Ferrari’s head of track engineering, Matteo Togninalli, has pushed back against the perception that Lewis Hamilton’s move to the Scuderia this year has been fraught with tension.
Despite occasional terse radio exchanges and a challenging debut season, Togninalli insists the seven-time world champion’s relationship with Ferrari is far healthier than outside observers might think.
The challenge of changing teams after more than a decade at Mercedes, coupled with Ferrari’s own performance frustrations in 2025, has created a perception gap that does not reflect the actual relationship, according to the Italian engineer.
“Changing drivers and changing teams, mainly for a driver like Lewis, who has spent 10 years in the same team, has a certain level of experience, is very difficult from both sides, for the driver and for the team,” Togninalli explained, quoted by Motosport.com.
“Every team is operating in a slightly different way, you are used to certain people, things in a central way.
“Then, if you put this in context, that you have the fact that Lewis was winning world championships, and it's a fact this year, we didn't achieve the target of fighting for the world championship, so you have the frustration creating the situation.”
Outside Perceptions vs Reality
Togninalli stresses the optics are far harsher than the reality of the Ferrari-Hamilton partnership.
“I think what you see from outside is quite worse than what it is. I think the relationship with Lewis, what we are building with Lewis, is extremely positive,” he continued.
Ferrari khead of track engineering, Matteo Togninalli.
“He spent 10 years in the same team, with the same people, and after 10 months, I think we have already a very, very strong link with him.
“Nevertheless, the frustration, the results, are creating this image of ourselves and of him in Ferrari, that I believe is much, much worse than what it is in reality.
“Why [is he] struggling? Again, I think part is the frustration, part is as I said that we need some time to adapt to each other, and maybe we both, the team and Lewis, under evaluated this at the beginning.
“[But] I'm confident, as I said, I don't think the relationship is as bad as you all guys think. But I'm sure with time we'll improve.”
Tyres: The Real Culprit
While Ferrari finished fourth in the constructors’ championship and failed to win a race in 2025, Togninalli highlighted tyre performance in qualifying as the key stumbling block.
“90% of the job this year is done in qualifying; if you start in front, you finish in front,” he explained. “If you start behind, unless you do something very different than what you only if you are last, it is extremely difficult to overtake.
“I think point number one, tyres this year are extremely sensitive in the single lap. You can see in Brazil with Verstappen – in the sprint quali, he is in front – and then he is in P16.
“You can move around 2-3 tenths only with the preparation of the tyres in qualifying. This is where we have been focusing. This is where I think we improved. And then it's a lot of situations.
“If we take Vegas, the bollard with Lewis cost us the qualifying. If you look at it, it is a bit situational. With Charles we didn't get the last lap in Q3. I am sure we could perform better. If you freeze the Q3 quali two minutes earlier, it was P3.
Read also: Hamilton signs off with more tense radio static with Adami“I think the key factor are the tyres. I think everybody is struggling with that. If you look, there is a lot of variability. We are all within two tenths. So a small difference makes a lot of difference. Some quali we have 10 cars in a tenth.”
Togninalli’s insight paints a picture of a team still learning to synchronise with a new superstar, emphasizing patience, adaptation, and the technical challenges that have shaped Ferrari’s 2025 campaign.
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