Stubborn Ferrari engineers called out over Lewis Hamilton struggles

Lewis Hamilton’s struggles since joining the Scuderia Ferrari team in 2025 have been well documented, but Juan Pablo Montoya believes that could be due to a clash of personalities.

Namely, between Hamilton himself and the engineers of the team on which he competes.

Lewis Hamilton at mercy of engineers, says Montoya

With a victory and a podium in two different sprint races comprising his best results of the F1 2025 season, Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari is looking to be more of a challenge than either the driver or the team anticipated.

While Ferrari’s SF-25 hasn’t been an ideal racing machine, Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc has nevertheless been able to secure five podiums in proper Grands Prix.

The mismatch in performance has many wondering if the partnership has gone wrong, or if Hamilton has simply forgotten how to drive a race car. But that’s likely too simple an answer.

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Former Formula 1 driver turned pundit Juan Pablo Montoya, for example, doesn’t believe that the uncomfortable union of Hamilton and Ferrari can be wholly attributed to the driver. In fact, he argues that it could have more to do with the way the engineers approach changes to the car.

This is the opinion he shared on the MontoyoAS show, hosted by AS Colombia. There, Montoya was asked if he felt Ferrari had made the right choice in signing Hamilton, given how tumultuous this first year has been.

But rather than answer directly right away, Montoya compared Hamilton to Carlos Sainz Jr.

“If you look at Carlos’s first year at Ferrari, it wasn’t good,” Montoya said.

“In fact, when they decided to sign Hamilton, Carlos was still having problems. Only afterwards did he start performing well.

“If it had been a year later, [Ferrari] might not have gone for Hamilton because Carlos was already doing better.

“So you need patience. It’s not easy.”

That patience is required on both the part of the driver as well as the part of the team personnel, Montoya went on to explain.

“Hamilton has been driving a certain way for many years, and it works,” Montoya said.

“The problem is that many engineers are saying, ‘No, this car needs to be driven differently, this car needs something else.’

“But that car isn’t exactly good either.”

The SF-25 introduced this year has been problematic for both drivers. Its suspension in particular has caused major issues, and after its ride height was lifted following a disqualification for excessive plank wear at the Chinese Grand Prix, the SF-25 has become more unstable and unpredictable.

While Leclerc has been able to out-perform Hamilton so far, Montoya seems to be suggesting that a certain level of familiarity with the general Ferrari operation has aided him in much the same way that Hamilton was still able to perform with a clearly non-dominant Mercedes in 2024.

Hamilton is likely hoping that the incoming rule changes of the F1 2026 season will throw the current status quo into disarray, allowing him to rediscover his footing on more equal ground.

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