Jeffrey Hrunka - Staff Writer
Earlier this month, the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 (F1) team officially welcomed Lewis Hamilton, 7-time F1 champion, to its driver lineup for the 2025 season. It marks the first time Ferrari has had a champion on its team in four years, when Sebastian Vettel spent six seasons with the organization. While this move adds championship experience to the team, it represents Scuderia Ferrari's repeated mistake of ditching talent for a driver at the end of their prime.
Hamilton's move to the prancing horses is reminiscent of Kimi Raikkonen's return to Ferrari from 2014-2018. Although his added experience helped build the team into a championship contender through the late 2010s, he only picked up one win, 23 podiums and a best driver standings finish of third in 2018 in his tenure.
While those results are solid on paper, Raikkonen struggled compared to both of his teammates during this period. In his first year back with Ferrari, Fernando Alonso collected three podiums and never finished outside the top 10 outside of retirements. Raikkonen did not step on the podium once and finished outside the points four times.
This performance gap worsened with Vettel's addition the following season. Over the three years Raikkonen partnered with Vettel, he achieved one win and 23 podiums, compared to his teammate’s 13 wins, 41 podiums, and consecutive runner-up finishes in the driver standings in 2017 and 2018.
Despite this gap, the Italian-based team kept the Finnish driver in its lineup. During this time, they passed up on numerous driver talents who have since left the Ferrari Driver Academy.
The two most prominent drivers cast aside in favor of Raikkonen were Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll. They ended up racing for other F1 teams, hoping to eventually replace Raikkonen, but ultimately moved on once their plans never came to fruition.
The same thing has happened with Hamilton's move to Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz, who held one of the two seats at Scuderrari Ferrari for the last three years, has proven himself a competent second driver to Charles Leclerc. Despite this, his contract was not renewed in favor of the 7-time champion.
It was not for lack of trying, as Sainz's statistics were nearly identical to his counterpart's. The Spaniard accumulated four wins, 25 podiums, six poles, and three fastest laps at Ferrari. Compared to Leclerc, who took six wins, 31 podiums, 19 poles, and six fastest laps, Sainz was an unquestionably capable number two.
As for Hamilton, he has been beaten by his former Mercedes teammate, George Russell, twice in the driver championship over the past three seasons. He finished sixth and seventh in 2022 and 2024 to Russell’s fourth and sixth-place championship finishes respectively.
While Hamilton consistently gets on the podium more often than his teammate, obtaining 20 to 14, Russell has won more races, three to two, than Hamiton in his three years at the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 team.
Even if they were only making this move to get rid of Sainz, there were better options than Hamilton to replace him. That search didn’t need to go far. They could have just looked to their young driver program with Oliver Bearman.
Bearman wasn’t on anyone's radar to be on the Formula One grid until Sainz was forced to withdraw due to appendicitis before the 2024 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. He delivered in his debut, finishing seventh. He backed this performance up with the Haas F1 Team as he stepped in for Kevin Magnesson twice, finishing 10th and 12th at Baku and Brazil.
While Bearman deservedly found a spot on the F1 grid for 2025 with Haas, he is a driver Ferrari could have developed their team around, similar to what they did with Leclerc a few years ago.
Bearman could have been a long-term solution, but Ferrari settled on a short-term move with the Hamilton addition.
Ferrari's biggest rivals have all invested in young talent. McLaren just earned its first constructors’ title in a quarter century with its youthful duo of Piastri and Norris. Red Bull Racing and Mercedes have also opted for younger talent, adding Liam Lawson and Kimi Antonelli.
You cannot rely on Hamilton to provide that longevity. Instead, Ferrari has committed to missing out on the series' young prospects. They have put all their chips on Hamilton, and it’s only a matter of time before we realize this move only earned them attention, not success.
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