Don’t bark at Lewis Hamilton – Remember Kimi Räikkönen

Juuso Taipale

Do we condemn Lewis Hamilton as a lousy driver? asks Iltalehti’s F1 editor Juuso Taipale.

Today at 19:50

Lewis Hamilton toddled through the 2025 F1 season without success. PDO

Lewis Hamilton’s first year at Ferrari was miserable. During the season, the most successful driver in the history of F1 did not go to the award ceremony at the end of the race.

An unequivocal disaster, then. Many have condemned Hamilton as a driver who marched from victory to victory during his Mercedes years only thanks to his equipment. Driving skills can’t be found all of a sudden.

Can we really strip Hamilton of all credit and condemn him as a bad driver based on his results this season?

Of course we don’t. Or the same verdict must be passed on Kimi Räikkö.

Before Hamilton, the last time a Ferrari driver went through the entire season without a podium visit was in 2014. That time, Räikkönen, who returned to the Italian team, performed poorly.

But we do know the reason for the Iceman’s mischief! Maranello’s first hybrid racer, the F14 T, was, to put it mildly, a bad driver whose driving characteristics were poison to Räikkönen’s driving style.

Team mate Fernando Alonso managed to control his raging horse a little better, and so the Spaniard wiped the floor ugly with Ferrari’s freshest world champion.

The WC points went 161–55as Räikkönen’s anti-fans still manage to remind on discussion forums today.

All credit to Alonso. It is not a bold opinion to claim that the Spaniard is more versatile and therefore overall a better driver than Räikkö. But we don’t live in a black and white binary world. The fact that one is good does not mean that the other must be bad.

One miserable season does not dim the achievements, reputation or appreciation of Räikkönen, who has grabbed the world championship, 21 victories and 103 podium positions.

The same words apply to Hamilton.

Let’s leave it to that. It can be concluded that both Hamilton and Räikkönen are undoubtedly among the elite of the sport.

The fates of champion drivers at Ferrari offer interesting food for thought about how it’s the little things that define the difference between great and lousy in Formula Ones.

For Hamilton, the very quiet moments of the season that ended stand in stark contrast to the dominance of the Mercedes seasons.

But actually, this season was completely in line with the previous couple of years.

For the previous four seasons, the “thing” of F1 cars was ground effect. Hamilton never really got to you with this one like he did during the previous rules coverages.

And when the differences between drivers and teams are so non-existent these days, small margins separate success from defeat.

During his Mercedes years, Hamilton honed his own and his fleet’s performance to the extreme. His special ability was to both save and rip out the tires for maximum performance at the same time. It turned many battles in his favor.

With cars conforming to the previous rules from 2017 to 2021, Hamilton won no less than 50 of the 101 races driven. That is half.

Between 2022 and 2025, he won only twice. Many things changed, but Hamilton’s driving skills hardly collapsed so completely.

Of course, the big question in Hamilton’s case, and of course Räikkönen’s as well, is should the great champions adapt to their equipment? Any F1 driver knows how to drive from victory to victory with superior equipment.

Räikkönen’s biggest weakness as a driver is generally considered to be his inability to adapt to the shortcomings of his equipment. When the car was good, the Finn was ultra-fast, but when it wasn’t, Räikkönen lost his sharpest edge. Of course, with the exception of the 2014 season, it still meant good positions for the equipment of the top teams.

Hamilton faced his biggest challenge as a driver so far this year. Even though the man has driven through his F1 career with the equipment of top garages, he has still encountered difficult cars as well.

How many still remember the 2009 season? The start of this season was a rough one after McLaren failed in their car built according to completely new rules. However, during the season, the development work grinded to the point where Hamilton was able to celebrate victories in the second half of the season.

Hamilton deserves understanding, but not complete absolution.

The greatest F1 driver of all time must be able to do better.

A season without a trophy for Ferrari is something that should never happen. Especially when a team mate took part in the podium celebrations seven times.

Räikkönen retired after a disastrous 2014 season. Hamilton must do the same. Or actually more. If Hamilton wants to maintain his reputation as the best F1 driver in history, he must lift Ferrari back to victory.

Good luck with that.