Lewis Hamilton qualified seventh for the Miami Grand Prix Sprint on Friday night. It was a reasonable performance from the seven-time world champion, but not one that will lift the mood.
Hamilton was a couple of tenths slower than teammate Charles Leclerc, far closer than he was in Saudi Arabia. Ferrari’s performances on Saturday and Sunday will, of course, carry more weight.
The biggest frustration for Hamilton was that the Scuderia simply lack pace. The feeling is that Leclerc has been maximising the troublesome SF-25, but even he could only manage sixth, more than three-tenths off surprise polesitter Kimi Antonelli.
| RANK | DRIVER | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:26.482 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:26.527 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:26.582 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:26.737 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:26.791 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:26.808 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1:27.030 |
| 8 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1:27.193 |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 1:27.543 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:27.790 |
Hamilton took top spot in F1’s last Sprint qualifying session in China. Some hoped that the return of the shorter format would inspire an improvement, but Ferrari were the slowest of the top-four teams.
Lewis Hamilton still hasn’t fully gelled with Ferrari engineer Riccardo Adami
Speaking on the radio during SQ2 at the Miami Grand Prix, Hamilton asked his engineer, Riccardo Adami, where he was losing out relative to the pacesetters.
“Can you be clear?” he said. “Just give me the times, sector 1, 2, 3.”
The 40-year-old sounded a little exasperated as he felt Adami wasn’t giving him enough information. He developed a legendary relationship with Mercedes engineer Peter Bonnington over 12 years.
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He’s still gelling with Adami, who previously worked with Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel. And there was further proof at the end of SQ2 as he barely made it to the start/finish line in time.
“You’re really confusing, end of lap there… you said I had five seconds left,” he said.
Hamilton was facing elimination in the second segment but dug out the lap he needed at the last. He has at least been in the top 10 in every qualifying session, avoiding any disastrous results.
Jennie Gow unimpressed by Lewis Hamilton attitude at Miami Grand Prix
One former Mercedes insider still believes Hamilton could ‘soar’ at Ferrari if things suddenly ‘click’ for him. But the Briton himself isn’t that optimistic.
In fact, he’s appeared forlorn and disgruntled since the weekend in Saudi Arabia. BBC presenter Jennie Gow says Hamilton’s press conference appearance was a producer’s nightmare because he gave such short answers.
One can sympathise with his evident dismay. He approached the season with enormous excitement but his dream move isn’t remotely living up to his expectations.
He feels he’s letting himself down with his performances, and the car isn’t anywhere near as fast as hoped. Still, Ted Kravitz says Ferrari have urged Hamilton not to give up.
