Ferrari have struggled in the early weeks of the 2025 Formula 1 season and new recruit Lewis Hamilton has found things tough while adapting to life with the Italian team
Lewis Hamilton has explained why Ferrari have struggled for consistency early in the new Formula 1 season. And, as he did so, he admitted making a mistake which cost him a better haul of points from the last race weekend, the Chinese Grand Prix.
Despite coming into the season on the back of narrowly missing out on the constructors’ title last December, Ferrari have struggled in the opening weeks of the new campaign. After two rounds, including the sprint race in Shanghai, they have managed to score just 17 points and both of their drivers remain on single-figure totals.
Hamilton has nine, one more than team-mate Charles Leclerc, thanks to his sprint victory. However, he followed that up with an underwhelming drive to sixth place in the main race – and then had that result taken away from him when his car failed technical checks.
The seven-time champion admitted he had made a setup error before qualifying for the Grand Prix as he explained why his new team have found things so tough so far in 2025. He said: “It’s a combination of probably several different things, but I think mostly just pinning the setup.
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“I told you that I’m still learning about this car, so I still haven’t tested every item that they have yet. Ultimately, I made the wrong decision on set-up for the Saturday going into qualifying at the last race, which then I just had to live with for the race.
“If we had just left the car probably alone or actually [if] the step that we did take [had been] an improvement, I think we could have qualified in the top three, which would then have had a much different result, most likely. But that wasn’t the case, and it was really difficult to drive from the moment we went out in qualifying and then it was the same balance on a Sunday, so we just had to persevere with it.”
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The switch to Ferrari has presented a steep learning curve to Hamilton. Having driven with Mercedes engines for his whole F1 career, adapting to the Italians’ own power units has proven to be a challenge, while he has also been working to get up to speed with his new colleagues in a team which has vastly different operations to what he is used to.
Despite underwhelming results so far, Hamilton insists he is pleased with the progress he has made to date on that front. He added: “After analysing the last two races, the first race I generally didn’t feel great in the car at the beginning, but our pace wasn’t too bad on the first two days – Sunday [in Melbourne] was the first time I’d ever driven the car in the rain, and I was learning a lot throughout the race.
“Then in the last race, that was the first time I’d actually done a long run. Every other driver here pretty much got to do the Abu Dhabi test and try the 2025 tyre. I didn’t. And we went into the race run in Bahrain [testing] and the car broke down. The sprint race was the first time I’d actually done a 20-lap stint and then in the race it was the first time I’d ever tried the C2, so I was just learning that through a race.
“I was definitely starting to feel the onwards effect of not being able to do the test at the end of the year, and so on reflection I’m quite happy of how I’ve adapted in just those two races. But I’ve definitely got a lot of work to do to make sure that it’s better moving forward.”
