Guenther Steiner admits Lewis Hamilton’s lack of pace over his first five rounds with Ferrari is ‘slowly’ becoming a ‘concern’, but he fears one thing would be even worse.
The 40-year-old has endured a disappointing start to his life with the Scuderia with Hamilton failing to gel with their car. Ferrari saw Charles Leclerc record their first Grand Prix podium of the 2025 season with P3 in Saudi Arabia, yet the Briton was a huge 30.969 seconds behind.
Jeddah even marked the first time in 181 Grands Prix that Hamilton finished over 30s behind a teammate as he came home in a lowly seventh place. The seven-time champion’s run goes back to a P4 at the 2017 Russian Grand Prix when he was 36.230s off winner Valtteri Bottas.
Leclerc has also finished in front of Hamilton in every Grand Prix to start the 2025 F1 season, including during Ferrari’s double disqualification from the Chinese Grand Prix. The only time the Briton has been the Scuderia’s top driver came when Hamilton won the Shanghai Sprint.
Guenther Steiner warns Ferrari that Lewis Hamilton losing confidence would be the ‘worst thing’
Hamilton is still seeking answers for how to maximise the SF-25’s potential during qualifying and at the start of the Grands Prix when Ferrari’s car runs its heaviest fuel load. Additionally, his plight in Jeddah saw Ferrari accept Hamilton must adapt his driving style for the SF-25.
Leclerc had his number all week in Jeddah and was only Ferrari’s No2 after Hamilton needed two runs to get out of Q1 in Saudi Arabia. Yet while Steiner is starting to be concerned about the Briton’s lack of pace, it would be an even greater worry if Hamilton loses his confidence.
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“It is slowly becoming a concern in my [opinion],” Steiner told The Red Flags Podcast. “I’m more concerned about what he thinks about when he’s asking about where I lose time.
“Jeez, the engineer can tell you where you’re losing time but, for sure, he can’t make you understand why you’re losing it. That’s down to you.
“And the worst thing would be if Lewis is losing his confidence, because then it will be a backwards race. It is a concern, in my opinion. And, obviously, they will work on it, and Lewis will be the first one to work on it. How they get out? I have no idea.”
Lewis Hamilton needs to understand Ferrari’s car to unlock its pace
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was arguably Hamilton’s worst race for Ferrari so far as Leclerc dominated him all weekend. Even Ferrari surprised Hamilton with his time lost each sector in Jeddah, as engineer Ricardo Adami said in FP3 he lost seven-tenths of a second in S1 alone.
Now, they can regroup in Maranello to try to find a solution to his lack of pace ahead of the Miami Grand Prix after a week off. But Ferrari believe Hamilton is struggling with the loss of balance above all, which is leaving him unable to find what to do to overcome the problem.
Hamilton has struggled massively to adapt to the SF-25 since switching from Mercedes after the work that Ferrari did over the winter to improve their car left their 2025 challenger with a weak rear end. It has seen Hamilton struggle whilst braking, at high speed and in qualifying.
