested in. Just as beating Russell didn’t matter much last year.

Hamilton has never lost faith in himself, just as he didn’t after a tough start last season. He accepted the challenge of reaching Leclerc’s level with the belief that he has all the tools to do it. But aiming for victories is another matter entirely – and in that case, the ball is in other hands.

If Imola confirms the progress seen in Miami in terms of maximising the car’s potential, that will be welcome news for Hamilton. But don’t expect that alone to bring the smile back to his face.

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