Questions raised over Lewis Hamilton’s “freedom” at Ferrari: ‘Is he told to drive and shut up?’

Jacques Villeneuve has questioned whether Lewis Hamilton has the “freedom” to dictate car setup like Max Verstappen does at Red Bull following the seven-time world champion's difficult start to the 2025 F1 season.

Ferrari have endured a poor start to the year, with just one podium finish in the opening six races.

Charles Leclerc finished third in Saudi Arabia, giving Ferrari their only podium appearance of the year in a grand prix.

Hamilton’s standout moment of the season was his victory in the China sprint race.

Since then, Hamilton has struggled for pace, finishing over 30 seconds behind Leclerc in Saudi Arabia.

Miami proved to be better for Hamilton, finishing within touching distance of Leclerc, but Ferrari were out-performed by Williams across the weekend.

Hamilton has been open about his struggles to adapt to the Ferrari SF-25.

He admitted that he would need to make a “drastic shift” in driving style to get on top of this year’s car.

Villeneuve questioned whether Hamilton has a race engineer capable of helping him through this adaptation process and whether he can decide his own setup choices.

“It’s very draining because Lewis Hamilton had a few bad years at Mercedes that were draining; the championship loss to Max Verstappen, that’s when it started,” Villeneuve told Vision4Sport.

“The new Ferrari was supposed to be exciting and fun, and it was with that sprint race. Then suddenly it’s a continuity of the last few years at Mercedes.

“The Italian crowd is a harder crowd. It’s not an easy place to be. He’s managed to bounce back in the past. He’s not weak. It just depends on who he has around him. He just needs a couple of people to be able to lean on.

“Last year, the car didn’t seem too complicated to drive. You have to ask the question whether he is with an engineer who he can actually work with. We were talking earlier about the freedom Max Verstappen has at Red Bull.

“Does Lewis have any freedom to work on his setup, on where he wants to go? Or is it a team that tells its drivers to drive and shut up? You just don’t know.”