Kevin Magnussen might have just solved why Lewis Hamilton is struggling so much at Ferrari this season

The beginning of the 2025 Formula 1 season saw a changing of the guard in the paddock with a host of rookies making their way onto the grid.

It meant several more experienced drivers lost their seats, including the likes of Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen.

Perez is being linked with racing for Cadillac next season and making a return to Formula 1, while Bottas is now Mercedes’ reserve driver and was testing one of their previous machines after the Miami Grand Prix.

However, Magnussen appears to have no interest in a return to F1 after three separate spells in the sport.

He was one of the drivers responsible for trying to replace Lewis Hamilton when he made his debut at McLaren in 2014 after Perez failed to make the grade with the team.

Magnussen then sat out of the sport in 2015, before returning with Renault and finally enjoying two spells at Haas before being replaced by Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman this year.

The Danish driver now races in the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship and will be lining up alongside MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi at the Spa 24 Hours.

The 32-year-old has now explained the difference between this generation of Formula 1 cars and the previous era, which might explain partly why Hamilton’s start to life at Ferrari this year hasn’t gone as smoothly as he would have liked.

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Kevin Magnussen explains ‘quite different’ F1 cars that might be impacting Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari

Magnussen took part in an interview with the Express and was asked what’s changed in Formula 1 since his debut more than a decade ago.

He said, “It was quite different. Suddenly the cars became very low and very stiff.

“The sidewall on the tyre, the profile was a low profile. It felt quite different and the driving style required was a little bit different.

“It was very open before with the old cars, you could really hustle the car back then.

“These new cars with the ground effect and stiff suspension you have to treat it more sort of freestyle and one step of [at] a time kind of thing, You’re not as free in your driving style.”

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What is making Lewis Hamilton’s start to life at Ferrari so difficult?

The problems that Magnussen described with the current generation of Formula 1 cars initially impacted Hamilton when he was driving for Mercedes.

Hamilton bemoaned his lack of qualifying pace last season and lost out in his head-to-head battle with previous teammate George Russell as a result.

However, moving to Ferrari hasn’t resolved those issues, with Charles Leclerc maintaining a slight advantage over the driver in the opposite garage.

Hamilton has admitted the different brakes Ferrari use are impacting how he feels in the car, and when the margins between drivers are in the hundredths of a second, every small change makes a big difference.

Leclerc is leading Ferrari’s set-up choices, which is going to take Hamilton time to get used to after more than a decade racing for the Silver Arrows.

As Magnussen suggests, the cars require a different driving style, and while Hamilton loves his car being as low to the ground as possible, Ferrari have had to raise the SF-25 recently, following his disqualification for excessive plank wear at the Chinese Grand Prix.