Lewis Hamilton now suffering from ‘chronic lack of confidence’ at Ferrari due to one 2025 F1 car trait

Lewis Hamilton’s unanswered final radio message at the Monaco Grand Prix was the perfect summation of his race weekend at the Principality.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur later explained it was due to the team deciding not to speak to Lewis Hamilton at certain points in the circuit.

However, it’s easy to understand why Hamilton would be frustrated after the Monaco Grand Prix.

A crash in the final moments of FP3 was followed up by a miscommunication on the team radio that earned him a three-place grid penalty.

Ferrari and Hamilton’s conversation during qualifying was the latest incident where their radio communications have been under the microscope.

By the time Hamilton took the chequered flag on Sunday, he was nearly a minute behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

A mixture of traffic and a far-from-optimal strategy cost Hamilton, as well as being stuck behind Isack Hadjar after his grid penalty.

Hamilton congratulated Hadjar on his career-best result but would have rather not been staring at the Frenchman’s rear wing at the start of the race.

But it’s safe to say that he’s still not completely comfortable in the SF-25 yet.

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Lewis Hamilton’s ‘chronic lack of confidence’ in Ferrari’s 2025 Formula 1 car

A report from the Italian version of Motorsport has shared more details about Hamilton’s deficit to Leclerc on the streets of Monte Carlo.

They explained that Hamilton’s ‘most significant gap’ to Leclerc was during the highest speed sections of the circuit.

Thankfully for the 40-year-old, this is a limited part of the track given the nature of the Monaco circuit.

However, Hamilton struggled to match Leclerc in Saudi Arabia for the same reason, as he doesn’t have the same level of confidence pushing the car to its limits when the margin for error is so small.

Hamilton is said to be suffering from a ‘chronic lack of confidence’ in the front end of his Ferrari.

It’s yet to be seen whether this has been influenced by Ferrari’s decision to switch to pull-rod suspension this season, although Leclerc doesn’t appear to be impacted in the same way.

Given how many slow-speed corners there are in Monaco, Ferrari were able to run the car lower than at other circuits since Hamilton’s disqualification in China.

That meant that Hamilton was still able to set a faster lap time in qualifying than Verstappen which will give him confidence going forward, but there’s every chance Ferrari will regress at the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix when that’s not an option.

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Ferrari are reaching make-or-break territory for this season’s F1 car

The constructors’ championship might already be over considering McLaren are leading Mercedes by 172 points.

This will be a bitter blow to Ferrari after finishing just 14 points behind Andrea Stella’s team last season.

A decision needs to be made sooner rather than later at Ferrari about when they abandon this year’s car to concentrate on next season and the upcoming regulation changes.

Ferrari could immediately shift focus to 2026 if their upcoming rear suspension fix doesn’t see the team make a significant step forward.

The Belgian Grand Prix is expected to be Ferrari’s cut-off point for this season and Hamilton will hope that his lack of confidence in the front end of the SF-25 is solved by then.

If not, he may be heading into the final guaranteed year of his Ferrari deal on the back foot.