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Ferrari insists relationship with Lewis Hamilton isn't as bad as it seems
Lewis Hamilton's relationship with Ferrari is much less strained than it appears, according to the team's head of track engineering Matteo Togninalli, although the Formula 1 squad nonetheless feels it "under evaluated" the adaptation period needed for both sides.
In the early part of 2025, Hamilton had to clear up the perception of the occasionally terse radio messages between himself and new race engineer Riccardo Adami, stating that there were "no issues" between them.
However, continued moments of occasional curtness over the radio led people to suggest that the pair have not necessarily gelled, but Hamilton reacted by suggesting Max Verstappen is equally abrupt with his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
Offering his view of the situation, Togninalli explained that Ferrari and the seven-time world champion might have underestimated the time taken to adapt, but feels that the media's view of the situation is "much worse" than the real relationship at play.
"Changing drivers and changing teams, mainly for a driver like Lewis, who has spent 10 years in the same team, has a certain level of experience, is very difficult from both sides, for the driver and for the team," said Togninalli, as Hamilton moved to Ferrari from Mercedes this year, after 12 seasons at the Silver Arrows.
"Every team is operating in a slightly different way, you are used to certain people, things in a central way. Then, if you put this in context, that you have the fact that Lewis was winning world championships, and it's a fact this year, we didn't achieve the target of fighting for the world championship, so you have the frustration creating the situation.
"I think what you see from outside is quite worse than what it is. I think the relationship with Lewis, what we are building with Lewis, is extremely positive. He spent 10 years in the same team, with the same people, and after 10 months, I think we have already a very, very strong link with him.
"Nevertheless, the frustration, the results, are creating this image of ourselves and of him in Ferrari, that I believe is much, much worse than what it is in reality.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
"Why [is he] struggling? Again, I think part is the frustration, part is as I said that we need some time to adapt to each other, and maybe we both, the team and Lewis, under evaluated this at the beginning. [But] I'm confident, as I said, I don't think the relationship is as bad as you all guys think. But I'm sure with time we'll improve."
Ferrari failed to win a grand prix in 2025, finishing fourth in the championship and 435 points behind champions McLaren with Charles Leclerc and Hamilton respectively fifth and sixth in the drivers' standings.
Togninalli explained that the majority of Ferrari's issues stem from struggling with tyre preparation in qualifying; while the SF-25's race pace has been generally strong through the season, qualifying performances have been inconsistent at best.
He explained that this year's Pirelli compounds, which have been more durable but also more prone to overheating, have made it difficult to get the balance right ahead of a hot lap.
"90% of the job this year is done in qualifying; if you start in front, you finish in front," Togninalli explained, as 16 of the 24 grands prix were won from pole.
"If you start behind, unless you do something very different than what you only if you are last, it is extremely difficult to overtake. I think point number one, tyres this year are extremely sensitive in the single lap. You can see in Brazil with Verstappen - in the sprint quali, he is in front - and then he is in P16.
"You can move around 2-3 tenths only with the preparation of the tyres in qualifying. This is where we have been focusing. This is where I think we improved. And then it's a lot of situations.
"If we take Vegas, the bollard with Lewis cost us the qualifying. If you look at it, it is a bit situational. With Charles we didn't get the last lap in Q3. I am sure we could perform better. If you freeze the Q3 quali two minutes earlier, it was P3.
"I think the key factor are the tyres. I think everybody is struggling with that. If you look, there is a lot of variability. We are all within two tenths. So a small difference makes a lot of difference. Some quali we have 10 cars in a tenth."
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