Lewis Hamilton still hasn’t put together a wholly satisfactory weekend at Ferrari. There have been flashes of promise but he hasn’t been able to sustain them.
Perhaps that’s natural given that he’s only just arrived. Sebastian Vettel says Hamilton and Ferrari shouldn’t be written off so early into the season, and a brand-new partnership.
Hamilton was the class of the field in the Shanghai Sprint, but he struggled over a full distance. He voluntarily ceded position to teammate Charles Leclerc before both drivers were disqualified for separate technical breaches.
In Bahrain, the seven-time world champion won the driver of the day award for the first time since he joined Ferrari. His race pace looked as strong as it has all year, but he made his life much harder by qualifying down in ninth.
Hamilton entered the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix sounding optimistic, even though his record at the circuit since his 2021 victory is underwhelming. His record on his last three visits reads 10th, 5th, 9th.
Fred Vasseur said Lewis Hamilton had the same issue as Lando Norris at ‘messy’ Bahrain GP
Speaking at the start of FP1 in Jeddah, Sky Sports pundit Karun Chandhok shared details of his conversation with Fred Vasseur in the paddock. Ferrari have identified why Hamilton struggled last Saturday.
He apparently made ‘a couple of early mistakes’, which caused his tyre temperatures to spike. Thus the rest of the lap was compromised.
McLaren driver Lando Norris, who looked like a pole contender but ended up sixth, experienced the same issue after an oversteer moment on the exit of turn one.
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“I spoke to Frederic Vasseur, the team boss, yesterday, who was saying that when he got to Q3, he just didn’t put the laps together,” Chandhok said. “It was a bit messy.
“The problem in Bahrain, because the track is so abrasive, is if you make a mistake in the early part of the lap and the tyre temperatures go up, like happened to Lando, there’s a knock-on effect for the next half of the lap.
“Fred was saying a similar thing happened to Lewis, he just made a couple of early mistakes on the lap and the snowball effect carried on.”
What Lewis Hamilton has realised after watching Charles Leclerc at Ferrari
Ted Kravitz says Oscar Piastri could give Hamilton tips on how to improve in qualifying. His single-lap issues date back to the end of his Mercedes career.
Piastri had a similarly poor record compared to his teammate last year, but looks far stronger in 2025. The root cause of Hamilton’s problems is unclear – his age may be playing a part, as may a general discomfort in this generation of cars.
Recognising that he may have been too stubborn at times, Hamilton wants to learn from Charles Leclerc. Leclerc is 3-1 up in Grand Prix qualifying and was six-tenths quicker in Bahrain.
Hamilton says it’s ‘super impressive’ that the Monegasque can cope so well with the tail-happy SF-25. He’s hoping to settle on a set-up earlier in the weekend, having seen that approach pay off on the other side of the garage.
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