By James Broughton, April 28, 2025
Lewis Hamilton is bracing for more disappointment in Miami after finishing 30 seconds behind Charles Leclerc at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Despite a strong Sprint event in China, Hamilton has struggled with confidence and pace since switching to Ferrari. In Jeddah, he finished seventh, over a pitstop behind teammate Leclerc, and expressed frustration over his pace, admitting confusion over where he’s losing time to rivals.
This marks the latest setback for the seven-time F1 World Champion, whose ongoing troubles have continued since his Mercedes days. With his team switch, Hamilton’s struggles in qualifying persist, and the reality of his performance issues has left him feeling downbeat.
Heading to the Miami Grand Prix at the Hard Rock Stadium, he expects more challenges and has committed to extra work to address the issues he faced in Saudi Arabia. Hamilton has been open about his difficulties, even humorously stating that he might need a “brain transplant” to overcome his struggles.
During a recent media interview, Hamilton explained his recent struggles, starting with the last race in Saudi Arabia:
“It was horrible. It was horrible. Not enjoyable at all. I was just sliding around.”
“First stint, massive understeer, car not turning. And then massive deg. And then the second stint, slightly better balance, but still just no pace. Yeah, pretty bad.”
“I’m struggling to feel the car underneath me. But there’s no particular thing. There’s nothing to say ‘Hey, this is the issue’.”
“In qualifying, it’s me extracting performance. In the race, I tried everything, and the car just didn’t want to go quicker.”
I think I’ll struggle also in Miami, “I don’t know how much longer I’ll struggle for, but it’s definitely painful. At the moment there’s no fix. So, this is how it’s going to be for the rest of the year. It’s going to be painful.”
“He’s [teammate Charles Leclerc] been driving this car for a long time, so he definitely knows it really well. There’s plenty in the data, for sure,” Hamilton explained.
“I mean, honestly, like, it doesn’t look massively different in the data. Just… I go slower through the corners. We do have slightly different setups, I have to look and see whether that setup is the way the car likes to be.
“Yeah, him and his side are definitely obviously doing a better job.”