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  • Did whispered Ferrari car flaw lead to Lewis Hamilton’s DSQ?

    Did whispered Ferrari car flaw lead to Lewis Hamilton’s DSQ?

     

    Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification in China has raised eyebrows about a rumoured Ferrari flaw.

     

    Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Chinese GP

    Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Chinese GP

    Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car has come under the microscope after a disappointing start to the season.

     

    F1’s most iconic team mysteriously struggled for pace all weekend in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc and new signing Lewis Hamilton coming home an underwhelming eighth and 10th.

     

    Things appeared to improve at the Chinese Grand Prix when Hamilton converted his first pole position into a commanding sprint race victory, but Ferrari’s challenge faded in regular qualifying and the main grand prix.

     

    Leclerc and Hamilton could only finish fifth and sixth on the road but were excluded from the results for different technical infringements which left their respective cars illegal.

     

    Hamilton’s disqualification came because his plank was found to have excessive wear by half a millimetre, while Leclerc’s car was 1kg under the 800kg weight limit.

     

    Ferrari’s ride height has been a topic of discussion since the first round in Melbourne, where there were whispers in the paddock that the team had to raise their car due to plank wear concerns.

     

    The Scuderia have not commented on the rumoured issue but Hamilton’s exclusion in Shanghai has raised eyebrows about a possible fundamental flaw with the SF-25.

     

    “It would be standard for everyone to raise the car in Australia because of the bumps and they are detrimental to downforce and plank wear,” Sky Sports F1’s Bernie Collins said.

     

    “In Australia, Ferrari were not that strong. Some of it was down to strategy but the performance in qualifying was not that strong, so maybe they have a car that’s very sensitive to ride height in terms of aero performance. All of these cars are because they’re all ground-effect cars, but maybe it is more sensitive than others.

     

    “I would be surprised that the Sprint in China was not a good enough indication that you would be illegal on plank wear. If they have got what we would call a ‘peaky’ ride height, which means there’s a very small optimum ride height that you can have a good aerodynamic platform in, that is an issue for a car.

     

    “You want to be fit to run a range of ride heights because of all these range of tracks. For example, in Austria there are intense kerbs so you want to add a bit of ride height there.

     

    “Maybe the aero platform is too peaky.”

     

    Sprint weekend set-up changes not ‘unusual’

    Hamilton claimed pole and the sprint win before things went downhill

    Hamilton claimed pole and the sprint win before things went downhill

    Following a low-key qualifying performance, seven-time world champion Hamilton admitted the set-up changes he made after his sprint win made his Ferrari more difficult to drive around the Shanghai International Circuit.

     

    Collins explained it is not “unusual” for teams to make set-up changes over the course of a sprint weekend.

     

    “What’s different between this and Austin two years ago [when Hamilton’s Mercedes was excluded for excessive plank wear], you were not allowed to change the set-up between the Sprint and main race, so when you got the plank-wear read in the Sprint, you couldn’t react to it,” she said.

     

    “In the Sprint, there was a lot more management than the main race because they did more laps pushing on a hard tyre, whereas on the medium they did a lot of management in the Sprint, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the wear and fuel usage went up in the main race.”

     

    Assessing whether Hamilton’s two-stop strategy could have played a role, Collins added: “The two-stopper will lead to pushing more on each lap. The only slight counter to that for Lewis is because he did two stints on the hard, he goes through that graining phase, which does control the pace a little bit.

     

    “The only other thing for Lewis is, I don’t know if he had any damage from the Leclerc incident? The FIA say there were ‘no mitigating circumstances’ and if Ferrari could prove damage or lack of downforce, they would have been able to do that but they didn’t.

     

    “As for Leclerc, who did a one-stop, people were saying maybe a one-stop was possible. They didn’t know how much the hard tyre would wear, so they didn’t have an estimated mass loss for the hard tyre but they are allowed to take pick-up and they changed Leclerc’s front wing.

     

    “I don’t know where the loss in mass has come from.”

     

    Bump in the road for Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton

    It has not been the fairytale start to life at Ferrari Hamilton would have dreamed of

    It has not been the fairytale start to life at Ferrari Hamilton would have dreamed of

    The double disqualification meant Ferrari lost 18 points in China, marking a huge blow to their title aspirations in both world championships.

     

    After just two races, Ferrari find themselves fifth in the constructors’ championship and 61 points behind McLaren, while Leclerc and Hamilton are already well adrift in the drivers’ standings.

     

    “It’s a bump because Ferrari had the wrong strategy in Australia, in China they have been disqualified so should have done better, and they arguably had the wrong strategy because Lewis should not have pitted for a second time,” Collins said.

     

    “Lewis was really struggling in the car on Sunday and the car was illegal. The changes in set-up didn’t react in the way he wanted to, or he wouldn’t have been so slow in the race, and they’ve been illegal.

     

    “So it is a bump. If they go through it and they find whatever’s wrong, then Lewis can get over that pretty quickly. But it’s one of these little things that adds to the lack of trust.

     

    “When Sebastian Vettel came to us at Aston Martin, I really wanted him to think we were good at our jobs.

     

    “I really wanted him to go ‘if she calls me to pit, I’m going to do it’ because I trust the team. Now we have had a strategy thing, a radio thing and now disqualification, so it makes the driver unsure.”

  • Ferrari provide answers after Hamilton and Leclerc China DQ

    Ferrari provide answers after Hamilton and Leclerc China DQ

     

    Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc walk together at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix

    Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc

     

    Ferrari has moved to explain the reasons why the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc failed FIA inspections in China.

     

    This comes after Leclerc’s SF-25 was found to be underweight, while Hamilton’s skidblock wear was deemed over the permitted limit, with the result being disqualification for both Ferrari drivers from the Chinese Grand Prix.

     

    Ferrari explain Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc DQ

    Ferrari were looking at a double points finish when the chequered flag flew in Shanghai, Leclerc having crossed the line P5 and Hamilton P6.

     

    However, their tally for Grand Prix Sunday became zero when both cars were disqualified after the race.

     

    And in a statement, Ferrari has explained what happened to cause these different issues for their drivers, which both inflicted a disqualification penalty.

     

    “Following the FIA post-race scrutineering both our cars were found not to conform to the regulations for different reasons,” Ferrari began.

     

     

    “Car 16 [Leclerc] was found to be underweight by 1 kg and car 44’s [Hamilton’s] rearward skid wear was found to be 0.5mm below the limit.

     

    “Charles was on a one-stop strategy today and this meant his tyre wear was very high, causing the car to be underweight.

     

    “With regard to Lewis’ skid wear, we misjudged the consumption by a small margin.

     

    “There was no intention to gain any advantage. We will learn from what happened today and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again.

     

    “Clearly it’s not the way we wanted to end our Chinese GP weekend, neither for ourselves, nor for our fans whose support for us is unwavering.”

     

    Leclerc’s DSQ closely resembles the fate suffered by Mercedes’ George Russell at last season’s Belgian Grand Prix.

     

     

    Russell thought he had pulled off a one-stop strategy against all odds to take victory, but after the race his car was found to be underweight.

     

    A leading theory at the time was that the unexpected one-stop had contributed to higher-than-expected tyre wear and thus an underweight car, as Ferrari say happened to Leclerc in China.

  • Lewis Hamilton left ‘annoyed’ as ‘story’ unfolds from Chinese GP media pen

    Lewis Hamilton left ‘annoyed’ as ‘story’ unfolds from Chinese GP media pen

    Lewis Hamilton was annoyed at how the media treated his radio messages with Riccardo Adami.Heading into the Chinese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton seemed terse. His debut with Ferrari hadn’t gone as planned in Melbourne, leaving him the subject of ample debate in the brief gap to China. Was it his performance that had caused such an issue?

    In fact, Ted Kravitz has revealed that Lewis Hamilton’s annoyance actually stemmed from an abundance of reporting that accused the driver and his race engineer Riccardo Adami of having bad blood.

    Lewis Hamilton’s mindset change in China

    Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari debut in Australia didn’t go to plan. After a challenging qualifying and a rainstorm that further complicated matters, the seven-time World Champion brought home his new SF-25 in 10th.

    Fans and pundits were quick to leap into the thick of the Lewis Hamilton discourse, and one of the big talking points had to do with the way Hamilton and new race engineer Riccardo Adami were speaking on the radio.

    At several points during the race, Adami offered advice on overtaking, DRS, and weather, as Hamilton repeatedly said, “Leave it to me, please.” By the end of the event, it was clear that the driver was annoyed, snapping back about the team’s “missed opportunity.”

    Much moralizing took place about whether Hamilton could have been more respectful, whether there was already a significant communication breakdown between the seven-time World Champion and his new team, and the driver also hit out at media regarding the fact that there are other drivers who are “worse” on the radio than him.

    As a result, heading into the Chinese Grand Prix, Sky Sports F1 pundit Ted Kravitz noted that Hamilton seemed “annoyed” in the media pen, though it took him a while to put his finger on the cause.

    “I’ve got to tell you a story,” Kravitz said.

    “When he came to the pen on Thursday, I was, as it happened, the first person who spoke to him. I could tell he was annoyed about something. I asked a fairly anodyne question about what was on his to-do list.

    “It was only until later when an Austrian journalist, who was doing a feature about engineers, asked Lewis a question. Then I knew what Lewis was annoyed about.

    “He was annoyed that people — and we were as guilty as anybody — had put together the radio messages between him and Riccardo Adami, and some people were interpreting that as if they have a bad relationship.

    “He said after he won the sprint race ‘I came here with a bit more aggression.’ I could tell that on Thursday. He was annoyed, and he used that to motivate himself.”

    As Kravitz noted, Hamilton took that sprint victory — from pole position, nonetheless — and decisively proved that the communication struggles are already a thing of the past.

  • Hamilton makes mockery of Ferrari critics with ‘mega’ team radio at Chinese GP

    Hamilton makes mockery of Ferrari critics with ‘mega’ team radio at Chinese GP

    Lewis Hamilton brought up the first milestone of his Ferrari career at the Chinese Grand Prix by taking pole for the Sprint race. Hamilton edged out Max Verstappen in a surprise result.

    McLaren were the overwhelming favourites not just for pole but for a front-row lock-out after Lando Norris blitzed the field in FP1. But the reigning world champions fell away in SQ3.

    Australian GP winner Norris was only sixth on the grid, while Oscar Piastri was third. Hamilton took pole position, less than two-hundredths ahead of Max Verstappen.

    It won’t officially count towards Hamilton’s record of 104 pole positions. But it offers significant encouragement to both driver and team after a difficult weekend in Melbourne.

    Hamilton qualified eighth and finished 10th as Ferrari fluffed their strategy in a wet race. This is his first Sprint pole since Silverstone 2021, the very first use of the format.

    Lewis Hamilton’s radio messages after Chinese Grand Prix Sprint pole show bond with Riccardo Adami

    Hamilton went fairly early with his pole lap, starting with around two and a half minutes to go. That meant he had to wait for his rivals to cross the line afterwards.

    Verstappen was the last man over, and while he got close, he wasn’t able to knock his old rival from his perch. Riccardo Adami, his race engineer, then confirmed the result.

    Hamilton came under fire for his blunt radio messages to Adami in Australia. But the two now seem to be developing a rapport.

    MORE F1 STORIES

    Both were laughing as Adami said ‘San Diego’, which seems to be a code they’ve established for ‘pole position’. The exchange played out as follows:

    Hamilton: “Where we are?”

    Adami: “San Diego”

    Hamilton: “Really?”

    Adami: “Yeah, good job!”

    Hamilton: “[Laughing] Mega job!”

    Martin Brundle was critical of Lewis Hamilton for Ferrari radio messages on debut

    Martin Brundle was among those who was critical of Hamilton for his communication at Albert Park. In a chaotic wet race, the seven-time world champion repeatedly told his engineer to leave him to it as he received information on car settings.

    Sky Sports pundit Brundle didn’t understand why Hamilton was ‘angsty’ with Adami. The Italian has previously worked with Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel.

    Rene Arnoux claimed Ferrari were in ‘crisis’ after their meagre five-point haul in Australia. Hamilton’s move to Maranello is such a seismic story that it’s bound to generate extreme narratives on both ends of the scale.

    The 40-year-old will now look to convert pole on Saturday, and he’ll ultimately be judged on how he performs in Grands Prix. But Ferrari just got their first glimpse of the legend they’ve signed for 2025.

  • Lewis Hamilton takes shock first Ferrari pole for China F1 sprint

    Lewis Hamilton takes shock first Ferrari pole for China F1 sprint

     

    Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen landed the first big blow against the dominant McLaren team in Formula 1 in 2025 to head sprint qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.

     

    The seven-time champion looked competitive in the intra-Ferrari fight on Friday at Shanghai, but his pole still came as a surprise given McLaren looked to have enjoyed a decisive margin through practice and the first two segments of sprint qualifying on medium tyres.

     

    Yet in the end it was Hamilton and Verstappen who were 0.018s apart in the fight for pole, while the McLarens came up short on softs in the final shootout.

     

    SQ3 drama

     

    Two messy laps from championship leader Lando Norris left the door open for McLaren to be beaten – though it was team-mate Oscar Piastri who led that final segment, SQ3, initially.

     

    But Piastri’s second attempt was short of an improvement despite a strong final sector, and he was usurped by Hamilton – consistently quicker than Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc through all of sprint qualifying.

     

     

    Mark Hughes: Over-confident McLaren handed Hamilton pole

    A last-gasp dash for pole from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came up just short despite a superb final sector, leaving Piastri – eighth hundredths off – to settle for third.

     

    Leclerc and Mercedes driver George Russell completed the top five.

     

    A lock-up into the Turn 14 hairpin meant Norris had to abandon his final attempt and dive into the pits so ended up a disappointing sixth, although well clear of seventh-placed Kimi Antonelli. The rookie was close to Mercedes team-mate Russell through SQ1 and SQ2, but his sole push lap on softs just didn’t come together.

     

    Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda, Williams’ Alex Albon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed the top 10.

     

    Lawson’s woes exacerbated

     

    Liam Lawson being just four tenths off his decorated team-mate Verstappen after his first SQ1 attempt was cause for optimism – but when his follow-up didn’t come together, it meant not just elimination but the embarrassment of last place on the grid.

     

    “Lawson’s moment had echoes of Verstappen team-mates past. When Verstappen is your benchmark, life is difficult.”

     

    He was already off the pace through the first sector, then got sideways on the kerb coming out of Turn 9, forced to abandon the lap and his hopes of reaching SQ2.

     

    He told race engineer Richard Wood afterwards that he was “really sorry but I just honestly could not get the tyres [presumably temperature] down”.

     

    Disillusion for Alonso and Sainz

     

    Aston Martin veteran Fernando Alonso was the biggest surprise to drop out in SQ2 – due to having been notably fast in the first segment.

     

    He was 0.021s off advancing into the top 10, and will be joined on the sixth row in the sprint by Ollie Bearman, whose stellar qualifying effort flickered life into what has otherwise been a brutal start to 2025 so far for Haas.

     

    Carlos Sainz was badly adrift of Williams team-mate Albon – some eight tenths in SQ2 – and was only faster than Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto of those to log a lap in that second segment.

     

    Bortoleto’s fellow rookie Isack Hadjar never set a time, having matched up well with Racing Bulls team-mate Tsunoda in SQ1 – but then botching the entry to Turn 1 on his sole attempt in the second segment and thus resigning himself to no laptime at all.

     

    He did then tow Tsunoda, which may well have been crucial to that aforementioned 0.021s margin separating the Japanese and Alonso.

     

    Other SQ1 exits

     

    Alpine – which has acknowledged that it’s had to make modifications due to the rear wing flexibility technical directive coming in from this weekend – had both of its drivers eliminated in the first segment. But rookie Jack Doohan did back up what had looked like strong Melbourne pace by beating team-mate Pierre Gasly – largely on the strength of his first sector relative to Gasly’s.

     

    Esteban Ocon was a hundredths back from his past team-mate Gasly, but will have been more discouraged by the comparison to current team-mate Bearman – who beat him by four tenths.

     

    Part of that will have been in the final corner, where Ocon brushed the gravel trap – but the Frenchman also queried with Haas whether the car was okay was it was “difficult to drive”.

     

    Nico Hulkenberg looked on to progress comfortably after his first SQ1 attempt but ran out of laptime on his final try, and sounded genuinely shocked at being eliminated – but did beat Lawson.

     

     

    Sprint qualifying result

    Pos Name Car Q1 Q2 Q3

    1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1m31.212s 1m31.384s 1m30.849s

    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1m31.916s 1m31.521s 1m30.867s

    3 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.723s 1m31.362s 1m30.929s

    4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m31.518s 1m31.561s 1m31.057s

    5 George Russell Mercedes 1m31.952s 1m31.346s 1m31.169s

    6 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.396s 1m31.174s 1m31.393s

    7 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1m31.999s 1m31.475s 1m31.738s

    8 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 1m32.316s 1m31.794s 1m31.773s

    9 Alex Albon Williams-Mercedes 1m32.462s 1m31.539s 1m31.852s

    10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m32.327s 1m31.742s 1m31.982s

    11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m32.121s 1m31.815s

    12 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1m32.269s 1m31.978s

    13 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1m32.457s 1m32.325s

    14 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.539s 1m32.564s

    15 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 1m32.171s

    16 Jack Doohan Alpine-Renault 1m32.575s

    17 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Renault 1m32.640s

    18 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1m32.651s

    19 Nico Hülkenberg Kick Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.675s

    20 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1m32.729s

    Hamilton ‘a bit gobsmacked’ by early Ferrari F1 pole

    Mar 21, 2025

    by Josh Suttill

    Lewis Hamilton was left “a bit gobsmacked” by earning pole position for Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix sprint race in only his second weekend with Ferrari.

     

    Mistakes from McLaren opened the door but Hamilton demonstrated strong pace throughout Friday in Shanghai, topping SQ1 and then setting a new lap record in SQ3 to take pole position.

     

    It was the perfect follow-up to a challenging first weekend in Australia where Hamilton and Ferrari fell short of their own expectations, with Charles Leclerc and Hamilton eighth and 10th at the flag.

     

    “The last race was a disaster for us and clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car but we just weren’t able to extract it,” Hamilton explained in parc ferme after taking pole by 0.018 seconds over Max Verstappen.

     

     

    “So to come here to a track that I love – Shanghai, [it’s a] beautiful place and the weather’s been amazing – and the car really came alive from lap one.

     

    “We made some great changes, the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready. I’m a bit in shock. I can’t believe it’s actually…we got a pole in the sprint.”

     

    That shock hadn’t left Hamilton by the time he’d made his way to the media pen for further interviews.

     

    “I’m just a bit gobsmacked honestly, I’m a bit taken back by it, I didn’t know when we’d get to this position,” Hamilton said.

     

     

    What’s already changing for Hamilton’s second race with Ferrari

    “After last weekend it was a difficult start to the week, I came here with aggression and wanted to go into the weekend and get the car into a great place.We started out straight away with a better feeling in the car.

     

    “I can’t believe we’re at the front and ahead of a McLaren which has been so fast throughout winter testing, the last race and even today.

     

    “I’m really grateful to just be up there fighting with these great drivers and be so close to these other teams.”

     

    It might not be a ‘proper’ grand prix pole position but Hamilton delivering a turn of speed in a competitive session so early into life at Ferrari will give him plenty of confidence.

     

    “Even though it’s not the main pole it gives me real inspiration to go into tomorrow and find more performance and see if we can compete again,” he added.

     

    Team boss Fred Vasseur maintained a typically calm reaction, joking with Sky Sports F1 that he “always sees the negative side”.

     

     

    He cautioned “it’s still difficult to read and understand” the competitive picture and said Ferrari “still has work to do” but did say it was a “good feeling” after the team struggled throughout the Australia weekend.

     

    He believed tyres once again explained the big pecking order swing versus last weekend.

     

    “Shocked is not the right word, but it’s true that the day was a bit difficult to read that McLaren was in front this morning, and Q1 we were in front, Q2 they were mega, and Q3 we are right on the pace,” Vasseur said.

     

    “I think it is linked to the tyre management. If you are not in the right window you are struggling a lot, but it is good for us as a team, for Lewis, for everybody.

     

    “I know it is not quali of the race today, I know that we didn’t score points today. I know all this at least, but it’s a good step.

     

    “It is up and down not just for us, but for everybody – it is exactly the same as the last four races last year when you had four teams able to win by 30 seconds track to track depending on the tyres.”

     

     

    McLaren dominated practice and looked well set in SQ2 only to falter during the pole position shootout.

     

    Third place Oscar Piastri said McLaren “was quick at the wrong points” of qualifying.

     

    “In SQ3 we tried something a bit different and went out much earlier and did two laps, which I’m not sure was the best thing in the end,” Piastri said.

     

    “But something we need to look at. The pace in the car is still very strong and I’m still confident to fight from third.”

     

    Lando Norris was kicking himself for the lock-up at the Turn 14 hairpin that forced him to abort his final SQ3 run, leaving him down in sixth place.

     

     

    “I made a mistake, locked up [at the hairpin] and we struggled a bit more now. Not quick enough simply, struggled a lot with the car,” Norris said.

     

    “Our difficulties that we’ve been struggling with, we struggled a lot more with today. Nothing more than that. Too many mistakes, too difficult a car to drive.”

     

    Norris said this weekend has been “a lot more aligned with Bahrain” testing, where the McLarens also struggled to deliver strong one-lap speed with a quick car that can easily bite the drivers.

     

    Norris conceded it was down to him to not overdrive the car to get more out of grand prix qualifying on Saturday.

     

    “That’s more me rather than the car, I can’t make the car perfect, this was me just trying to push a bit too much,” Norris said of avoiding a repeat of his errors later in the weekend.

     

    “So more just need to back off a little bit and not try push so much. I think the car is still in a good window, maybe not good enough for pole but we can definitely go for it.”

     

    Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen landed the first big blow against the dominant McLaren team in Formula 1 in 2025 to head sprint qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.

     

    The seven-time champion looked competitive in the intra-Ferrari fight on Friday at Shanghai, but his pole still came as a surprise given McLaren looked to have enjoyed a decisive margin through practice and the first two segments of sprint qualifying on medium tyres.

     

    Yet in the end it was Hamilton and Verstappen who were 0.018s apart in the fight for pole, while the McLarens came up short on softs in the final shootout.

     

    SQ3 drama

     

    Two messy laps from championship leader Lando Norris left the door open for McLaren to be beaten – though it was team-mate Oscar Piastri who led that final segment, SQ3, initially.

     

    But Piastri’s second attempt was short of an improvement despite a strong final sector, and he was usurped by Hamilton – consistently quicker than Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc through all of sprint qualifying.

     

     

    Mark Hughes: Over-confident McLaren handed Hamilton pole

    A last-gasp dash for pole from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came up just short despite a superb final sector, leaving Piastri – eighth hundredths off – to settle for third.

     

    Leclerc and Mercedes driver George Russell completed the top five.

     

    A lock-up into the Turn 14 hairpin meant Norris had to abandon his final attempt and dive into the pits so ended up a disappointing sixth, although well clear of seventh-placed Kimi Antonelli. The rookie was close to Mercedes team-mate Russell through SQ1 and SQ2, but his sole push lap on softs just didn’t come together.

     

    Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda, Williams’ Alex Albon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed the top 10.

     

     

     

    Liam Lawson being just four tenths off his decorated team-mate Verstappen after his first SQ1 attempt was cause for optimism – but when his follow-up didn’t come together, it meant not just elimination but the embarrassment of last place on the grid.

     

    “Lawson’s moment had echoes of Verstappen team-mates past. When Verstappen is your benchmark, life is difficult.”

     

    He was already off the pace through the first sector, then got sideways on the kerb coming out of Turn 9, forced to abandon the lap and his hopes of reaching SQ2.

     

    He told race engineer Richard Wood afterwards that he was “really sorry but I just honestly could not get the tyres [presumably temperature] down”.

     

    Disillusion for Alonso and Sainz

     

    Aston Martin veteran Fernando Alonso was the biggest surprise to drop out in SQ2 – due to having been notably fast in the first segment.

     

    He was 0.021s off advancing into the top 10, and will be joined on the sixth row in the sprint by Ollie Bearman, whose stellar qualifying effort flickered life into what has otherwise been a brutal start to 2025 so far for Haas.

     

    Carlos Sainz was badly adrift of Williams team-mate Albon – some eight tenths in SQ2 – and was only faster than Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto of those to log a lap in that second segment.

     

    Bortoleto’s fellow rookie Isack Hadjar never set a time, having matched up well with Racing Bulls team-mate Tsunoda in SQ1 – but then botching the entry to Turn 1 on his sole attempt in the second segment and thus resigning himself to no laptime at all.

     

    He did then tow Tsunoda, which may well have been crucial to that aforementioned 0.021s margin separating the Japanese and Alonso.

     

     

     

    Alpine – which has acknowledged that it’s had to make modifications due to the rear wing flexibility technical directive coming in from this weekend – had both of its drivers eliminated in the first segment. But rookie Jack Doohan did back up what had looked like strong Melbourne pace by beating team-mate Pierre Gasly – largely on the strength of his first sector relative to Gasly’s.

     

    Esteban Ocon was a hundredths back from his past team-mate Gasly, but will have been more discouraged by the comparison to current team-mate Bearman – who beat him by four tenths.

     

    Part of that will have been in the final corner, where Ocon brushed the gravel trap – but the Frenchman also queried with Haas whether the car was okay was it was “difficult to drive”.

     

    Nico Hulkenberg looked on to progress comfortably after his first SQ1 attempt but ran out of laptime on his final try, and sounded genuinely shocked at being eliminated – but did beat Lawson.

     

     

    Sprint qualifying result

    Pos Name Car Q1 Q2 Q3

    1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1m31.212s 1m31.384s 1m30.849s

    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1m31.916s 1m31.521s 1m30.867s

    3 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.723s 1m31.362s 1m30.929s

    4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m31.518s 1m31.561s 1m31.057s

    5 George Russell Mercedes 1m31.952s 1m31.346s 1m31.169s

    6 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.396s 1m31.174s 1m31.393s

    7 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1m31.999s 1m31.475s 1m31.738s

    8 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 1m32.316s 1m31.794s 1m31.773s

    9 Alex Albon Williams-Mercedes 1m32.462s 1m31.539s 1m31.852s

    10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m32.327s 1m31.742s 1m31.982s

    11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m32.121s 1m31.815s

    12 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1m32.269s 1m31.978s

    13 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1m32.457s 1m32.325s

    14 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.539s 1m32.564s

    15 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 1m32.171s

    16 Jack Doohan Alpine-Renault 1m32.575s

    17 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Renault 1m32.640s

    18 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1m32.651s

    19 Nico Hülkenberg Kick Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.675s

    20 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1m32.729s

    Hamilton ‘a bit gobsmacked’ by early Ferrari F1 pole

    Mar 21, 2025

    by Josh Suttill

    Lewis Hamilton was left “a bit gobsmacked” by earning pole position for Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix sprint race in only his second weekend with Ferrari.

     

    Mistakes from McLaren opened the door but Hamilton demonstrated strong pace throughout Friday in Shanghai, topping SQ1 and then setting a new lap record in SQ3 to take pole position.

     

    It was the perfect follow-up to a challenging first weekend in Australia where Hamilton and Ferrari fell short of their own expectations, with Charles Leclerc and Hamilton eighth and 10th at the flag.

     

    “The last race was a disaster for us and clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car but we just weren’t able to extract it,” Hamilton explained in parc ferme after taking pole by 0.018 seconds over Max Verstappen.

     

     

    “So to come here to a track that I love – Shanghai, [it’s a] beautiful place and the weather’s been amazing – and the car really came alive from lap one.

     

    “We made some great changes, the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready. I’m a bit in shock. I can’t believe it’s actually…we got a pole in the sprint.”

     

    That shock hadn’t left Hamilton by the time he’d made his way to the media pen for further interviews.

     

    “I’m just a bit gobsmacked honestly, I’m a bit taken back by it, I didn’t know when we’d get to this position,” Hamilton said.

     

     

    What’s already changing for Hamilton’s second race with Ferrari

    “After last weekend it was a difficult start to the week, I came here with aggression and wanted to go into the weekend and get the car into a great place.We started out straight away with a better feeling in the car.

     

    “I can’t believe we’re at the front and ahead of a McLaren which has been so fast throughout winter testing, the last race and even today.

     

    “I’m really grateful to just be up there fighting with these great drivers and be so close to these other teams.”

     

    It might not be a ‘proper’ grand prix pole position but Hamilton delivering a turn of speed in a competitive session so early into life at Ferrari will give him plenty of confidence.

     

    “Even though it’s not the main pole it gives me real inspiration to go into tomorrow and find more performance and see if we can compete again,” he added.

     

    Team boss Fred Vasseur maintained a typically calm reaction, joking with Sky Sports F1 that he “always sees the negative side”.

     

     

    He cautioned “it’s still difficult to read and understand” the competitive picture and said Ferrari “still has work to do” but did say it was a “good feeling” after the team struggled throughout the Australia weekend.

     

    He believed tyres once again explained the big pecking order swing versus last weekend.

     

    “Shocked is not the right word, but it’s true that the day was a bit difficult to read that McLaren was in front this morning, and Q1 we were in front, Q2 they were mega, and Q3 we are right on the pace,” Vasseur said.

     

    “I think it is linked to the tyre management. If you are not in the right window you are struggling a lot, but it is good for us as a team, for Lewis, for everybody.

     

    “I know it is not quali of the race today, I know that we didn’t score points today. I know all this at least, but it’s a good step.

     

    “It is up and down not just for us, but for everybody – it is exactly the same as the last four races last year when you had four teams able to win by 30 seconds track to track depending on the tyres.”

     

    Where McLaren faltered

     

    McLaren dominated practice and looked well set in SQ2 only to falter during the pole position shootout.

     

    Third place Oscar Piastri said McLaren “was quick at the wrong points” of qualifying.

     

    “In SQ3 we tried something a bit different and went out

  • Hamilton must listen to the advice Stewart gave Schumacher when he joined Ferrari

    Hamilton must listen to the advice Stewart gave Schumacher when he joined Ferrari

     

    Ferrari have signed their fair share of Formula 1 world champions over the years but none have arrived to as much fanfare and with as many trophies to their name as Lewis Hamilton.

     

    Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton are the only two seven-time world champions in the history of F1 but were signed by Ferrari at very different points in their career.

     

    Schumacher was the most exciting driver on the grid when he was signed from Benetton for the 1996 season and had just won back-to-back championships.

     

    He brought legendary designer Rory Byrne and technical chief Ross Brawn with him and together they built a dynasty that saw Schumacher win five titles on the bounce at the beginning of the 2000s.

     

    Hamilton has embraced Ferrari’s culture immediately but has joined the Scuderia with the majority of his racing career already behind him.

     

    Ferrari have been impressed with Hamilton behind the scenes but immediate success on the track is much harder to discover.

     

    Legendary F1 driver Jackie Stewart may have the answer for Hamilton if he looks back on how Schumacher’s arrival in Maranello was approached nearly 30 years ago.

     

    Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher of Germany celebrates on the Podium after winning the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix held at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan. Mandatory Credit: Mark Thompson /Allsport

    Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher of Germany celebrates on the Podium after winning the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix held at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan. Mandatory Credit: Mark Thompson /Allsport

     

    Lewis Hamilton must embrace Jackie Stewart’s advice for Michael Schumacher about racing for Ferrari

    Schumacher’s move to Ferrari was confirmed in 1995 and speaking to Australian broadcaster Channel 9, Stewart was asked to give the German some advice.

     

    Stewart, who had three world championships to his name and had seen plenty of champions come and go from Ferrari in his time, explained: “The latest two-time world champion Michael Schumacher is going to Ferrari next year.

     

    “He’s a brave man. Why? The last time Ferrari won a world championship was 1979,16 years ago.

     

    “We’ve had 250 Grand Prix since then, before him it was another tough man called Niki Lauda, a real tough man and it was he who kicked Ferrari into place to make sure they would do what he wanted to win two world championships.

     

    CATEGORY VOL. RANK

    Races 246 1st

    Championships 6 1st

    Race wins 84 1st

    Pole positions 78 1st

    Podiums 153 1st

    Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, 2013-2024

    “Before him, if you think of other really tough men, it was Juan Manuel Fangio, the great five-time world champion. He only won it once [with Ferrari], John Surtees did win a world championship for Ferrari.

     

    “But Alain Prost failed, as did Nigel Mansell fail in a Ferrari. Why, because they’re a very obstinate team, they want it their way.

     

    “They’ve had a number of great drivers like Mario Andretti and I counted names that have been put out of business driving for Ferrari.

     

    “And if a young driver like Jean Alesi went to Ferrari, they overcrowded them, they pushed them around, simply because they knew best.

     

    “Can Michael Schumacher do it? I think he probably can. The reason, he’s German, he’s very dogmatic, he knows exactly what he wants and he’s one of the people who might be able to bring Ferrari back to victory.

     

    “But to do that, he’s going to have to be very arrogant and very tough and he’s going to have to bring this team together like they haven’t been brought together for the last 16 years.”

     

    Michael Schumacher had one thing on his side at Ferrari that Lewis Hamilton can’t rely on

    There are certainly similarities to how Schumacher and Hamilton were signed by Ferrari.

     

    They were both the biggest names in the sport when the move happened and had developed a reputation beyond Formula 1.

     

    However, as Stewart explained, Schumacher had to make the team his own and bringing in Byrne and Brawn – plus the constant stream of drivers happy to be his number two – allowed him to dominate for years.

     

    Rubens Barrichello was the perfect teammate for Schumacher but Hamilton doesn’t have that luxury given Charles Leclerc’s world championship aspirations.

     

     

    Michael Schumacher’s Formula 1 record

    The likes of Jerome d’Ambrosio and Loic Serra have arrived from Mercedes with Hamilton but they weren’t specifically signed for him and closer allies such as Peter Bonnington were blocked from signing for Ferrari.

     

    Schumacher raced for four seasons for Ferrari before winning his first title, time that Hamilton probably doesn’t have.

     

    He’ll need to find a shortcut to success but making Ferrari his team as quickly as possible has to be the priority.

  • Ferrari announce ‘fresh’ driver lineup change at Chinese GP

     

     

    Not only did Ferrari fail to match the pace of McLaren in qualifying, but the team made a major strategy blunder by leaving Hamilton and Leclerc out on slicks as the rain began to fall during the late stages of the grand prix.

     

    As a result the pair were brought into the pits too late for wet weather tyres, and could only manage a finish of P8 and P10, with Hamilton earning one solitary point on his Ferrari debut.

     

     

    Ferrari will come back fighting in China

     

    Lewis Hamilton endured a dismal start to his Ferrari campaign

    Can Ferrari turn their performances around in China?

    Following a difficult race in Melbourne Ferrari have admitted to their mistakes during the season opener, and have promised to unleash their pace at the Chinse GP.

     

    One major point the team will address are Hamilton’s communications with his new race engineer Riccardo Adami, who he was involved in a series of tense radio exchanges with during the grand prix.

     

    The champion frequently asked to be left alone, as Adami seemed to be giving too much information over the airwaves with some teething problems still occurring in their partnership.

     

    However, Ferrari have wiped the slate clean for the Chinese GP and aim to come back fighting, with a new look for their driver pairing also being unveiled.

     

    In a recent Instagram post, Ferrari revealed a picture of Hamilton and Leclerc in a new Ferrari top captioned: “Fresh looks for the Chinese GP.”

     

    The new team look departs from the usual red t-shirt splattered with sponsorship, and instead opted for a more luxurious look with a polo t-shirt and a ¾ button up in collaboration with Puma.

  • Ferrari take immediate action to deliver fresh Lewis Hamilton hope

    Ferrari take immediate action to deliver fresh Lewis Hamilton hope

    Lewis Hamilton did not enjoy the most stunning of starts to life as a Ferrari driver, scoring just a point at the Australian Grand Prix.

    But, after nine-time podium finisher turned pundit Martin Brundle branded Hamilton’s Ferrari debut “disappointing”, Hamilton suggested improvement is coming with more performance to extract from the Ferrari SF-25.

    Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari: More to come after Melbourne?

    Hamilton made his hotly-anticipated Ferrari debut at the Australian GP, in what proved a rather low-key performance with the seven-time World Champion qualifying P8 and finishing P10.

    Brundle went as far as to brand Hamilton’s Ferrari debut “disappointing by any metric”, as well as questioning an “angsty” attitude towards new race engineer Riccardo Adami.

    However, Hamilton after the race stated that “Riccardo did a really good job” as they continue “learning about each other bit by bit”, with Ferrari and team principal Fred Vasseur taking steps to put better communication practices in place for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.

    “It was not the issue of Lewis, it was the issue of the team,” Vasseur added. “We need to find the level of communication between the team, the drivers and engineers.”

    And as Hamilton and Ferrari continue work to elevate that side of the performance, Hamilton believes he can get more pace out of the SF-25 with a better approach.

    Speaking after a rain-impacted Australian GP, Hamilton said: “I’m grateful I got through it, and I came out of it with a little bit of stuff, at least it’s one point.

    “Obviously didn’t go off or spin today, but lacking pace for sure.

    “But I do believe the car has more performance than we were able to extract this weekend. It was even less performance, for example, in the race, but I think it’s all settings.”

    The race weekend had been dry up until race day, which Hamilton said therefore reset the process he was in of building himself up to speed.

    “I definitely made a step,” he said on his performance in the dry at Melbourne. “I think just for me, it was just confidence. It’s like just building confidence.

    “From the moment I got in the car on Friday, I didn’t have the confidence, particularly in all the high speed, I was down a huge amount.

    “Then into Saturday, confidence was coming back, was building, building, building. And then we got to the race, and again, starting from scratch, and I didn’t have any confidence, through pretty much most of the race.

    “But I think in the settings as well, the car was very tricky.”

    Having made a further reference to the Ferrari SF-25’s “settings”, Hamilton was asked what he would have done differently if he could have another crack at his first Ferrari race weekend.

    “Many, many things,” he responded. “I think setup wise, would set the car up just a lot different and position the car different in different parts of the race. Different calls.”

    A key call which Ferrari made strategically was to try stay out when heavy rain arrived late in the Australian GP.

    Hamilton and Charles Leclerc would rise up the order, but as the rain intensified, Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto crashed, the Safety Car came out, Ferrari brought their drivers in, and podium positions were reduced to running in the lower reaches of the top 10.

    “In the last sector, everyone was going off, but I was managing to hold it on,” said Hamilton, “so I was just passing people and once we got past the start line, it was dry, so I was like ‘this is fine for me, I can hold this out, only got a few more laps to go’.

    “But then it pelted down just in I think the last two laps, started coming down. That’s the moment we should have probably come in.”

    McLaren’s Lando Norris ultimately won the Australian GP, withstanding pressure from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in a fight to the chequered flag as Mercedes’ George Russell completed the podium.

  • Australian GP – Lewis Hamilton highly critical of Ferrari SF-25 but defends Riccardo Adami

    Australian GP – Lewis Hamilton highly critical of Ferrari SF-25 but defends Riccardo Adami

     

     

    Ferrari is already forced to chase in F1: Australia is hard to digest for Lewis Hamilton and the SF-25, but the Briton defends Riccardo Adami. Too much information while chasing Alexander Albon, then too little during the second stop. Nothing serious, it’s part of the growth process: the real problem lies in the car’s lack of balance.

     

    A tenth-place finish is certainly not the dream debut for Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion, who only arrived in Maranello a few months ago, has to settle for a single championship point after (fortuitously) coming close to the podium. A matter of strategies and circumstances that, for a few fleeting moments, made Scuderia Ferrari fans dream on an otherwise dreadful Sunday.

     

    “I was overtaking drivers at every corner, I thought I could keep my car on track,” the Briton recounted after the race. Over the radio, his race engineer had told him that the rain, already falling on the track, would not last long. But all it took was one lap to shatter the dream: “At a certain point, it started pouring.” Too late to return to the pit lane without consequences.

     

    Lewis Hamilton defends Riccardo Adami after the Australian GP

    The communications between Lewis Hamilton and Riccardo Adami, his new race engineer, did not seem particularly smooth from the early stages of the race. Too much information, lamented car #44, who was repeatedly asked to try different settings on the steering wheel.

     

    “Generally, I’m not a driver who likes to receive a lot of information during the race unless I ask for it directly. But [Riccardo Adami] did his best, and we’ll move forward. We are still trying to get to know each other, step by step. We will analyze the race comments, the things I said, and the things he said.”

     

    An overly nervous Ferrari SF-25 in Australia: Lewis Hamilton’s comments

    In addition to an unfortunate strategy, the seven-time world champion was also slowed down by a very nervous car. So difficult to drive that even a highly experienced driver like Hamilton found himself “almost in the wall” multiple times.

     

    “From the moment I got in the car on Friday, I didn’t have much confidence [in the car], especially at high speeds. On Saturday, confidence was coming back. I was building and building and building. Then we got to the race, and once again, starting from scratch, I had no confidence, not even in the adjustments, and the car was very difficult to drive.” – the seven-time Formula 1 world champion concluded.

  • Ferrari explain why Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc left on slick tyres in Australian GP rain drama

    Ferrari explain why Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc left on slick tyres in Australian GP rain drama

    How Ferrari’s gamble on trying to turn around their – difficult Melbourne weekend backfired amid the late-race rain shower; watch the first Sprint weekend of the season at the Chinese GP this coming week live on Sky Sports F1

     

    Listen in on the radio messages from Lewis Hamilton’s first race with Ferrari throughout the Australian Grand Prix.Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur says the team simply made “the wrong call” as he explained why they gambled on keeping Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on slick tyres longer than their rivals in the late rain-hit stages of the Australian Grand Prix.

    Leclerc and Hamilton were running sixth and eighth respectively when a big late-race downpour started to hit parts of the Albert Park track with 13 laps to go.

    The leading McLarens both soon ran off track – with Oscar Piastri then spinning off completely – at the end of lap 44 which was enough for race leader Lando Norris to head straight for the pit lane and change to intermediate tyres.

    Max Verstappen inherited the lead by staying out, but then, as the rain intensified and with the world champion having to tiptoe around the track, Red Bull called him in to change tyres two laps later.

    McLaren driver Oscar Piastri ran wide ending up on the grass, leaving him to rejoin in last place!Ferrari, though, kept their drivers out even longer until lap 47, by which time the Safety Car had been called for crashes for Gabriel Bortoleto (inters) and Liam Lawson

    By then Hamilton and Leclerc, who himself had spun on lap 44, were running second and third in the queue behind the intermediate-shod Norris. But despite the gained track position, Ferrari decided the conditions meant they had no choice but to pit for intermediates too ahead of the race restart, a move which dropped the drivers down to ninth and 10th.

    The best of the action from the first race of the 2025 Formula One season at the Australian Grand Prix.But why the gamble in the first place?

    “It was a strange situation because sector one and two were still dry and sector three was completely wet and it was a kind of a bet I think that Red Bull and us, we bet on the fact that we have to stay on track and to wait for the last part of the race with slicks,” said Vasseur to reporters in Melbourne.

    Who pitted for intermediate tyres when?

     
    Lap 44 Norris, Russell, Albon, Antonelli, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Bortoleto, Piastri, Bearman
    Lap 46 Verstappen, Gasly, Ocon
    Lap 47 Hamilton, Leclerc, Tsunoda

    “When Mercedes and McLaren, but McLaren it’s also because they went out that they pitted two laps before.

    “We made the wrong call because I think the best option was to pit the same lap as Max and we made the wrong call at this stage.”

    Could Ferrari have just stayed on slicks?

    “I don’t think they’d have kept it on the track.

    “And then on the restart it would have been absolutely horrific on those slick tyres.”

    “In my mind I know that’s treacherous, I know it’s difficult, but these are the best drivers in the world and once you’ve made that decision you’ve got to think of the long game.”

     “If they could have just survived on these dry tyres under the Safety Car… I think they should have stayed out.”

    Did Ferrari keep their drivers informed enough about rain?

    After rejoining the track in ninth place, Hamilton said on team radio to new race engineer Riccardo Adami: “I thought you said it wasn’t going to rain much? We just missed a big opportunity there.”

    Leclerc, though, was heard being told by his race engineer about the impending arrival of the high-intensity “class three” rain.

    Lewis Hamilton speaks after his opening race as a Ferrari driver, finishing 10th at the Australian Grand Prix.Asked about the apparent conflicting messages between the two cars, Vasseur said: “Yes, but this is very difficult that we don’t have a sensor for the rain, it means that it’s more a feeling, it’s what we can see on the screen, what we can have on the radar, it’s true from corner to corner.

    “I think we were all surprised by the quantity of rain at this stage of the race, McLaren first, and now we did debate to stay on track with the slicks and to survive, but it was the wrong call.”