Lewis Hamilton cut an extremely dejected figure after the Spanish Grand Prix, with the Ferrari star looking defeated after only managing to finish in sixth place in Barcelona.
His result at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was also only made slightly better thanks to Max Verstappen’s time penalty for driving into George Russell promoting Hamilton from P7 on the road. Nico Hulkenberg even finished 1.86s ahead after overtaking him on Lap 65/66.
Hamilton is now disillusioned with Ferrari’s 2025 campaign, and is even urging the Scuderia to abandon ship by shifting their full focus over to the 2026 F1 regulations. The 40-year-old is even feeling out of place, as Hamilton suspects not everyone at Ferrari still supports him.
The FIA is pleased with F1’s new flexi-front wing rules, despite Lewis Hamilton’s criticism
The Briton’s displeasure at the Spanish GP was also not just due to his result and how far off McLaren the Scuderia were, having been nearly three to four tenths of a second a lap slower than the papaya crew. Hamilton also hit out at the FIA’s flexi-front wing clampdown in Spain.
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Hamilton called the FIA’s new static load test regulation governing flexible front wings which came into force last week ‘a waste of money’, as the changes ‘literally changed nothing’. The FIA reduced the amount a front wing can flex during a static load test from 15mm to 10mm.
But GPblog reports that the FIA believes its new flexi-wing regulation worked as intended as it was never meant to change the pecking order. The FIA issued the clampdown in Spain just to ensure that all 10 teams meet the regulations and that the wings do not excessively flex.
Additionally, the FIA does not plan to make any more changes to the rule governing flexible front wings during the 2025 F1 season. But the sport’s governing body will not rule out any tweaks to further control flexi-wings before the 2026 F1 chassis regulations are introduced.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur hoped the flexi-wing rules would be a game-changer
While the FIA did not view the new flexible front wing rules which came into force last week as a way to change the F1 pecking order, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur hoped the flexi-wing clampdown would hurt McLaren and to also be a game-changer for the Scuderia’s year.
Yet McLaren remained a cut above, with Oscar Piastri scoring pole position for the Spanish GP with a lap time in Q3 that was 0.499s quicker than Hamilton managed for P5 and 0.585s quicker than Charles Leclerc set to secure P7 on the grid. Leclerc improved to P3 in the race.
It was not the first time that McLaren remained a cut above Ferrari after the FIA introduced a new regulation, either. The FIA issued a new technical directive on brake materials at Imola, which some in F1 thought would hit McLaren hard but actually had little impact on their car.
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