Lewis Hamilton has insisted that he is “not going to give up” at Ferrari despite a troubled start to the F1 2025 season.

It comes after Ralf Schumacher, the former Formula 1 driver, suggested that the seven-time World Champion may opt to retire at the end of this year if his situation does not improve soon.

Lewis Hamilton ‘not going to give up’ at Ferrari

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Hamilton has had a challenging start to life at Ferrari since his high-profile move from Mercedes over the winter, finishing no higher than fifth across the first five races of the new season.

The 40-year-old managed to convert pole position into victory in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint last month, but found himself disqualified from the main race the following day for excessive skid-block wear.

With Hamilton revealing that Ferrari have been forced to run the car “higher than we would like” since China, his situation appears to have only worsened over recent weeks.

Lewis Hamilton vs Charles Leclerc: Ferrari head-to-head scores for F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Hamilton has qualified no closer than 0.311 seconds to team-mate Charles Leclerc across the last three events in Japan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, finishing a massive 30.969s behind Leclerc in Jeddah last weekend.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com after the Saudi Arabian GP, Hamilton claimed that his “painful” situation is likely to last all year with “no fix” forthcoming.

It came 24 hours after he let slip that the team and his bosses “are not happy” with his current performances.

Appearing at an event in London on a rare weekend off ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Hamilton called for his fans to keep the faith – and hinted that he will not walk away from Ferrari and F1 anytime soon.

He told the assembled crowd: “Please keep your fingers crossed. I’m not going to give up.

“We’re going to keep getting better. Still we rise, right?”

Hamilton’s comments come just days after Schumacher, the former Jordan, Williams and Toyota driver and brother of Michael Schumacher, the only other seven-time World Champion in F1 history, raised the possibility that the Ferrari driver could retire at the end of this year.

Ferrari did not specify the exact length of the ‘multi-year’ contract signed by Hamilton when his switch from Mercedes was announced in February 2024.

However, PlanetF1.com understands that the deal commits Hamilton to Ferrari until at least the end of the F1 2026 season, by which time he will be on the brink of his 42nd birthday.

Speaking via Sky Germany’s Backstage Pit Lane podcast, Schumacher said: “He just can’t cope with the car.

“We talk a lot about Lando Norris [and his lack of belief], but it’s almost worse with him.

“You can see that he’s really slumped over. If you’re standing there at some point and have no more resources and are permanently slower, then you lose everything.

“I know from my own experience: if it goes on like this, it’s no fun anymore.

“Then at some point, he wakes up in the morning and thinks to himself: ‘Why am I doing this to myself? I’m no longer having fun, I can’t do it anymore. I’m getting in the way of my team.’

“If it goes on like this, there’s a risk that at some point he’ll say: ‘Look, I don’t want this anymore. I want to live my life now, I’m 40 years old. I’m so rich, I’m not doing this to myself anymore. Obviously it’s not working out for some reason.’

“It’s a huge project that Ferrari and Hamilton had in mind, but at the moment he’s a long way away from Charles Leclerc.

“I wouldn’t have thought it would be so extreme.

“However, China also showed that as soon as he gets into the car and the track and the car suit him, he delivers.

“There’s still something to come.”

More on Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari from PlanetF1.com

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Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was believed to have been driven by Ferrari chairman John Elkann, who reportedly made it his mission to bring the seven-time World Champion to Maranello for F1 2025.

Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, is also close to Hamilton having overseen the driver’s title-winning GP2 season as boss of the ART Grand Prix team in 2006, which was rewarded with an F1 promotion with McLaren.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com in Jeddah last weekend, Vasseur insisted that Hamilton retains his full support, insisting that he is “not too worried” by his slow start.

He said on Sunday in Saudi Arabia: “I will be 2,000 per cent behind him.

“I will give him support and we will start from tomorrow morning to try to find solutions and reasons and to work on it early in the morning.

“But honestly, I am not too worried.

“If you have a look on what he did in China or what he did in the race in Bahrain last week, or even on the first part of the session in this weekend, the potential is there for sure.

“We just have to adjust the balance because we are, collectively, Lewis and us, we are struggling with the balance of his car and [how] he is working the tyres.

“It’s a kind of negative spot but I think the potential of the car is there and we will try to solve that.”

Vasseur went on to dismiss suggestions that F1 2025 is likely to become a transitional year for Hamilton as he continues his adaptation to Ferrari’s systems and processes following a 12-year stint at Mercedes.

He added: “It’s not a transitional time.

“But for sure he’s down because when you finish the race in sixth [sic] your team-mate is on the podium.

“Honestly, I take it as positive that Lewis is down, because if he was happy with this it wouldn’t be normal.

“He’s a racer, he’s a competitor. He wants to get the best from what he has and for sure he’s disappointed.

“Now we have to work together to react together. It will be the only way to move forward.”

With the second sprint race of the F1 2025 season due to be held next weekend, the Miami Grand Prix weekend could be crucial to Hamilton alleviating the pressure on his shoulders.

As the sprint consists of just 19 laps – compared to 57 for Sunday’s main race – the lower fuel load required could allow Ferrari to run the car in a more optimum setup.

Ferrari have confirmed that they will run a special one-off livery in Florida with Hamilton, Leclerc and Vasseur expected to pull the covers off the new-look SF-25 car on Wednesday.

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