Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari in turmoil after Mercedes humiliation at Azerbaijan Grand Prix

From title challengers to being off the pace of Mercedes by over 1.3 seconds. That's the brutal reality that Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari faced at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Friday afternoon.

Heading into F1's summer break back in July, things looked as though they were finally starting to really click for the seven-time world champion and his team, who posed a genuine threat to Kimi Antonelli for this year's world championship at the time.

Sure, Mercedes and Antonelli still had the upper hand, but Hamilton was second in the drivers' standings and just 50 points behind the Italian, with 12 rounds of the season remaining. Not only that, but Ferrari upgrades were on the way, with aerodynamic updates and a new spec power unit to boot.

With that said, and those upgrades having been delivered, it seems remarkable that only three grands prix later, Hamilton has absolutely no hope of even making the F1 title fight competitive this season, never mind winning it, and Ferrari's shortcomings were laid bare in brutal fashion in qualifying around the streets of Baku this afternoon.

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Hamilton, Ferrari miles off it in Baku

After Kimi Antonelli crashed in Q1 and damaged his Mercedes, George Russell went on to claim pole position for Saturday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix in dominant fashion, setting a blistering lap time of 1:42:525s.

In fairness, this time left the rest of the F1 grid looking foolish, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc actually Russell's closest challenger, despite the fact that he was almost eight and a half tenths behind (+0.837s). Hamilton, though, could only manage sixth position, with his lap time in Q3 an astonishing 1.332 seconds behind Russell's pole time.

Not only were Ferrari not quick enough compared to the Silver Arrows, but they also messed up the strategy for Hamilton, leaving him without a crucial tow. As you can imagine, the seven-time world champion cut a pretty dejected figure after the session, adamant that Ferrari were trying, but the numbers spoke for themselves.

“It's pretty bad qualifying once again not for the lack of trying," Hamilton explained. "Q1 and Q2 were pretty okay. At least Q1 was pretty decent. Q2 struggled a little bit more. And then as we went into Q3, they changed their plan.

"Instead of doing two runs, we ended up waiting, and then because I was ahead of Charles, I had nobody ahead of me on my tow, so that was worth quite a chunk in itself. But either way, we couldn't compete with the Mercedes.

"They're just outright so much quicker on the straights than us."

Hamilton admits that he and Ferrari now head into Saturday's race with very little chance of even being able to challenge the team that just last month they hoped they could beat to the F1 title, and there would be even more embarrassment if Kimi Antonelli was somehow able to come back from P16 and finish ahead of him.

"I think it's going to be hard to overtake the Mercedes tomorrow," Hamilton added.

"Keeping up with the Mercedes engine on the straight will be tough."

Ferrari's title drought is going to continue and we should have seen this coming

Perhaps, though, we shouldn't be surprised at all. For all of their incredible history, Ferrari have not shown themselves capable of challenging for an F1 drivers' championship for quite some time now, to the point where you're actually starting to question what on earth is going on in Maranello.

Kimi Raikkonen was the last drivers' world champion that the team produced way back in 2007, while their last constructors' championship came in 2008. That's 18 seasons with a championship of any sort when they don't end up winning anything this year.

Yes, Felipe Massa came very close in 2008, and Fernando Alonso gave it a really good go a few times in the early 2010s (Vitaly Petrov, we're looking at you) but the stark reality is that the closest a Ferrari driver has finished to a world champion since 2012 was nine years ago when Sebastian Vettel finished 46 points behind Lewis Hamilton in 2017.

Charles Leclerc's closest effort since 2020? 2024 when he finished third in the championship and 81 points behind Max Verstappen and 18 behind Lando Norris. Didn't he finish second in 2022? I hear you ask. Yes he did, but he was 146 points adrift of Verstappen come the season finale that year. Think Man Utd under Jose Mourinho when they finished second in the Premier League in 2017/18, but Man City romped to the title by scoring 100 points. Miles off it.

In 2024, with Sergio Perez absolutely nowhere for Red Bull, Ferrari even looked like the team to beat in the constructors', only for McLaren to go and pip them to the title by 14 points in Abu Dhabi.

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Ferrari as dysfunctional as ever with Hamilton

And that brings us to Hamilton, the star that Ferrari surely chased because they thought he could be the man to bring that horrible drought to an end. Yet, arguably, the team feels as dysfunctional as ever.

That is absolutely no slight on Hamilton, either. If anything, his struggles only serve to highlight once again the fact that the team's problems run far deeper than whoever happens to be sitting behind the wheel of their cars.

Even with a fresh start under this year's regulations, Ferrari have once again been unable to produce a championship-winning car, while off the track, Fred Vasseur and the leadership within the teams have simply not been quick or bold enough to make tough calls when needed.

The Hamilton era in Maranello was supposed to bring about change and championships, but so far, it's been same old Ferrari.

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Written by

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson - F1 Editor

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