Ferrari F1 insider shares reality of 'difficult' Lewis Hamilton relationship

Hamilton, Ferrari, socials — Photo: © IMAGO

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari F1 insider shares reality of 'difficult' Lewis Hamilton relationship

Hamilton dealt with one of his toughest seasons yet in F1 with Ferrari.

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Wednesday 17 December 2025 08:29

Lewis Hamilton's relationship with his new F1 team has been labelled 'difficult' but not as bad as it appears from the outside, according to Ferrari's head of track engineering, Matteo Togninalli.

The seven-time champion has struggled greatly during his maiden campaign with the Scuderia, although a few teething problems were to be expected after 12 years with Mercedes.

But tensions persisted way beyond the opening rounds of 2025 and F1 fans were often horrified by the blunt team radio conversations aired between Hamilton and his race engineer Riccardo Adami.

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The former Silver Arrows star publicly cleared the air between he and Adami earlier in the year, but after the conclusion of the 2025 championship, Hamilton made his thoughts clear on the situation, claiming personnel changes needed to be made for 2026.

After wrapping up the first season in his F1 career where he failed to step on a grand prix podium, the Brit said he would be 'analysing' everything that went wrong this year during the winter break.

“My surroundings in terms of personal personnel, team personnel, how you utilise people, whether people need to move into different positions to work better – all these different things need to be looked upon in my personal space so that we can optimise our teamwork,” said the 40-year-old.

Ferrari 'under-evaluated' Hamilton acclimatization period

Though Adami looks set to continue in his role on Hamilton's side of the garage for 2026, Ferrari could still hypothetically make a personnel change should the champion request it.

Next year could level the competitive order thanks to new regulations and Hamilton will need all the cooperation he can get from his team to hit the ground running.

But Togninalli has claimed that things aren't as dire as they seem, weighing in on the relationship between Hamilton and the Scuderia.

"Changing drivers and changing teams, mainly for a driver like Lewis, who has spent 10 years in the same team, has a certain level of experience, is very difficult from both sides, for the driver and for the team," said Togninalli.

"Every team is operating in a slightly different way, you are used to certain people, things in a central way. Then, if you put this in context, that you have the fact that Lewis was winning world championships, and it's a fact this year, we didn't achieve the target of fighting for the world championship, so you have the frustration creating the situation.

"I think what you see from outside is quite worse than what it is. I think the relationship with Lewis, what we are building with Lewis, is extremely positive. He spent 10 years in the same team, with the same people, and after 10 months, I think we have already a very, very strong link with him.

"Nevertheless, the frustration, the results, are creating this image of ourselves and of him in Ferrari, that I believe is much, much worse than what it is in reality.

When confronted with the reason for Hamilton's struggles, particularly compared to Charles Leclerc's season in the car, Togninalli added: "I think part is the frustration, part is as I said that we need some time to adapt to each other, and maybe we both, the team and Lewis, under-evaluated this at the beginning.

"I'm confident, as I said, I don't think the relationship is as bad as you guys think. But I'm sure with time we'll improve."

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari