David Coulthard tells Lewis Hamilton why he has ‘reasons to be positive’ despite difficult Spanish Grand Prix result

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton admitted after the Spanish Grand Prix, all he wanted to do was go home after another frustrating weekend.

Lewis Hamilton added eight more points to his tally in Barcelona, although he’s unlikely to be closely studying the drivers’ championship standings after the first nine races.

Ferrari are technically the best of the rest in the team standings behind McLaren, but the Woking-based outfit have already more than doubled their tally.

That also doesn’t take into account Red Bull only having one driver who is consistently scoring points and Mercedes’ recent reliability issues.

Hamilton sounded very upset after Sunday’s race as he was unable to convert his fifth-place start into his first podium finish of the year.

His only top three finishes in 2025 have come in Sprint Races and while he was able to enjoy his victory in China, it was immediately followed by a disqualification in the race the following day.

Ferrari are aiming to deliver game-changing updates to Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s cars shortly.

However, before they even arrive in the paddock, David Coulthard spotted something at the Spanish Grand Prix that should give the seven-time world champion hope that all is not lost yet this year.

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David Coulthard tells Lewis Hamilton there are ‘reasons to be positive’ at Ferrari

Coulthard was discussing Ferrari’s strategy on Channel 4’s coverage of the race and how ‘frustrated’ Hamilton sounded in the post-Grand Prix interviews.

He explained: “I think that, whether Lewis likes it or not, the team in the situation they are right now if the shoe was on the other foot, I think they’ve got to release the faster car and then sort it out later in the Grand Prix.

“In this case, I think Lewis came into the race, I think he was not delivering the pace at the beginning.

“I think there was an area in the middle of the Grand Prix where he was actually matching Charles and looking like he was finding some comfort there.

“So, reasons to be positive for Lewis, but right now, I think he’s a little bit punch drunk with the difficulties of getting up to speed with Ferrari.”

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Charles Leclerc’s team radio highlighted Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari struggles at the Spanish Grand Prix

After the race, team principal Fred Vasseur explained Hamilton and Leclerc had issues with their car.

He wouldn’t go into further details, but it was clear Hamilton’s chief was trying to deflect some of the negativity around him, even if the 40-year-old wasn’t aware himself that anything had broken on his machine.

The difference in pace between Leclerc and Hamilton during the race would have been hard for the seven-time world champion to understand.

Leclerc’s team radio asking why Hamilton was so slow would have been hard for the team to hear, but made perfect sense at the time.

The Monegasque driver pulled off a tactical masterstroke by sacrificing his final run in qualifying to give himself an extra set of tyres for the race, which paid off when the safety car came out.

However, it’s not the first time Hamilton has looked fast halfway through a race as Coulthard pointed out.

It appears to be a trend that’s run throughout 2025, but Ferrari and Hamilton now need to sit down and work out why he’s not capable of being that competitive across a full race distance.