Formula 1 News: Villeneuve senses ‘strange’ Ferrari crisis

(GMM) Ferrari’s troubled 2025 season rolled on at Zandvoort, even as the fabled team clings to second place in the constructors’ championship.

Lewis Hamilton, who earlier in the weekend sounded refreshed after branding himself “useless” before the summer break, spun 360 degrees in Friday practice.

“Not much has changed,” admitted the seven time world champion.

Teammate Charles Leclerc agreed that Ferrari faces a mountain to climb.

“We’ll have to come up with something brilliant overnight,” he said. “A very, very, very, very difficult Friday. It was probably the worst Friday of the season.

“And we’re experiencing this right after the summer break – so it’s a wake-up call for us.”

1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve says Ferrari’s problems run deeper than results.

“Something isn’t clicking, and it’s not just Lewis, which is obvious. But Charles too. A lot of what I’m hearing from them is very strange,” he told RTBF.

Leclerc has been accused by others of losing motivation after years of Ferrari promise without delivery. “How do I remotivate myself?” the Monegasque responded.

“My biggest motivation, when I’m not fighting for the title, is to drive for Ferrari. It’s a team I’ve always loved. I want to bring them back to the top. Whether it’s for the championship or, in the short term, to win a race as soon as possible.”

In Hungary, Leclerc started from pole, but even the podium slipped away after Ferrari made supposed mid-race changes amid fears of a disqualification. Mercedes’ George Russell accused the team of panicking over plank wear, but Leclerc denied that.

“Of course, it is very unpleasant to encounter problems like this when you are fighting for victory,” Leclerc admitted. “But unfortunately, this was not the first time, and probably not the last.”

Villeneuve, meanwhile, sees a chemistry problem in the red garage.

“Lewis isn’t getting the feeling that the team is behind him,” said the Canadian. “The team doesn’t feel like Lewis is behind them. It all just doesn’t add up, and you can hear that when he communicates with his engineer. There’s no chemistry between them at all.

“There’s something really strange happening in this team that’s not going in the right direction. When you listen to Lewis’s interviews, it seems like he doesn’t want to go to work. It’s all really, really strange.

“Now 2026 is just around the corner. Hamilton is already focused on the coming season, but to do that, you have to make sure that this really is your team and your car.”