Ferrari have discovered a qualifying design flaw that leaves Lewis Hamilton’s 2025 F1 car in ‘crisis’

The 2025 Formula 1 season was supposed to provide Lewis Hamilton with the fresh start he needed after a difficult final season with Mercedes.

In a very rare occurrence during his prestigious F1 career, Lewis Hamilton was outscored by a teammate last year, with George Russell finishing 22 points clear of the seven-time world champion.

However, the 40-year-old knew a fresh start was just around the corner at Ferrari and would have been encouraged by how the Scuderia finished the previous campaign.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz narrowly missed out on overtaking McLaren in the constructors’ championship, and every change they made to the car in the second half of the year appeared to deliver some additional performance.

Unfortunately, the 2025 F1 season hasn’t started in the same manner, despite Hamilton making positive noises during pre-season about the car.

Leclerc was less convinced about Ferrari’s chances after testing but has taken a big step forward since the team introduced their first update package in Bahrain.

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Ferrari’s ground clearance is causing Lewis Hamilton problems during qualifying

A report from the Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport has outlined what’s currently going wrong for Ferrari this year that team principal Fred Vasseur needs to quickly address.

Ferrari were aiming to improve their performances in qualifying over the winter, with Leclerc and Sainz securing just four pole positions out of 24 Grand Prix.

Unfortunately, neither of their drivers have been close to challenging for a spot at the front of the grid this year, aside from Hamilton’s remarkable Sprint Race pole position in China.

The only time a Ferrari driver has featured on the front row on Sunday is when Leclerc started alongside Oscar Piastri in Bahrain, and even then the Monegasque driver couldn’t hold onto the position to secure his first podium of the year.

The report from Gazzetta suggests that the SF-25 is ‘particularly sensitive’ to different ground clearances when the car has an empty fuel tank.

They believe that when Ferrari’s cars enter a slow section of the track and more mechanical grip is required than aerodynamic grip, the SF-25 goes into ‘crisis’.

While the new floor Ferrari have installed has ‘limited the problem’, it’s not completely solved the issue.

Ferrari now have to make a call on how much time and energy they put into fixing the problem this year, when they know that any upgrades they install are unlikely to be carried over into next year’s new regulations.

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Lewis Hamilton has paid the ultimate price for Ferrari’s poor ground clearance this season

Hamilton is no stranger to ground clearance being an issue when it comes to the current era of F1 cars.

When he was disqualified from the 2023 United States Grand Prix for excessive plank wear, and then had a disastrous race in Brazil a few weeks later when Mercedes lifted his car far too high off the ground to avoid a repeat exclusion.

After winning the Sprint Race in China, Hamilton suffered the same fate in the Grand Prix, while Leclerc was also disqualified for his car being underweight.

Ferrari’s ground clearance issue didn’t exist last season, and that would have encouraged Hamilton going into this year considering he needs the car as low as possible to extract his maximum performance.

Ever since that race in Shanghai, Hamilton has only enjoyed brief spells where he’s looked genuinely competitive.

The deficit between Hamilton and Leclerc in qualifying is stark, and Ferrari need to quickly find a way to help the 40-year-old match his new teammate to avoid being left behind in the drivers’ championship.