Vettel and Hamilton Echo Concerns Over Ferrari's Title Drought

Ferrari's dry spell in the F1 championship is about to hit its 18th year, with Mercedes poised to clinch both the drivers' and constructors' titles. Kimi Antonelli needs just a ninth-place finish at the upcoming Mexico City Grand Prix to secure his championship, while Mercedes is ahead by 133 points in the constructors' standings. Ferrari last tasted championship glory in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen, and since then, several drivers, including Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, and Charles Leclerc, have come close but ultimately fallen short.

Sebastian Vettel, who joined Ferrari in 2015 to challenge Mercedes' dominance, recently reflected on his tenure with the team in the 'Being Sebastian Vettel' documentary. He pointed to Ferrari's hesitancy to embrace change as a significant factor in their failure to secure titles. "Under the pressure and with those expectations, the fear of failure was simply so great," Vettel said. He believes that the team's 'hesitant and timid' approach was a missed opportunity to capitalize on their potential.

Lewis Hamilton, a former Ferrari driver, has voiced similar sentiments. At the 2025 Belgian GP, Hamilton remarked on Ferrari's resistance to change, noting, "It's a huge organisation, and there are a lot of moving parts. And not all of them are firing on all the cylinders that they need to be." He emphasized that sticking to the same path leads to the same results, a point he reiterated after the Italian Grand Prix.

Both Vettel and Hamilton, who have been among the most successful drivers to represent Ferrari, agree that until the team's culture shifts away from its current cautiousness, the championship drought is likely to persist. The challenge for Ferrari now is to address these internal issues and foster a more dynamic approach to reclaim their place at the top of Formula 1.