Lewis Hamilton's dream marriage heads for crisis as Italian media reveals 'deep cracks'

Lewis Hamilton’s dream F1 marriage with Ferrari appears to be heading for a potential crisis already, according to reports from Italy.

It was seen as a match made in motorsport heaven when the seven-time world champion announced early last year that he would be leaving Mercedes for Maranello.

The most marketable brand in the sport aligning with its most marketable driver, what could possibly go wrong? Plenty, it seems.

Six races into the 2025 season and already there are ‘deep cracks’ showing as that dream marriage heads for a ‘potential crisis’. Not our words but those of hugely respected Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport.

Tea but no sympathy for Hamilton and Ferrari

The latest misery for Hamilton and the tifosi played out in front of a worldwide TV audience on Sunday night as the British star struggled to hide his fury and annoyance at the team’s strategy during the Miami Grand Prix.

It seemed fitting that the Englishman would use the phrase ‘why don’t you have a tea break’ while waiting for his pit wall to make a decision on whether team-mate Charles Leclerc should move aside and let him through. The annoyance was clear.

Hamilton would eventually finish a lowly eighth and boasts only 41 points in the Drivers’ Championship standings - a mammoth 90 behind the leader, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Ferrari meanwhile are only fourth in the Constructors’ standings, an embarrassing 152 points adrift of the team in papaya. The faces, as well as the cars, are now red in Maranello.

Italian media reacts, and ‘a potential crisis’

The reaction from Italian media has been predictably brutal, with Gazzetta leading on the bleak headline ‘Hamilton-Ferrari, a luxury marriage that risks turning into a crisis’.

The report says Hamilton’s move to Ferrari created ‘a sensational transfer, a couple to dream about’. Instead, just six races in, it says there are already ‘deep cracks’ showing.

It speaks of Hamilton’s frustration boiling over with those radio messages, adding: “Those tense communications do not only represent a moment of nervousness, but could be the symptom of a deeper malaise within the team.

“Perhaps the episode could have been avoided if previously the pit wall had promptly ordered Leclerc to let Hamilton pass when he still had fresh medium tyres, instead of waiting three laps too long.

"Instead, the delay led to an unsuccessful exchange of positions and a subsequent "backtracking" that made both drivers nervous.

“And all this for nothing, given that the two were fighting for seventh and eighth position.”

All style, and no substance

If the action on track has been hugely disappointing so far since Hamilton and Ferrari were betrothed, at least it’s a marketing coup, right? Not so fast.

Gazzetta goes on to say: “The Hamilton-Ferrari operation has been presented as a masterstroke in terms of marketing. Undoubtedly, the champion has attracted new sponsors, increasing the value of the Ferrari brand. However, if the sporting results do not arrive, these commercial advantages could quickly turn into a boomerang.

“After all, it was imaginable. Ferrari now finds itself faced with a complex management: on the one hand, an established champion who is struggling to adapt to the new single-seater and who is showing signs of impatience; on the other, a Leclerc who, having grown up in the Ferrari nursery, represents the present and the future of the Scuderia.”

Home to Imola, the pressure is on

Things are not likely to get any easier for the Scuderia when F1 lands in its own backyard at Imola next week. The pressure, and the stakes, could not be higher.

There is of course time to turn it round - new regulations to be enforced at the start of June could increase that recovery. But right now the jury is very much out, as Gazzetta concludes:

“Bringing in a driver of Hamilton's calibre also means managing enormous expectations, both from him and from the fans. If these expectations are not met, the backlash can be devastating: will it be an epochal failure or the start of a legendary comeback?”

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