Ferrari engineer gives fresh update on Lewis Hamilton's relationship with the team after dismal season

Ferrari's head of the track department, Matteo Togninalli, has shared an update on Lewis Hamilton's relationship with the team after a disastrous first year of their partnership. The seven-time F1 champion found himself unhappy with the Italian team on many race weekends this season, with concerns surpassing the car's performance.

Hamilton found it tough to adapt to Ferrari's culture and also found certain flaws in the team's race weekend operations. After his Hungarian GP disaster, the Briton was not only super self-critical by calling himself "useless," but also hinted at trouble behind the scenes at Ferrari. In a cryptic message, he said:

"There’s a lot going on in the background that’s not great."

Lewis Hamilton was similarly critical of Ferrari's performance after each failure in the second half of the season, be it in qualifying or the race. He carried his heart on his sleeve and bluntly laid out his feelings, however downbeat. This led to speculation about some tension between the Briton and the team.

However, Matte Togninalli cleared any questions surrounding this topic. Speaking to Motorsport Total, he said:

"I think what you see from the outside is much worse than it actually is. I think the relationship with Lewis, what we're building with him, is extremely positive."

Lewis Hamilton ended the 2025 season on a decent note at the Abu Dhabi GP. In qualifying, he was eliminated in Q1, but gained eight places in the race, moving from P16 to P8.

Ferrari engineer explains the 'frustration' behind the seeming rift between Lewis Hamilton and the team

Lewis Hamilton at the 2025 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari was historic because it brought together the most statistically successful F1 driver with the most successful F1 team. However, cultural changes were anticipated, with the Briton having never worked in a non-British team during his entire F1 career (six years with McLaren and 12 years with Mercedes).

Moreover, Hamilton had gotten used to Mercedes' way of working for over a decade as they dominated F1 during the turbo-hybrid era. Matteo Togninalli highlighted how the seven-time champion had to adapt to a variety of structural changes at Ferrari, which also led to the underwhelming first season.

"Changing drivers and teams, especially for a driver like Lewis who has spent ten years in the same team and has a certain level of experience, is very difficult for both sides, for the driver as well as for the team," said Togninalli.

"Every team works a little differently; you get used to certain people and central processes. When you put that in the context of Lewis winning world championships and us not achieving our goal of fighting for the world championship this year, this situation arises from the frustration," the Italian engineer added.

Hamilton's relationship with the team might have seemed strained due to the nature of his critical comments towards the end of the season. However, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur had emphasized more than once that the Briton's post-session comments were usually emotionally charged, but by the time of the team debrief, he was not as intense with the criticism once he came to grips with the situation.