Ted Kravitz says Ferrari have privately told Lewis Hamilton not to do one thing before the Miami Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has never stood on the podium at the Miami Grand Prix. Remarkably, it’s one of only two circuits denying him a clean sweep.

This is only F1’s fourth visit to the Florida circuit, and Hamilton hasn’t yet had the chance to tackle it in a contending car. Ferrari are unlikely to change that this weekend based on recent form.

But if he can finish in the top three, repeating the result teammate Charles Leclerc managed in Saudi Arabia, it would be a huge boost. Hamilton was utterly dejected after his seventh-place finish, virtually writing off the remainder of the season.

And while he wasn’t quite as pessimistic during his Thursday media duties, he was hardly revitalised either. Hamilton has yet to hit on a car set-up or driving style that makes him feel comfortable and confident in the SF-25.

Ferrari have assured Lewis Hamilton ‘there is hope’ ahead of the Miami Grand Prix

Speaking to Ted Kravitz before the Miami Grand Prix, Leclerc said he’d taken the car in the right ‘direction’. However, he doesn’t think it’s ‘his place’ to offer Hamilton advice.

After all, the Englishman is a seven-time world champion and the second-most experienced driver ever behind Fernando Alonso. He will already have access to Leclerc’s data and no doubt be studying it.

Kravitz says Ferrari are telling Hamilton not to ‘give up’ because they see cause for optimism. The last Sprint weekend in China brought his first win in red.

Hamilton reported to Maranello in the gap between the races, having cancelled some of his time off.

“This was intriguing,” Kravitz said on his ‘Podbook’. “[Leclerc] said, ‘I’ve found a direction that works for me’, and while he wouldn’t give any advice – he says, ‘It’s not my place to give advice to Lewis’ – the feeling in Ferrari is, obviously while Lewis is still searching for answers, ‘don’t give up, there is hope’.

“There is hope to deliver more results as well as the win in China. Had Lewis not won the Sprint race in China, I’d imagine many more questions would be being asked.

“He spent a couple of the days in the break that we’ve had between Jeddah and here at the Maranello factory going through data with the engineers. He didn’t want to really go into it today.”

Lewis Hamilton is fixated on breaking one F1 record at Ferrari

Hamilton’s problems may not be possible to solve, F1 expert Peter Windsor says. Because his driving style has become second-nature over his 361 race starts, it’s hard to pinpoint where exactly he’s going wrong.

He enters the Miami weekend seventh in the championship – the same position he finished last year at Mercedes. He has at least scored 12 more points (31 vs 19).

The 40-year-old would have expected Ferrari to build a better car off the back of their strong 2024 season. Runners-up by 14 points last term, they’re now fourth in the standings.

Former colleague Marc Priestley says Hamilton is ‘desperate’ to prove his critics wrong by becoming F1’s oldest champion since 1966. But he’ll almost certainly have to wait until next year to achieve that feat, if he can manage it at all.