Lewis Hamilton alibi emerges as Ferrari labelled ‘well organised mess’

Lewis Hamilton has not performed as poorly in his first season with Ferrari as the statistics may suggest, after a complex “process” to adapt to the unique Ferrari way.

That is the opinion expressed by Esteban Gutierrez, the former Sauber and Haas F1 driver, who also spent time as a Ferrari test and reserve driver. Gutierrez has experienced life at Ferrari, and respectfully called the team a “well organised mess”. With Mercedes also appearing on his CV, Gutierrez understands how difficult the transition will have been for Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari: A better start than it seems?

Hamilton called time on his record-breaking Mercedes career to join Ferrari. Yet, with 20 rounds of F1 2025 gone, Hamilton is yet to score his first Ferrari podium, and has been forced to bounce back from some alarming performance and mentality lows during that time.

The second-half of F1 2025 has been more promising, a trend which continued last time out in Mexico. Hamilton qualified third, and was running in that position until receiving a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage versus Max Verstappen. He crossed the line eighth.

During the F1 Nation podcast, Gutierrez was asked whether he feels Hamilton is starting to make progress as a Ferrari driver.

“I think [so], and it seems like he felt more comfortable with the car somehow this weekend, from his comments,” Gutierrez replied.

“Maybe he’s not going to be as happy right now, but certainly, I think, it’s been a process. I was at Ferrari, and I understand the differences of an English team towards an Italian team.”

In addition to his 59 grand prix starts across Sauber and Haas stints, plus his time with Ferrari, Gutierrez also served as a Mercedes reserve and development driver. He remains involved with the team to this day as an ambassador.

Since he understands the differences between a team like Ferrari, and outfits like Mercedes and Haas with UK bases, he was asked to expand on what they are.

“I’m just going to say it straight,” he responded. “Ferrari, there’s a lot of passion. It’s a well organised mess.

“Not to say anything wrong about them. I really love Ferrari. I mean, we all do. I think every driver’s dream is to be a Ferrari driver, deep in our hearts.

“But, the level of structure, I think winning with Ferrari has a much bigger challenge than winning with any other team, and that’s why all the champions that have not been champions with Ferrari, and tried to come to Ferrari to be a champion, they struggle. It’s not easy.

“So in my opinion, from that perspective, Lewis’ performance this year hasn’t been that bad as it looks. Hopefully, he will be able to use these years and experience and do another step next year.”

Lewis Hamilton vs Charles Leclerc in F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Hamilton has jumped into the Ferrari challenge with only a handful of familiar faces by his side. Team principal Fred Vasseur is a figure who Hamilton is very used to working with from his junior career. Ferrari’s signature of Loïc Serra from Mercedes, as chassis technical director, meant another former ally was on board.

Would Hamilton have been better off had he taken some Mercedes engineers with him to Ferrari? Gutierrez provided an answer.

“Not necessarily,” he said, “because if you bring a structure from another team, a very different culture, and you put that structure into a team that is very different around it, it may probably not work.

“I think you have to build from scratch and go there and try to understand the culture of the team, which is, in many ways, the Italian culture.

“Lewis, he’s very smart. I mean, he’s obviously been a great world champion for many years, and he knows how to do it, he knows how to win, and I’m sure he’s doing his best to optimise and understand the culture and build the team around him within that culture and get the best out of the team.”

With four rounds to go in F1 2025, Hamilton has a deficit of 64 points to address versus Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

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