Ted Kravitz says Lewis Hamilton had to suspend ‘activities’ before Japanese Grand Prix after call from Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton’s start to life at Ferrari has been far from ideal. The Scuderia have been struggling for race pace so far in 2025.

The seven-time world champion’s debut for Ferrari in Melbourne ended on a whimper with P10. He had been leading at one point in the tricky conditions, but the team’s gamble on dry tyres in the rain did not pay off.

At the Chinese Grand Prix, the SF-25 found performance, which guided Hamilton to the Sprint win on Saturday. However, Ferrari suddenly lost that speed in the race as the Brit and Charles Leclerc came home P5 and P6.

That was until the duo were disqualified – Leclerc for being underweight and Hamilton for excessive plank wear. This proved to be another gut punch, leaving the latter on just nine points from his first two races at Ferrari.

After such a disappointing start, much noise has been made about whether the 40-year-old is already disillusioned with Ferrari. Ted Kravitz noticed Hamilton has backtracked his expectations at the Japanese Grand Prix by saying he did not expect to win from the start.

But at the start of the season, Hamilton had said the team had what they needed to fight for the championship. It is clear Ferrari need to act fast to get the edge over their rivals – they have started during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.

Ferrari called Lewis Hamilton to an emergency meeting in Maranello before the Japanese Grand Prix

Ferrari engineers tried to lift Hamilton’s spirits in his garage at Suzuka by giving him a teddy of his pet dog Rsocoe. This came before the team had called him to an emergency meeting in Maranello to get their problems ‘figured out.’

Kravitz noted on Sky Sports F1 before FP1 that the team admitted they got it wrong with Hamilton’s plank weat disqualification in China, but only by a ‘tiny amount.’

“The Leclerc underweight disqualification was quite a simple thing. Ferrari say there were quite a few things that contributed to that but they know what that was,” he said.

“But clearly the Lewis Hamilton plank wear and it was only by half a millimetre, was just outside the tolerance. Of course, Lewis wants the most downforce from this Ferrari, you get the most downforce by running the car as low as possible to the ground.

“And I spoke to Ferrari this morning, they admit they got that wrong but it wasn’t by much. We’re talking tiny details here and by a tiny amount, the car was outside the regulations.

“Ferrari did call a meeting, called Lewis Hamilton back from his activities in the far east in China and Japan, back to Maranello just for a day on Tuesday to get it all figured out and then Lewis came back out here to Japan, to acclimatise to the time difference.”

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Lewis Hamilton is determined to make his stint at Ferrari a success

Alice Powell fears Ferrari’s double disqualification is ‘really damaging’ to their constructors’ title chances. The team are level on points with Williams after two races, who have already equalled their 2024 points tally.

It is clear Ferrari have work to do if they want to challenge the likes of McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull for the title – their star driver has been putting considerable effort in behind the scenes with long hours at the factory.

Hamilton has also been learning Italian to immerse himself fully in the Ferrari culture. He is determined to make his stint in Maranello a success – it could be his last chance to win an eighth title.

Hamilton is contracted until 2026, with an option of a further year. However, 2025 could be his best opportunity to claim the championship before the new technical regulations come into effect next season.