Lewis Hamilton started the Saudi Arabian weekend with optimism, believing he had made a breakthrough in terms of his driving style in Bahrain, but he ended the weekend with a disappointing seventh-place finish—almost half-a-minute behind teammate Charles Leclerc in P3.
Make no mistake—it’s not as if Leclerc has been on fire on the other side of the Ferrari garage; this was the team’s first podium five races into the season.
The Scuderia are currently fourth in the Constructors’ Standings, already 110 points behind leaders McLaren, while their lead driver Leclerc is fifth in the Driver’s Standings, 52 points behind leader Oscar Piastri.
Thus, the real question is: why are Hamilton and Ferrari underperforming so badly? And is there anything they can do to bounce back with more than three-quarters of the season remaining?
Hamilton continues to under-deliver
After driving a Mercedes car for twelve seasons, the seven-time World Champion is finding it hard to come to grips with the Ferrari system, which is much more invasive than the one he was used to at Mercedes. After the Bahrain GP, Hamilton mentioned he was struggling with adapting to the engine braking of his SF-25—something he had not used in 12 years at Mercedes.
A different engine braking setup requires a change in braking style and pedal feel in order to fully exploit the car’s potential. As the data shows, Hamilton has been struggling the most in areas where precise braking is essential.
This speed trace from their fastest Q3 runs highlight how much Hamilton struggled in Sector 1 and Sector 3 compared to his Monégasque teammate. Leclerc showed much greater confidence through Turns 4, 5, 8, and 9, carrying more speed and taking a more aggressive racing line, thereby gaining a decisive advantage over his teammate, while Turn 13 also proved to be a critical problem area for the veteran Brit.
The Ferrari systems are forcing Hamilton to brake in an unnatural way as opposed to his “brake hard and late” approach we’ve been accustomed to—something that was finely tuned for him after using Mercedes engines and power units for his entire career until joining the Italian outfit.
This is a significant problem for Hamilton, as it is not possible for Ferrari to find a solution to the problem in either vehicle dynamics or aerodynamics. Even changes to the power unit software would only bring about a marginal improvement.
When it comes to fast corners and straights, the SF-25 remains competitive. In slow-speed corners, however, it continues to struggle, and that’s where Hamilton’s lack of confidence in the car becomes most evident.
Ferrari could make sweeping changes to the software to aid Hamilton’s adjustments, but the onus is on the 40-year-old to adjust and adapt his driving style to meet the demands of the Ferrari power unit and make it as similar as he can to Leclerc’s in order to exploit the full potential of the Ferrari package.
Early-season struggles denting Ferrari’s Championship hopes
Things have certainly not panned out how Ferrari would have wanted them to when they announced the signing of Lewis Hamilton and formed arguably the strongest driver pairing on the grid right now.
The Maranello-based outfit have had a challenging start to the campaign and struggled to get their SF-25 into the right operating window through a range of corners and ride heights.
One particular concern has been the need to lift the car higher than is ideal because it has been prone to bottoming out, which risks its plank wearing down. This is what triggered Hamilton’s exclusion from the Chinese Grand Prix, as too much of his plank had worn away.
The problem is especially exposed at tracks with high-speed corners, where teams need to be aggressive with ride height, because that’s where the most downforce is found.
Ferrari introduced a new floor upgrade at the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was aimed at solving some of the car’s core issues and allowing it to run in a better operating window.
Early conclusions from the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia GPs have been positive, given Ferrari secured their first podium of the season with Charles Leclerc’s P3 finish—only eight seconds behind race winner Oscar Piastri.
Although there have been gains, Ferrari remain third on race pace behind McLaren and an unpredictable Red Bull, though they have crucially jumped ahead of Mercedes for the first time this season.
If you look at the data below, you’ll find Leclerc third fastest and only 0.23s/lap slower than the pace setter, Max Verstappen. Hamilton’s time can’t be considered representative for this argument because he was complaining about his car throughout the Grand Prix.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vesseur has already mentioned that the team will be relying on in-season upgrades in order to close the gap with their rivals, with Leclerc having also expressed that he feels he has hit a ceiling with the car.
One positive aspect for the Italian outfit is the fact that they’re much closer to the front of the pack this season than they were at this stage 12 months ago. Although they had the second-fastest car behind Red Bull at the Saudi GP last year, they were 0.46s/lap slower than the pace setter, Verstappen. They’ve halved the deficit, though this may be track-specific.
Despite Hamilton’s underwhelming P7 finish in Jeddah, Leclerc’s podium and race pace mean the team have taken a step in the right direction, though they’ll need to keep bringing in new upgrades as the races come thick and fast.
That said, qualifying is one area where Ferrari certainly need to improve. Now in the final year of the technical regulations, dirty air is making things difficult for the car, followed closely behind both the tyres and the car getting overheated.
The Sprint Race in China, where Hamilton took pole and led from start to finish to win comfortably, and the recent pace shown by Leclerc in Jeddah demonstrate that the Ferrari car has the pace to win races if it can manage to get some free air. Thus, qualifying higher up the field becomes a priority this year.
Ferrari are already on the backfoot. Red Bull, their nearest competitor, are basically a one-driver team, while the McLaren drivers are eyeing up a first Drivers’ title. Mercedes, meanwhile, have been the surprise package with their pace, but for the first time this season they’ve fallen behind Ferrari.
With 19 races still remaining, a lot can happen from now until the Abu Dhabi GP in December. However, in order to win their first Constructors’ title since 2008, Ferrari need both Hamilton to resolve his issues and pick up the pace as well as bring in substantial upgrades—quite a few of them.
In terms of pace, Ferrari were in a similar situation last season but managed to claw back the deficit by the end of the season, though not soon enough to snatch the Constructors’ championship away from McLaren. Although Fred Vessuer believes Ferrari can pull off something similar this season, the question remains whether it will be enough to win them that elusive 17th title.
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