Rosberg makes telling Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Newey admissions amid Ferrari drought

Light has emerged at the end of the Ferrari tunnel for Lewis Hamilton after improved showings at the Dutch and Italian GPs.

However, 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg says the fact that Hamilton is being praised just for being close to Charles Leclerc’s pace is a reminder of how deep his low was. Rosberg also believes Ferrari will be facing “pressure” after a low-key Italian GP, with Adrian Newey’s snub highlighting a struggle to attract top F1 talent to Italy.

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Such were Hamilton’s struggles in his first half-season with Ferrari, rumours suggested the seven-time World Champion may not return after the summer break. He did, and the performances have since been more positive, Hamilton largely matching the pace of teammate Leclerc.

Nonetheless, Hamilton has admitted that he and Ferrari machinery are yet to fully gel.

Hamilton told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets at the Italian GP that he is “still not 100 per cent comfortable with the car.”

He added: “Ultimately, that’s driving kind of an alien driving style.”

But, progress has been made, which pleases Rosberg, Hamilton’s former Mercedes teammate and title rival.

Yet, Rosberg cannot help but be reminded of how badly Hamilton struggled, when just hanging with Leclerc earns F1’s most successful driver praise.

“It was nice to see Lewis having a really solid weekend, feeling comfortable in the car, being quick at times, showing flashes of his brilliance,” said Rosberg on Sky’s ‘The F1 Show’ podcast.

“I think that was an important weekend for him.

“But at the same time, it’s a testament to how bad it was before, that just by him being close to Charles, we’re all like saying, ‘Oh, this is a great weekend’, because so many mistakes before and troubles with pace also.

“But anyway, good to see him have a good one, and let’s hope he can carry it forward. That would be important for him.”

With eight rounds to go in the 2025 season, Ferrari’s title hopes are over for another year, its wait for a championship, ongoing since 2008, destined to continue.

Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 remains Ferrari’s most recent Drivers’ champion.

Rosberg was asked what the response will be at Ferrari after a fourth- and sixth-place finish at its home race of Monza.

“No, Ferrari will be under pressure,” said Rosberg, “because they are always measured a lot by their home race, and it was a poor home race with no pace and no chance to win and no chance for a podium. So they’ll be under a lot of pressure.”

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With the F1 rulebook to be overhauled for 2026, Rosberg was quizzed on whether that opportunity to come will be a focus which allows Ferrari to brush off the lacklustre Monza result.

The German suggested that Ferrari, by being outside the UK hotbed for F1 talent, is struggling to attract the personnel required to be champions in F1 again. He pointed to how negotiations with F1 design guru Adrian Newey failed to result in a signature, Newey instead joining Aston Martin as managing technical partner and a team shareholder.

“I even heard that Ferrari may even be thinking to open a department in the UK,” Rosberg revealed, “because one of the issues they have, obviously, is that they struggle with talent acquisition, and the centre of the world for motorsport talent is the UK.

“Someone like Adrian Newey, who was in contract negotiations with Ferrari, eventually didn’t go, because he just didn’t really want to leave his family behind in the UK. So that’s why he chose Aston Martin, and many top engineering talent have the same challenge.

“So really, it’s just, they’re struggling to get all the top talent that they need to become a world championship-winning team again.

“And can you believe it? It’s 18 years since they won a Drivers’ Championship. The last worst period was 1979 until 2000, which was Jody Scheckter to Michael Schumacher. 21 years. And they’re almost nearing that again. So it’s been a massively rough patch again for them.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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