Helmut Marko fears Lewis Hamilton could “continue where he left off” with his 2021 battle with Max Verstappen if Ferrari provide a competitive car for the F1 2025 season.

Yet he believes the seven-time World Champion’s declining qualifying performance could count against a Hamilton revival if he regularly qualifies “two or three tenths” behind Charles Leclerc.

Marko: Lewis Hamilton in qualifying ‘never his strength’

Hamilton is preparing for his first season as a Ferrari driver, having joined the Italian team from Mercedes on a multi-year contract from F1 2025.

The British driver, who was dethroned by Verstappen in highly controversial circumstances at the 2021 title decider in Abu Dhabi, arrives at Ferrari after a punishing final three years with his previous team.

Hamilton, the most decorated driver in F1 history with more than 100 pole positions and grand prix victories to his name, has been limited to just a single pole and two wins since the start of the 2022 season as a result of Mercedes’ struggles in adapting to the ground-effect regulations.

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The 40-year-old was heavily beaten in qualifying conditions by George Russell last season, admitting that he is “not fast anymore” after qualifying behind his team-mate at 19 of the 24 races in 2024.

Marko, whose Red Bull team enjoyed a thrilling battle with Hamilton’s Mercedes outfit over the course of a dramatic 2021 campaign, has dismissed the suggestion that Hamilton is in decline.

Yet he believes Hamilton’s qualifying pace is key to his hopes at Ferrari, with one-lap performance “never his strength” over recent years.

Put to him that Hamilton is past his peak, Marko told Austrian outlet OE24: “I would be careful with that.

“If Hamilton is motivated, he can continue where he left off in 2021. The race to catch up that he delivered back then was impressive.

“However, the Ferrari has to be competitive. And Hamilton has to get qualifying right. That was never his strength.

“If he loses two or three tenths to Leclerc, he always has to work his way up a few places on the grid. That puts a strain on the tyres.”

Asked if Hamilton is still a serious threat to Verstappen, Marko claimed that next week’s pre-season test in Bahrain will be the moment of truth.

He said: “We’ll know after the tests, when we see how good the Ferrari is. In any case, Max is the best driver.

“[Hamilton at Ferrari] takes some getting used to, but it’s fascinating.”

Marko’s latest comments come just weeks after he argued that none of the drivers from Ferrari and Constructors’ Champions McLaren “stand out” as a threat to Verstappen.

And he claimed that Verstappen would still have enough to beat Hamilton even if the Red Bull RB21 proves to be a “mediocre” car in F1 2025.

He told Sport Bild: “The two race teams [McLaren and Ferrari] had the best base for their cars last season and were able to perform well on most circuits.

“They can build on that, but none of the drivers stand out for me.

“Charles Leclerc is good in qualifying but makes a lot of mistakes in the races.

“And Lewis Hamilton still has the speed, but can he keep that up for a whole season? I have my doubts about that.

“Even if he has a good Ferrari and we build a mediocre Red Bull for Max, I would put my money on Max.”

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Reports on Friday claimed that Hamilton was a massive 0.8 seconds slower than Leclerc in the shakedown of the new Ferrari SF-25 car at Fiorano on Wednesday.

However, it is believed that the drivers were on different run plans, making the fastest times of each driver wholly unrepresentative.

Leclerc, who is entering his seventh full season with Ferrari, is thought to have been pushing from the off at Fiorano, while Hamilton’s main focus was to build his confidence and continue his adaptation to the Ferrari’s systems and functions.

The unofficial shakedown laptimes come after Pirelli provided the first official head-to-head comparison between Hamilton and Leclerc in a tyre test in Barcelona last month.

Having outpaced Leclerc by 0.130 seconds on the opening day at the Spanish Grand Prix venue, where the Ferrari drivers shared a modified version of the team’s 2024 car, Hamilton was a huge 1.788 seconds slower than his new team-mate the following day.

Pirelli stressed at the time that the published laptimes carried ‘no real significance given the different work programmes carried out’ by Ferrari and McLaren, who were also on track in Barcelona.

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