Hamilton Left Searching for Answers After…read more
Hamilton Calls Saudi GP “Horrible” as Ferrari Struggles Continue
Lewis Hamilton described his Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as “horrible” after finishing seventh, trailing 31 seconds behind his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who claimed the team’s first podium of the season with a strong third-place performance.
The seven-time world champion, who currently sits seventh in the drivers’ standings, was visibly frustrated after the race. “Nothing positive to take from today apart from Charles being on the podium, which is great for the team,” Hamilton said. “It was horrible, not enjoyable at all. I was just sliding around. It’s pretty bad.”
Hamilton admitted he couldn’t identify a specific issue causing his lack of pace. “I was struggling to feel the car beneath me. There’s no particular thing, nothing to say: ‘Hey, this is the issue.’” Despite a standout win in the Chinese sprint race last month, Hamilton said he couldn’t explain why his form had dropped off so drastically. “I don’t have an answer.”
Looking ahead to the next race in Miami, Hamilton wasn’t optimistic. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll struggle for, but it’s definitely painful. Just going to try and improve from week to week,” he said. “At the moment, there is no fix, so this is how it’s going to be for the rest of the year. It’s going to be painful.”
He explained that while he can still extract some performance in qualifying, the car simply doesn’t perform during races. “In qualifying, it’s me extracting performance, and in the race, I tried everything and the car just didn’t want to go any quicker.”
In stark contrast, Leclerc delivered an impressive performance, executing a long first stint on medium tyres before overtaking Mercedes’ George Russell to secure a well-earned third-place finish. “I feel like we’ve maximized absolutely everything we could this weekend. There wasn’t anything more in the car,” Leclerc said.
However, he echoed concerns about Ferrari’s qualifying struggles. “We need to focus on qualifying. It’s been a very long time since I’ve been happy with the car balance,” he said. “I feel very at ease with the car, in a way that I know I can extract the maximum, but the car potential just isn’t good enough to fight for more in qualifying.”
Ferrari came close to winning the constructors’ championship last year and began the 2025 season with hopes of challenging for the title. However, rivals Red Bull and McLaren appear to have made greater strides over the winter, leaving Ferrari behind.
Leclerc emphasized the need for swift improvement. “We’re already 50 points down in the drivers’ championship. That’s a big number. We cannot lose too many more races before finding the issue,” he said. “We’re doing something wrong, clearly. We’ve got to find it.”
