Which Ferrari will we seen in Japan?

By Joe Man

Moreover, which Leclerc and Hamilton will come to Japan?

The biggest story before the 2025 season, by far, was Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari. The dream team was finally together. The now-famous photoshoot at Maranello sent the internet into a frenzy, and as Hamilton took his first steps in red, the excitement reached new heights.
But eventually, the talking had to stop, and it was time to race. So, how are things going?

Well, it’s all a bit chaotic, really!
Things were never going to fall into place immediately, but there seems to be a lot going on at Ferrari right now. They finished 2024 as the undisputed fastest team, only losing the Constructors’ Championship due to a mid-season slump. Fred Vasseur clearly has the team he wants and is running things his way. With Charles Leclerc, he has a driver who lives and breathes Ferrari, someone who has been deeply involved with the development of the car. And now, with the arrival of Lewis Hamilton, he has the greatest of all time—a driver he’s worked with closely for years. Yet, it’s all starting to feel a bit “Ferrari.”

In Australia, they were nowhere, even behind a Williams in qualifying. The wet, chaotic race that followed offered plenty of opportunities, but all they could manage was 8th and 10th, even behind a Kick Sauber! Hamilton and his race engineer seemed to struggle with communication, and there appeared to be genuine frustration between the two. After working for so long with Pete Bonnington, his race engineer at Mercedes, this doesn’t feel like a smooth fit just yet.
Then, out of nowhere, Hamilton clinched pole position in the Chinese sprint qualifying and went on to win the race the following day, in true champion style. How had Lewis and his car suddenly come together so brilliantly? The team mentioned that a few adjustments were made after the Australian race, revealing the true potential of the car. But just a few hours later, during the main qualifying, the pace was nowhere near the same. Lewis qualified 5th, well off the pace, and seemed disappointed. He mentioned that after tweaking a few things, they had actually gone backward. This all points to the fact that the team still doesn’t fully understand the car.

Things took a turn for the worse on race day. A double disqualification—ouch!
What made it worse was that it all started on the very first lap, when the teammates made contact. Leclerc lost part of his front wing in the process, which ultimately led to his disqualification for having a car that was too light. Hamilton followed soon after, disqualified for having a rear skid block that didn’t meet the minimum thickness required by the technical regulations. A miscalculation from the team.

Hamilton’s body language hasn’t looked great lately, but then again, it’s been that way for a while. Still, he’ll take some comfort from his Chinese sprint win, knowing that this car can win if they can just figure it out.
It sounds a little like the team he used to drive for – Mercedes!