‘Scapegoat’ Hamilton backed to ‘prove’ himself in ’embarrassing’ Ferrari admission

Made the “scapegoat” after Ferrari put an “embarrassing” car on the grid, Italian journalist Leo Turrini has backed Lewis Hamilton to prove he’s still got it.

Hamilton joined Ferrari in a move that shocked the Formula 1 paddock when he announced he was quitting Mercedes just months after signing a new two-year contract.

Lewis Hamilton: A scapegoat for a Scuderia?

Exercising an exit clause, the Briton called time on his 12-year Mercedes career even before the 12th season had begun.

As Hamilton put in his long goodbye at Mercedes, Ferrari unlocked the pace in the SF-24 to take three wins in the second half of the championship to challenge McLaren for the Constructors’ title.

But while the team fell short, 14 points down, it boded well for F1 2025. At least that’s what was predicted.

Alas, Ferrari failed to kick on this year with it yet to win a single grand prix. Five podiums, all scored by Charles Leclerc, have put Ferrari in second in the standings but its 299 points down on McLaren.

Fingers have been pointed at Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton v 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

The seven-time World Champion has struggled compared to his team-mate and there’s little sign of a recovery.

If anything, Hamilton’s head dropped in the two races before the summer break as he labelled himself “useless” and proclaimed Ferrari should probably “change” drivers.

It begs the question, what’s going wrong.

This was posed to Turrini by a reader on his blog.

Put to him that Hamilton was given everything ‘due to him’ during his time at Mercedes when he won six of his seven World titles, with ‘the cars designed for him, the technical superiority of the car was such that it did not need 100 per cent from the driver and his team-mate framed as a doormat’, Turrini was asked if that made ‘getting back to being fast almost impossible’.

“I have already expressed myself on Lewis,” Turrini replied. “Denying his glorious past is foolish (not on your part, you are lucid fortunately for me!).

“Hamilton is a legend and no one can downplay that.

“The reflection on the present is different.

“He is 40 years old, at Ferrari they gave him an embarrassing car and on top of that Leclerc is faster (but we already knew this except for a few suckers).

“If Hamilton still has any, he will have to prove it.

“But making him pass (not you) as a scapegoat for a Scuderia that in 14 races has scored less than half of McLaren’s points is not wrong.

“It’s ridiculous.”

Although Hamilton was downbeat after his performances in Belgium and Hungary, the Briton went into the summer break vowing to come back stronger.

“It’s been a challenging weekend and one to move on from,” he posted on social media.

“We weren’t able to make the progress we hoped for but I’m grateful for the effort everyone in the team put in throughout the weekend.

“Now we head into the break. I’ll be using the time to reset, recharge and come back stronger.

“I’m not where I want to be yet, but the fight’s not over – don’t count me out.”

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