Lewis Hamilton still believes Ferrari can win despite a slow start to the F1 2025 season.

Ferrari has proved only the fourth-best team after the first six races of the year, a far cry from the team that challenged McLaren for last year’s Constructors’ Championship.

Lewis Hamilton reveals scale of Ferrari challenge

In F1 2024, Ferrari proved the second strongest team behind McLaren, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz combining to mount a serious challenge in the Constructors’ title.

The squad’s form has not been the same this season.

While Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint, Leclerc’s third place in Saudi Arabia stands as its best race result.

That has led Hamilton to reinforce that he knew it was going to be tough even before he joined the team.

“I anticipated it would be very tough, because I’ve joined a team before,” Hamilton said.

“I came in with a really open mind. I didn’t know how tough it was going to be.

“I knew it was going to be challenging. It’s as challenging as it could ever be on all fronts.”

Ferrari sits fourth in the Constructors’ Championship with 94 points, five fewer than Max Verstappen has individually.

Of the two scarlet-clad pilots, Leclerc is better placed in driver fifth in the drivers’ standings with 53 points.

It paints a picture of Ferrari, on balance, being the fourth best team on the grid, though Hamilton insists that is not how he is entering each weekend.

“You have to believe we’ll find it,” he said, referencing the key to turning the team’s fortunes around.

“And that’s where I am; I’m not arriving into the weekend thinking we’re seventh and eighth and that’s just where we are and I’m not going to change that.”

For the moment, that has proved the reality and led to the seven-time World Champion cutting a disappointed figure in the F1 paddock.

However, the 105-time race winner remains steadfast in his belief that he and the team can deliver.

“Ultimately, it comes down to the self-belief you have, and it’s just a mentality,” he said.

“I truly believe I’m far from perfect, I truly believe that each day I can do better, I can try harder and if I fail, I try again.

“When it gets low, I have tools which I utilise.

“I don’t really listen to all the stuff.

“There’s so many rumours, so many people making assumptions, comments, judgements – 99 per cent of them don’t actually know really what’s going on; probably 100 per cent don’t know what I’ve been through to get where I am today.

“The other things I have often find myself having to just remind myself, I have won seven titles; I have won more [races] than any other driver in history. I have to remind myself that I also have done great things.

“And while things aren’t always going to be great, and we’re having this period of time, things will get better if you believe and if you continue to push and work.

“There’s no lack of enthusiasm or talent in this team.

“I genuinely truly believe we’re going to get there at some stage, we just have to be patient.”

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His optimism is encouraged by upgrades planned for the Spanish Grand Prix early next month.

That coincides with the introduction of an FIA technical directive which brings with it more stringent tests for flexible wings.

There are some elements the Maranello squad will introduce in Imola this weekend, but the Barcelona package is expected to be more significant.

“I was at the factory on Tuesday and Wednesday, seeing the team here, I think everyone’s taking accountability for where we are, and we’re trying to action changes moving forwards,” he said.

“We’ve got some bits here this weekend that hopefully can improve the car. I’m really hopeful.”

Hamilton added: “At the moment, I can’t tell you whether we’re going to gain full tenths, half a second, a second by the end of the season.

“We want to get closer to those things.

“We can’t shut the door to any idea; we have to keep our eyes and our heads up; we have to stay vigilant; we have to push with the expectation and the goal of winning.

“That’s still the goal of each weekend. Right now, when I’m sitting with the engineers, it’s ‘how are we going to win this weekend?’

“If we can extract a little bit more from the tyres, if we can extract a little bit more from the floor, if every single one of us is able to pull out half a tenth each, then maybe we can just get there.”

Hamilton also dismissed suggestions that the forthcoming triple-header, that takes in the Emilia Romagna, Monaco, and Spanish Grands Prix will define Ferrari’s season.

Instead, the 40-year-old is taking a longer-term view of things with the immediate future simply a step on the journey.

“If we were to have three bad races, hopes would still remain alive,” Hamilton insisted.

“I don’t believe that will be the case, but I’m just saying, we don’t pin it to one race.

“For me, I’m not judging our success by a short amount of racing, half a season, one season.

“Let’s talk at the end of my career here at Ferrari, at the end of a few years here at Ferrari, then let’s talk about what we’ve done.

“That’s when we can look back and say whether or not we were successful.

“These few months are paving stones towards where we’re going, and that’s that.”

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