Lewis Hamilton’s start to life as a Ferrari Formula 1 driver is bordering a nightmare, as he battles to adapt to the SF25.
Teammate Charles Leclerc has comfortably bested him so far, and has scored 16 more points in the drivers’ championship despite not winning a race yet.
Hamilton won the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix but it has been all downhill from there. He just cannot seem to gel with the Ferrari car at all.
It’s a worrying sign for the future, particularly with the 2026 F1 regulations around the corner. It’s considered a vital year for the Scuderia, ending what could be an 18-year title drought by then.
Hamilton should be demanding answers from Ferrari after their decision to overhaul their car over the winter has clearly backfired.
The seven-time champion now has extra work on his hands to develop this year’s car, with Hamilton’s biggest Ferrari problem being that the gap to his teammate is growing.
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Lewis Hamilton had a ‘startling’ difference to Charles Leclerc at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
At the opening few races of the season, Hamilton found himself just a matter of tenths behind Leclerc in qualifying and even managed to outqualify him once at China.
Since then, he has taken nothing but what appears to be steps backwards. Ed Straw noticed one particularly worrying thing during Friday’s practice sessions.
“Jeddah is an interesting case because I think there was obviously the confidence issue in faster corners in terms of the instability on entry, which has been a problem in the past few years at times,” he said.
“Also, he was kind of losing to a greater or lesser extent everywhere. Particularly on Friday, it was startling how much lower the corner speeds were compared to Leclerc for Hamilton.
“At the end of the weekend, Hamilton said, well the driving style if you look at the data looks much the same, but I’m just slower in the corners.”
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Have Ferrari let Lewis Hamilton down with their 2025 F1 car?
Changing car concept over the winter to one that they now have little understanding of and data regarding may have been a poor move.
It was considered a gamble over the winter, and it now looks as though it hasn’t paid off. There is one last chance for redemption, though.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix next month signals the start of the European leg of the season, where many teams bring big upgrades.
Should Ferrari bring effective developments, they could find themselves in a position similar to last year, clipping at the heels of McLaren before it is too late.
That would be just 25% of the way into the season, with 18 races to make up for the ground they have lost so far. Hamilton shouldn’t be writing his campaign off just yet.
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