Ferrari rebus, from Leclerc’s problems to Russell’s jibe: climate remains heated

Ferrari faces the summer break after a disappointing Sunday, to say the least, in Hungary: Charles Leclerc, who had led by starting from pole position in the first part of the race, slipped off the podium victim of a chassis problem, while Lewis Hamilton ended a weekend in which his words (“I am useless, I think Ferrari should change the driver” he had declared on Saturday) made more noise than his performance in the race, where he finished in the same position as at the start, number 12, outside the points zone.

Besides all this, the controversy remains alive over the words uttered by George Russell that the problem with Ferrari number 16 was something else: “In my opinion they were going to wear out the bottom beyond the allowed limit– said the Mercedes driver to ‘Sky Sports Uk’ -. They must have had to change the tire pressure to lift the car, it&#8217s the only explanation for such a sharp drop”. The climate, then, remains heated and there are still plenty of doubts plaguing the Maranello team with ten race weekends to go before the conclusion of the 2025 season.

Ferrari, at the break that will end at the end of the month when the Circus meets again in the Netherlands in Zandvoort, remains the second force at the Constructors’ standings level, but in fact has less than half the points won by McLaren (260 vs. 559), and in the Drivers’ standings sees Leclerc fifth with 151 points and Hamilton sixth with 109, well behind Piastri (284) and Norris (275) but also behind Max Verstappen (187) and Russell himself (172).

The only real satisfaction the Rossa has taken away this year is Lewis Hamilton&#8217s success in the Sprint in China, while to go back to a Grand Prix win you have to go all the way back to Oct. 27, 2024, when Carlos Sainz (now at Williams) asserted himself in Mexico. Leclerc’s last win was a week earlier in Texas, while Hamilton has not tasted success in a Sunday GP since July 28, 2024, when at the wheel of Mercedes he asserted himself in Spa.