F1 CEO Backs Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc With Ferrari for 2026
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali backs Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to revive Ferrari in 2026 despite a bruising and podium-less 2025 season.
- Fahad Hamid
- 3 min read
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali isn’t interested in your pity party for Ferrari.
Despite the Scuderia dragging itself across the finish line of the 2025 season with all the grace of a shopping cart with a wobbly wheel, the big boss is keeping his chin up.
He’s putting his chips on Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to drag the prancing horse back to glory, even if their recent performance suggests they might be galloping in the wrong direction.
The ground-effect era hasn’t exactly been kind to the Italian outfit, and 2025 was arguably their “hold my beer” moment in terms of underachievement. But according to Domenicali, there’s a plan.
1. Ferrari’s 2025 Season: A Comedy of Errors?
Ferrari’s 2025 campaign was rougher than a gravel trap. Charles Leclerc, bless his heart, has been part of the Maranello furniture since 2019. He knows the drill—hope, hype, and the inevitable strategy mishap. Even with the team’s performance falling off a cliff as the season wore on, he managed to salvage some dignity. Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand? Welcome to the Thunderdome, Sir Lewis. The seven-time champ faced a reality check that hit harder than a Turn 1 collision. For the first time in his entire illustrious F1 career, Hamilton went a whole season without a single podium finish. That is a stat that stings more than a bee inside a helmet. It started so promisingly, too. Ferrari looked set to snag second in the constructors’ standings. However, in a move that can only be described as “classic Ferrari,” the team decided to cease bringing upgrades to the SF25 after April. While everyone else was bringing new toys to the track, Ferrari was apparently running on hopes and dreams. Naturally, Mercedes and Red Bull said “grazie mille” and overtook them, leaving the Scuderia to languish in fourth place.
2. Domenicali’s Pep Talk: “No Need to Cry”
In a recent chat with Sky Sports, Domenicali—who ran the show at Ferrari back in the day (2008-2014)—addressed the elephant in the room. “You know, I’m a positive guy,” Domenicali stated, probably while ignoring the burning building behind him. “I think that there’s no need to cry. There’s no need to always be negative.” He insists that the holy trinity of Fred Vasseur, Lewis Hamilton, and Charles Leclerc has a master plan. “I think it’s important to react, not to fade away as if it were normal to be fourth in the championship,” he added. The message is: Stop whining and start winning. Domenicali wants a strong Ferrari because, frankly, the sport is better when the red cars are actually competitive. He’s urging the team to use the winter break to reset the vibes because “next year everyone is talking, but no one knows where we are.”
3. The Cold Hard Stats: Hamilton Misses the Top 10
If the lack of podiums wasn’t enough of a bruised ego for Lewis Hamilton, the F1 team bosses twist the knife a little further. F1 released their annual Top 10 drivers list, voted on by the team principals themselves, and for the first time in over a decade, Hamilton didn’t make the cut. To add insult to injury, Charles Leclerc out-qualified his British teammate 19 times out of 24 races. That’s a drubbing in anyone’s book. Leclerc finished the season fifth in the standings, a solid 86 points ahead of Hamilton in sixth. The team bosses’ list was topped by Max Verstappen for the fifth year running, despite losing the actual championship to Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri rounded out the podium spots. It’s worth noting that votes from eight team bosses were counted, excluding Red Bull and Ferrari. Would Vasseur have voted Hamilton into the top 10? We’ll never know. But as we head into 2026, one thing is sure: Ferrari has nowhere to go but up.