Ferrari End of Year Report: The negatives outweigh the positives
- Caitlyn Gordon
- 22 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Written by Caitlyn Gordon, Edited by Meghana Sree
With another year of Formula One action in the books, our writers review each F1 team’s 2025 campaign and assess their performance across the season. Ferrari had a rocky season, with many lows and few highs, as the Prancing Horse struggled throughout 2025. Hope set high expectations, but reality soon sank in as Ferrari began slipping behind its competitors. Here's their end of year report.
The beginning of the 2025 season brought anticipation for Ferrari as seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was set to partner up with Charles Leclerc. The news rocked the motorsport world back during the start of 2024, building excitement for the switch. At that point, Ferrari had been a strong runner in the top three of the Constructors’ Championship for the past four years, only marginally missing out on the title to McLaren by 14 points in 2024.
The resurgence in Ferrari brought hope that Hamilton would be able to achieve the elusive dream of an eighth championship with the Prancing Horse. However, the opening race highlighted the cracks in Ferrari’s armour, as Leclerc and Hamilton finished eighth and ninth, Ferrari’s worst start to a season since 2009. The result set a precedent for the rest of the season with the previous hope of a championship contending year crumbling.
A bold early-season decision to shift focus to 2026 came at a cost, as Ferrari undermined the competitiveness of other teams. Mercedes and Red Bull found late-season form, concluding the season second and third, respectively, while Ferrari slipped down to fourth, their lowest result since 2020.
Despite the disappointing season, there were some positives across the season. Leclerc grabbed seven podiums and Hamilton claimed a sprint pole and victory in Shanghai.
Drivers' Head-to-Head Performance
The season brought a new partnership to the grid with Leclerc and Hamilton beginning their tenure as teammates. While there were several difficulties that the SF-25 presented, Leclerc found an edge over his teammate in both qualifying and the race.
The Monegasque concluded the year with a 19-5 over his teammate in qualifying and a similar statistic in the race with Leclerc towering over with 18-3.
In terms of championship standings, Leclerc finished in fifth with 242 points and Hamilton behind him in sixth with 145 points.
Despite the struggles the Briton faced he recorded Ferrari's only victory of the season in any format with the Shanghai sprint win. In terms of race day, Leclerc secured Ferrari’s best result of the season in second at his home Grand Prix in May.
Best Moments
The first half of the weekend in Shanghai was picture perfect for Hamilton who secured an emotional sprint pole position on Friday. The following day he converted pole into a compelling victory almost seven seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri in second.
Home-town hero Leclerc, reeled in Ferrari’s best Sunday result of the season in May. The Monegasque navigated around the windy Monaco streets, to grab a second place finish, three seconds behind Lando Norris. It wasn’t the only highlight for the driver, as Leclerc secured a podium finish in the unpredictable SF-25 six other times across the season.
Worst Moments
Unfortunately for Ferrari, the negatives outweigh the positives in 2025, with many difficult weekends plaguing the duo. The first struggle arose in China, after a strong Saturday for Hamilton with pole and victory in the sprint, the weekend soon became one to forget. The drivers finished fifth and sixth, respectively in the race. However, in a post-race investigation both cars broke regulation rules with Leclerc’s car underweight by 1kg and Hamilton with excessive plank-wear. Subsequently, both drivers were disqualified.
It wouldn’t be the only weekend to forget for both drivers with the São Paulo Grand Prix a disastrous outing. Leclerc qualified in a comfortable third position, but was taken out by Kimi Antonelli on the first corner bringing what could’ve been a strong race to a premature end.
Hamilton didn’t fare much better on the first lap as the Briton started back in 13th. He initially misjudged the corner and touched Carlos Sainz on the first corner causing damage to his floor and front-wing. Subsequent damage came at the end of the first lap, where he hit the back of Franco Colapinto and his front-wing flew under his car.
While Hamilton tried to recover the limping Ferrari, he was punished for the incident with a five-second penalty and on Lap 38, the team made the decision to retire the car. The drivers spoke about their disappointments in the post-race interviews, which in turn caused Ferrari chairman John Elkann to infamously state that the duo should “talk less, focus on driving”.
Hamilton made Ferrari history books, but for all the wrong reasons in 2025. His Achilles’ heel proved to be qualifying as he suffered three consecutive Q1 exits — the most of any Ferrari driver in the team's history. It put a further dampener on the season with both drivers anticipating the end of season.
Looking Ahead
Next season brings a wave of uncertainty to the Formula One world as the sport makes its biggest technical overhaul in over a decade.
While the Italian team opted to put all of its efforts into next season, Team Principal Fred Vasseur stated he has “no clue” how the season will unfold. Hamilton also issued a worrying statement saying he “was not looking forward to” next season adding onto the uncertainty the Prancing Horse faces.
The pessimistic responses leave a lingering question mark over how Ferrari will turn up in 2026. However, as the 11 teams battle it out to find an edge in the new regulations, Ferrari will hope to come out on top, fighting.
