Sneak Peek of Dre's Mid-Season F1 2025 Review (Patreon)

Ferrari anyone? Full version out on the website tomorrow.

Scuderia Ferrari - 2nd (222 Points)

Main Positive: Drivers have been pretty good / Main Negative: Organisational mess, development failings

Charles Leclerc - 5th in Points (119) - 4 Podiums, 10 Top 10’s, Average Start: 5.6 / Average Finish: 6.4

Lewis Hamilton - 6th in Points (103) - 1 Sprint Win, 2 Sprint Podiums, 11 Top 10’s, Average Start: 7.3 / Average Finish: 7.1

Another team that’s hard to truly evaluate, only this time for different reasons. If you didn’t know any better, you’d have thought Maranello was set on fire in the eyes of some of the Italian press.

Now it’s easy to forget that Ferrari were one pitstop away from the Constructor’s Title in Abu Dhabi and the team elected to go all-in to try and win it this year, via a radical overhaul of their car (90% new parts), and of course, Year 1 of the Lewis Hamilton experience. Safe to say half way through 2025, that it’s not worked. McLaren’s blown them away and have both titles in the bag and that’s been pretty much nailed on since Miami.

It’s even led to pressure on Fred Vasseur as team boss, already. While I don’t think he will be moved on that quickly ala Football, it is a bit concerning that Ferrari’s yo-yo’d in form this hard, this quickly, and that this season feels like a write-off already. I suspect the LH masterplan was winning in Year 2 or 3, but this all feels like a bit of an early setback. Chuck in the humiliation of a double Chinese GP Disqualification, and a full-blown radio meltdown from Hamilton in Miami, and with Ferrari in a similar boat to Red Bull, ie - seemingly not confident about their 2026 hybrid power-unit… okay, the Italians may have had a point.

Charles Leclerc has been once again, one of the best drivers on the grid, and maybe only half a step behind George and Max as the best of 2025. Four podiums, a gutsy second place at home in Monaco, and has had the better of the Hamilton matchup so far, something he was always going to be under pressure with heading into this season. I just hope we as an audience are finally above the “rag on Charles because he makes one mistake a year” haters. *sees him crash on a sighting lap in Miami*

Shit.

What about Hamilton across the garage? Like with most controversial subjects, the reality is that he’s not been anywhere near as bad as some of his haters suggest, or as good as his fans think. The reality is somewhere in the middle. 8-4 down in Quali, 10-2 in races isn’t great, but on Supertimes his Quali deficit on average is less than two tenths, and he’s been consistently in the Top 6. I don’t think it’s too bad for a driver in a brand new team in a different country and with very different parts compared to 12 years in Mercedes, like Brembo brakes for instance. I see the signs he’s getting closer to Leclerc, and that’s a good place to be.

Ferrari may end up second again by the time this season ends, but it’s going to be a very distant second, and there’s going to be a lot of pressure on Maranello to get next year’s car right. I think it’s time for Ferrari to bail out of 2025. What do you say, reader? 6/10