Lewis Hamilton sounded like he was almost ready to give up after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Over half a second slower than Charles Leclerc in qualifying, he was more than 30 seconds behind in the race.
Hamilton said the rest of 2025 would be painful, suggesting there’s no short-term fix for the adaptation issues he faces. He can’t impose his own driving style on the car, and he doesn’t understand how to unlock its performance.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur was defiant even as his new superstar came close to writing off the season. Vasseur remains optimistic of a breakthrough on Hamilton’s side of the garage.
Hamilton felt ‘reinvigorated’ when he joined Ferrari after struggling in his final year at Mercedes. He finished outside the top six in the championship for the first time ever.
But nearly a quarter of the way through 2025, he remains seventh in the standings. Many of his fans anticipated a glorious revival, but instead they’ve seen the themes of last season – poor qualifying performances, ill-judged set-up gambles and disconsolate interviews – continue.
Lewis Hamilton assures fans he’s going to ‘keep getting better’ at Ferrari
Hamilton’s headline-grabbing answers after the Saudi Arabian GP may have been emotionally driven. The hope for Ferrari, and his fans, was that he’d recover his motivation after he had some time to reflect.
And that’s exactly what’s happened. Hamilton recently appeared at an event in London for Fanatics, the sports merchandise company who sponsor Ferrari.
While there, he told the fans who had gathered to ‘please keep your fingers crossed’.
“I’m not going to give up,” he promised them amid cheers. “We’re gonna keep getting better.”
| RACE | Q | R |
| Australia | 8 | 10 |
| China Sprint | 1 | 1 |
| China | 5 | DSQ |
| Japan | 8 | 7 |
| Bahrain | 9 | 5 |
| Saudi Arabia | 7 | 7 |
When these comments were shared on social media, one user replied ‘my entire weekend [was] just made’. Another said ‘let’s go Lewis, still we rise’.
A fellow ‘Team LH’ member says they ‘never doubted’ him, while other replies included ‘I’m so happy to hear this from him’ and ‘FORZA FERRARI’.
One fan in particular captured the overriding sentiment by writing ‘this moment’s got me all kinds of hyped’.
Valtteri Bottas’ ‘not that difficult’ verdict on Lewis Hamilton’s adaptation to Ferrari
Karun Chandhok received a backlash from Hamilton supporters after the Saudi Arabian GP because he called the seven-time world champion the ‘oops’ of the weekend. Leclerc delivered Ferrari’s first podium of the season, but there’s still optimism that his teammate can produce those results with time.
The question is how much time he needs. It may be that everything hinges on 2026, with Ferrari highly unlikely to challenge in either championship this season.
Mercedes are thought to have an early edge for the new regulations, but F1’s catch-up rules could help Hamilton and Ferrari. Teams who are lagging behind in the engine department will be afforded greater development opportunities.
Hamilton raced with Mercedes power for the first 18 seasons of his career, but former teammate Valtteri Bottas says ‘it’s not that difficult’ to switch to a Ferrari engine. He only needs to learn the ‘basics’, so the bigger challenge is adjusting his driving technique.
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