Ferrari mid-season review: A year of pressure and painful realities

Written by Elaina Russell, Edited by Meghana Sree

As we head into the second half of the 2025 Formula One season after a lengthy summer break, our F1 writers take you through the state of play with each team on the grid.

Ferrari are currently 299 points behind McLaren in the lead | Credit: Formula One

Ferrari entered 2025 with soaring expectations. After losing the Constructors’ Championship to McLaren by just fourteen points last season, the arrival of Lewis Hamilton alongside Charles Leclerc seemed to promise a red renaissance.

Instead, the Scuderia have found themselves adrift–second in the standings but winless after fourteen rounds, watching McLaren speed away in both championships.

High point

Ferrari’s brightest moments this year have been flashes rather than sustained brilliance. Leclerc’s pole in Hungary reminded fans of Maranello’s one-lap prowess, though it unravelled into a distant P4 on Sunday. His podium in Monaco – Ferrari’s best race result so far – briefly offered hope, and his four additional podiums reflect consistency if not dominance.

Hamilton, meanwhile, has offered a glimpse of why Ferrari moved mountains to sign him. In China, he scored a Sprint pole and then converted that into a Sprint win – the team’s only victory of any kind thus far in 2025.

Charles Leclerc is fifth in the Drivers' Championship, weighed down by an underperforming car | Credit: Formula One

That weekend seemed a turning point, but the disqualifications that followed erased the result and gutted morale.

The Imola and Silverstone Grands Prix brought Hamilton’s best finishes – P4 in both races, the latter in front of his home crowd. Yet, for a driver who left Mercedes to chase one final title, “best of the rest” has not been the narrative he envisioned.

Low point

If Ferrari’s best moments were narrow peaks, their lows have been cavernous. The double disqualification in China, stripping Hamilton of fifth and Leclerc of sixth, remains the most crushing blow.

For Leclerc, Hungary epitomised Ferrari’s Achilles’ heel: strong pace squandered by reliability. His pole turned to dust as a chassis problem left him forty seconds adrift of the leaders.

For Hamilton, back-to-back qualifying mishaps in Belgium and Hungary, exiting in Q1 and Q2 respectively, highlighted his continual uneasy adjustment to life at Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton's maiden season in red has been dramatically against his high expectations | Credit: Formula One

So far, Ferrari have yet to win a Grand Prix in 2025. For a team that made its name in dominance, that fact may sting most of all.

Looking ahead

Ferrari sit second in the standings on 260 points, but a championship challenge is already out of reach. The mission has shifted: protect P2 from Mercedes and Red Bull, and build momentum for the 2026 regulation reset.

Vasseur insists that the project is long term:

“It’s not a secret that Ferrari want to win again, but we have a target, and the goal is very, very clear. We’ll put everything [in] to achieve it. We did a decent step forward everywhere, but now we need perhaps a bit more time to put everything together, and the 2026 challenge [is] a good opportunity.”

For now, Ferrari must stomach the truth. 2025 was hyped to be a return to glory, but has instead become a lesson in patience.

Leclerc has carried the team; Hamilton is still searching for harmony. Both remain capable of brilliance, but that alone will not close the gap to papaya orange.