Lewis Hamilton’s demeanour after the Spanish Grand Prix was all too familiar. His mood has become increasingly volatile.
There have been moments of hope for the seven-time world champion at Ferrari. Hamilton won the Sprint race in China and scored a podium at the same event in Miami.
He’s largely struggled in the traditional format, but he drew newfound optimism from his charge from 12th to fourth at Imola. Unfortunately, he can’t seem to make the momentum last.
Hamilton finished sixth in the Spanish GP, a solid result in the context of his season. But he was ignominiously overtaken by Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg in the final laps.
Having outqualified teammate Charles Leclerc for just the second time in 2025, he was off the pace on Sunday fuel. Ferrari ordered him to let Leclerc by in the opening stint, and he was also undercut by George Russell.
Speaking on the team radio after the race, he said: “There’s something wrong with this car mate. It’s the worst it’s ever been.”
Lewis Hamilton continues to ‘hint at a car problem’ when he struggles most
In the media pen, Hamilton suggested Ferrari wouldn’t find any issue in their post-race investigations. He felt he was ‘probably’ to blame.
But as The Race’s Josh Suttill points out, his radio message forms part of a growing trend. At his ‘lowest moments’, he sometimes points to an undiscovered car problem.
For instance, at Mercedes last year, he said that ‘performance comes away from my car for some reason’ after going 7-1 down in the qualifying head-to-head. He ultimately lost 19-5.
In Japan, meanwhile, Hamilton claimed he was losing a tenth per lap to Leclerc due to an ‘underperforming’ component. It’s unclear what he was referring to.
When a driver makes complaints that don’t show up in the engineers’ data, it naturally puts the mechanics who build and tune the car under scrutiny. If Hamilton’s remarks are unfounded, they would have a right to be upset.
“Hamilton hinting a car problem is behind a painful deficit to his teammate isn’t anything new,” Suttill said. “During his lowest moments at Mercedes, there were suggestions that this car was lacking something versus his then-teammate Russell.
“At Suzuka earlier this year, he made claims of an unspecified deficit his car had compared to Leclerc’s Ferrari. And now his Barcelona cool-down lap assertion that ‘something is wrong with the car’ continues that trend.”
Ferrari have already said something worrying about Lewis Hamilton’s next upgrade
Former Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz explained Hamilton’s problems in a recent interview. Having changed teams five times himself, he simply puts it down to adaptation.
But many of the other drivers in new machinery, including Sainz himself, have adjusted by now. And one would expect a figure of Hamilton’s pedigree and experience to have overcome teething problems at this point.
Many Ferrari staff now share Hamilton’s pessimism about their 2025 prospects. He’s privately been calling for the team to switch focus to the 2026 regulation changes.
The team are already playing down the impact of their upcoming rear suspension change. It was supposed to cure their ride-height ills, allowing them to run the car closer to the ground and unlock ‘free’ downforce, but perhaps it won’t make a major lap-time difference.
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