Why Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari failure might be a good thing for the seven-time champion

Lewis Hamilton has not settled in well to his new Ferrari team, and is cruising towards a sixth-place championship finish in 2025. But that may not necessarily be a bad thing in the long run.

Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have struggled to put their SF-25 car into race-winning contention, with Hamilton not even being able to claim a grand prix podium as of yet.

It has left the team sat 299 points behind constructors' championship leaders McLaren, despite only finishing 11 points behind the champions in 2024.

However, they are still in second place, ahead of rivals Mercedes and Red Bull with the Maranello-based outfit managing to put in more consistent performances throughout the season so far than those other two teams.

But could that consistency actually cost them in the long run, and would the team and Hamilton prefer it if the seven-time champion's poor performances actually continued a little longer?

How would a poor 2025 benefit Ferrari's 2026?

Of course, that suggestion may be a bit far fetched, but there are genuine reasons why Ferrari would benefit from finishing third or fourth in the constructors' championship rather than second.

And that's because of current FIA rules which link to the amount of time that teams can spend on the development of their 2026 car designs.

Aerodynamic testing rules apply a pro-rate sliding scale of allowance based on constructors’ championship positions, which could prove decisive in dictating the speed of teams in 2026.

With wholesale regulation changes sweeping into the sport in 2026, having more wind tunnel time could be the difference between just winning a few races and championship success, as the teams scramble to improve their initial packages after the first race of 2026.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur even stated that this would be the case, in an interview with Autosport at the end of last season.

"The game changer could be '26 because you could have some teams that are perhaps not fighting for the championship next year that decide: ‘Okay, for '25 we don't care if we are Px [in the constructors'] and we don't care if we are x plus two or x minus two. We will just go full on the '26 project.

"If you are fighting for something, you will have the temptation to do more for '25 plus, on the top [of that], the other teams already have more, because they are Px compared to P1 in the table. So the Px will be fully focused on '26 but the P1 will be split."

Will Ferrari tank the season?

While a continued Hamilton slump might help him and the team in the long run in terms of wind tunnel time, Ferrari need their seven-time champion back to top form before the crucial 2026 season.

They will spend the last 10 races of the season trying to build up Hamilton's confidence once more, and trying to get him his first grand prix podium and grand prix win with Ferrari, before throwing everything at a return to championship success in 2026.

Leclerc even recently confirmed that the team won't be looking to give up on the 2025 season, hinting that they will be doing everything they can to secure second ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull.

"I'm pretty sure it's better to finish second than third," Leclerc told F1 media at the Hungarian Grand Prix. "However, as you said, there's also the wind tunnel time.

"This is not something we think of too much. When we are on track, we just want to finish as high up as possible and then we'll deal with whatever amount of hours in the wind tunnel we have."

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