Hamilton’s Ferrari Move Backfiring? Former Teammate Weighs In On Seven-Time F1 Champion's Woes

Valtteri Bottas knows exactly what peak Lewis Hamilton looks like. After all, he spent four seasons watching him dominate at Mercedes.

But from the outside, even Bottas can see what everyone else sees in 2025: Hamilton still hasn’t fully clicked at Ferrari.

Hamilton’s debut season in red has been rough. No podiums, no consistent rhythm, and a teammate, Charles Leclerc, who’s carrying the team with all seven of Ferrari’s top-three finishes. Leclerc has scored nearly 60% of Ferrari’s points and leads the qualifying battle 15–3. Symbolically or not, Hamilton looks like the number two.

This wasn’t the script back in February. When Hamilton’s shock switch to Ferrari was announced, Bottas was bullish, insisting the seven-time champion would adapt fast.

“He’s a pretty adaptive guy,” he said at the time, confident Hamilton would be on the pace immediately.

And for a moment, that prediction looked spot on. Hamilton took pole in his second Ferrari qualifying session and won the Chinese GP Sprint the next day. But that early spark turned out to be an outlier.

Now speaking to Motorsport Brazil, Bottas admits the reality: “I think everyone agrees it’s taking him longer than expected to adapt,” he said. “He spent so long at Mercedes and got used to the way things worked. He was very much the team’s driver.”

Bottas pointed to the cultural and operational shift at Ferrari as part of the adjustment curve. But he isn’t writing Hamilton off.

“He’s shown his speed at times. I think next year will show what he can still do. He’ll be better next year.”

He also thinks the wider F1 world needs to give Leclerc his due.

“Maybe some people have underestimated Charles,” Bottas said. “He’s really good.”

Leclerc has long been regarded as one of F1’s sharpest qualifiers, and Hamilton has still managed to outqualify him seven times this season.