Maurizio Arrivabene returns to sting Ferrari for Lewis Hamilton

Maurizio Arrivabene returned to talk about the Formula 1 season in a chat with Leo Turrini for Quotidiano Sportivo, starting with Lando Norris’ triumph and continuing with Ferrari’s disastrous season, which failed to win even one race with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. “Congratulations to Norris. Maybe he could have won the title earlier, but he did well in the decisive stages. I emphasize the merits of the team, McLaren has been 26 years without a constructors’ world championship, 17 without a drivers’ world championship, they have crossed the desert recreating a positive mentality. I have the regret that I did not work with Stella, I would have liked to, but he left the company before I arrived. I always follow with my heart, it’s an indispensable passion. I am as sorry as anyone, I know how difficult it is to win in F1. I refrain from judgments about who is there now.”

Andrea Gussoni

“Lewis Hamilton for me is not finished, he is still competitive. But someone like Hamilton you only put him in if you are able to give him a competitive single-seater. He needs the right vehicle to perform at his best. If you don’t have that, don’t hire him. Leclerc I launched him in Ferrari in 2019, he is a great driver and he always proves it. I have no doubt, he will be world champion one day. Whether with Ferrari I don’t know, but I wish him that. But for sure he will win the championship,” concluded l’former team principal of the Maranello-based Scuderia.

Lewis Hamilton’s disastrous first season at Ferrari ended Monday in Abu Dhabi with testing ahead of a 2026 that everyone in Maranello hopes will be better. Hard to do worse anyway than the zero seasonal podiums of a 2025 in which only one victory came in a sprint when anything or almost anything still seemed possible. The seven-time world champion, as well as his teammate Charles Leclerc, was able to try out the tires for the upcoming championship, as well as familiarize himself with the new regulations that are also expected to change the hierarchies on the track.

“It was a great learning opportunity and overall a very positive day. I am really grateful to all the guys in the pit box for working so hard during this last day of testing at the end of a long season, which is not at all easy. I am proud of them because they gave it their all and I am grateful to them for sticking it out until the end of this day.” In Abu Dhabi, the drivers in particular tested one set of C2s and three sets each of C3s, C4s and C5s turning with specially adapted mule cars to simulate the low aerodynamic load and behavior the single-seaters will face from next year.