Ferrari are lacking pure pace to rivals Mercedes in the opening stages of the F1 2025 season.

That is the claim made by seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, as he assessed how Ferrari compare against the Mercedes team which he left after re-writing records at every turn in order to realise a childhood dream by joining Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton declares Mercedes faster: Can Ferrari respond?

Hamilton may have earned the distinction of being the only driver in the top 10 to improve his Japanese Grand Prix position between the grid and chequered flag – overtaking Isack Hadjar in a race of limited highlights – but P7 was the result which he had to settle for, that his best Grand Prix result so far with Ferrari.

Hamilton did cross the line P6 at the prior round in China, but was disqualified due to excessive skid block wear on his Ferrari, while team-mate Charles Leclerc was also booted out of the results due to an underweight car.

In Japan, Leclerc and Hamilton were separated by the Mercedes cars of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli at the finish line, and after finishing 10.5 seconds behind the driver who took over from him at Mercedes in Antonelli, Hamilton made a telling admission about his former team.

“Mercedes are faster than us, so that’s why you saw them so close to Charles,” said Hamilton, a nod to Russell being just over a second behind Leclerc at the chequered flag.

“They just have more pace than us at the moment.

“When I was behind him [Antonelli], he was just so much quicker through certain parts of the circuit I couldn’t follow.”

F1 2025 head-to-head standings

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

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

Hamilton had claimed after qualifying P8 in Suzuka that Ferrari were running the SF-25 higher than they would optimally like, thus giving up downforce as he called it a “knock-on effect” from what went down in China.

However, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur argues they cannot look at ride height as an issue specifically impacting them.

“For sure, we all want to run the car lower, and we have all more downforce in this situation and for everybody, it’s much better,” he said.

“But there is a limit. The limit is bottoming and the limit is the regulation. And we are all spending the weekend to find where is the limit? Where can we run the car a bit lower? And then you are too low, and it’s the same for everybody.

“And we all know that with this kind of car performance, is a lot linked to the ride height. And it’s true for us. It’s true for everybody, and it’s true today.

“But it was true the last two years. You know, if we were disqualified in Austin ’23 with Mercedes, it was because that we were trying to reach the same point. And it’s not characteristic of the car this year, or the characteristic of the Ferrari, it’s true for all the teams.”

F1 2025 quickly moves on to this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, part two of the season’s first triple-header.

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