Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko feels Lewis Hamilton looks ‘desperate’ as the seven-time F1 champion struggles to adapt at Ferrari amid a torrid start to 2025.
Life in red has been far from rosy for Hamilton since he moved from Mercedes to Maranello as the 13th British driver to race for Ferrari in Formula 1. Long gone is the joy which greeted his face when over five thousand Tifosi flocked to Fiorano to see his first outing in the SF-25.
Hamilton is besieged with problems as the 40-year-old tries to understand how he can make the SF-25 tick. He does not like the weak rear end of Ferrari’s car, which is handing Hamilton the most problems under braking, at high speed and in qualifying to score just 31 points yet.
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last weekend was arguably his worst days as a Scuderia driver so far, too. Hamilton was slower than Charles Leclerc in every session but Q1 in Jeddah and was only Ferrari’s lead driver in the first qualifying leg after using two new sets of soft tyres.
Helmut Marko thinks Lewis Hamilton looks ‘desperate’ at Ferrari but is ‘waiting’ for the 2026 F1 regulations
Such was his woe that Ferrari feel Hamilton must adapt his driving style for the SF-25 having finished the Saudi Arabian GP in P7 and 30.969s behind Leclerc, who took their first podium of 2025. It was the first time he finished over 30s off a teammate in a Grand Prix since 2017.
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family
| RANK | DRIVER | JOINED | LEFT | WINS |
| =1 | John Surtees | 1963 | 1966 | 4 |
| =1 | Eddie Irvine | 1996 | 1999 | 4 |
| =3 | Mike Hawthorn | 1953 | 1958 | 3 |
| =3 | Peter Collins | 1956 | 1958 | 3 |
| =3 | Nigel Mansell | 1989 | 1990 | 3 |
| 6 | Tony Brooks | 1959 | 1959 | 2 |
Yet while Marko thinks Hamilton looks ‘desperate’ in his search for form to start the 2025 F1 season, the Red Bull chief claims the Ferrari racer is not fully committed to this year. Instead, Hamilton is looking past his current issues, with his mind already on the 2026 F1 regulations.
“He does indeed seem desperate,” Marko told F1-Insider. “But I believe he’s waiting for the 2026 car and hopes that Ferrari will not only hit the jackpot with this car, but that the Scuderia will also build a car that he can handle better.”
Lewis Hamilton quit Mercedes for Ferrari with 2026 in mind but his 2025 form is lacking
Hamilton firmly made his decision to leave Mercedes for Ferrari after 13 years with the 2026 regulations central to his thinking. Next year will see Formula 1 overhaul the engine and the chassis regulations with the biggest tweaks to the rules, arguably, ever in the sport’s history.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about F1’s 2026 engine and chassis regulations
It was his forward-thinking when F1 last overhauled its regulations to such an extent back in 2014 that made Hamilton a seven-time champion. He quit McLaren for Mercedes in 2013 to bed himself in at Brackley, before then forming the most successful driver-team pairing ever.
But Hamilton is performing well below Ferrari’s expectations with his average finishing place P7.25, qualifying result P7.4, gap to the race winner 28.820s and gap to the podium 19.602s. Guenther Steiner is concerned Hamilton is losing confidence at Ferrari without any answers.
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