Ivan Capelli sees two Lewises right now. The seven-time World Champion who still commands rooms away from the paddock, and the Ferrari driver who climbs into the SF-25 and can’t find the answers that once came instinctively.
Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the former Ferrari racer said Hamilton has “lost the smile he had in his eyes,” adding that what used to be his greatest superpower — taking a team by the hand when the lights go out — isn’t cutting through at Maranello. With a quick teammate in Charles Leclerc on the other side of the garage, Capelli believes the realization is setting in.
It’s been a scratchy first year in red for the 40-year-old. Fourteen starts, no podiums, and some raw radio traffic to match. Hungary, the last round before the summer break, told the tale: Hamilton slumped to 12th in qualifying while Leclerc stuck it on pole. He called himself “useless,” even floated the idea that Ferrari might be better off replacing him, then half-joked he’d “hopefully” be back after the break before snapping back into fighter mode: “The fight’s not over — don’t count me out.” He also hinted at turbulence behind the curtain in Budapest: “There’s a lot going on in the background that’s not great.”
Behind the scenes, Hamilton hasn’t been passive. He revealed at Spa that he’d handed Ferrari a bundle of “documents” — think proposals as much as complaints — aimed at sharpening the car and the way the team operates. Reports in Italy over the break suggested those recommendations stretch from set-up philosophy and inter-department communication to how Ferrari executes a race weekend.
One thread keeps resurfacing: braking. It’s understood Ferrari’s engine-braking characteristics, paired with an updated Brembo disc-and-pad package, have complicated Hamilton’s transition from his Mercedes feel. The odd spin in sprint qualifying at Spa only amplified the chatter, especially after he pointed to a new component on the car that weekend. If you’re missing confidence on the brake, it bleeds into everything — entry speed, tire prep, even willingness to lean on the front end. Hamilton has reportedly asked for deeper visibility on Ferrari’s power unit direction under the 2026 rules, hoping to bake in a solution rather than endlessly patch symptoms.
The championship rolls on at Zandvoort this weekend, and the question is simple: does the summer reset change the picture? Watch the onboards into Turn 1, listen for the radio tone, and look for that old body language in parc fermé. Ferrari still has a proven race winner on its hands. Right now, though, the man and the machine are talking past each other — and time, as ever in Formula 1, is not pausing to let them catch up.
