Category: Lewis hamilton news

 

Frustration for both Ferrari drivers revealed in F1 Bahrain Grand Prix

 

 

Lewis Hamilton left the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix as the official ‘driver of the day’ after his run to fifth.

 

It represented a remarkable 24-hour turnaround after his despondency on Saturday post-qualifying.

 

“It happens every Saturday,” he sighed after qualifying ninth but he would enjoy a far more productive grand prix in Lusail.

 

Hamilton was P5, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc, giving Ferrari their best grand prix finish of the season.

 

However, that speaks volumes about the struggles faced by Ferrari who brought a slew of upgrades to Bahrain to somehow jolt life into their campaign.

 

Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari ‘closed the gap’

 

“It’s been tricky, a tricky start for Lewis at Ferrari. Yesterday he was particularly down,” Sky Sports’ Naomi Schiff said.

 

“Coming into this weekend, it felt like energy was particularly low.

 

“From our understanding, we hear that they aren’t able to run the car in the optimum setup.

 

“That has been frustrating for both drivers.

 

“They brought the new floor here this weekend. Clearly they have closed the gap because both Charles and Lewis, towards the end, were very competitive.

 

“Lewis always come back alive on a Sunday. His issues are on a Saturday with qualifying pace.

 

“But with long run pace situations, he’s always a lot more on it. You can feel his energy is lifted, as soon as he delivers performance.”

 

Leclerc left Bahrain bemoaning Ferrari’s lack of pace, but for Hamilton his issues clearly lie during qualifying.

 

It was suggested that, next weekend at the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Ferrari tell Hamilton to test quali sims during practice sessions on the Friday.

 

“I don’t know,” was Schiff’s reaction. “I guess that’s an option – but it feels like something you do with a younger driver.

 

“Lewis understands the processes to get that car into the window it needs to be in qualifying.

 

“I don’t know what’s lacking with him. Whether it’s confidence in the car, he’s talking about engine braking, every week it seems he’s mentioning more issues that he’s struggling to get on top of, after coming from another team.

 

“For him it’s about being on track, driving as much as possible, getting to know this car, getting on top of those issues in the lower fuel runs.”

 

Hamilton’s season so far has peaked with a sprint race win in China but P5 in Bahrain is his best grand prix result so far.

 

 

Lewis Hamilton on Lewis Hamilton: Didn’t it just sound like him last year?

 

Down on pace in qualifying in Bahrain, Karun Chandhok says it was like watching Lewis Hamilton “wear the Mercedes uniform” again in a repeat of last year’s qualifying woes.

 

Last season, his last year with Mercedes, Hamilton lost his qualifying head-to-head against George Russell. It was only his second qualifying defeat in his 18 years on the F1 grid.

 

What is going wrong for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari?

The Briton said at the time: “Who knows? I’m definitely not fast anymore.”

 

It was a shocking admission from the driver who holds the record for the most pole positions ever in Formula 1, 104.

 

But swapping silver for red, many pundits believed the seven-time World Champion would be revitalised even if he was making the move at age 40.

 

A pole position in Sprint qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix gave credence to that, Hamilton following that up with a lights-to-flag victory to earn Ferrari a maiden Sprint win.

 

However, in qualifying for the Grands Prix, he trails his team-mate Charles Leclerc 3-1 and finished a concerning six-tenths down on the Monegasque driver in Bahrain on Saturday.

 

But Hamilton blamed his Japanese GP deficit to his team-mate on an undisclosed part that wasn’t performing as it should, in Bahrain he admitted this one was on him.

 

He told media, including PlanetF1: “I’m just not doing a good enough job on my side so I’ve just got to keep improving. It’s definitely not a good feeling, for sure.”

 

Quizzed on what he could do to improve his pace, he replied: “I really don’t know. I don’t have a lot of answers for you guys, I just wasn’t quick today.”

 

Speaking to DAZN, he added: “Saturdays are the worst days for me. At the moment I don’t feel hopeful but I’ll try to figure out some way of getting a little further up. But at the moment just failing the team.

 

“The car has improved [with the upgrades], it’s just my driving.”

 

Hamilton’s despondent rang out loud for Chandhok, who says it sounds all too familiar.

 

“I heard his comments today and he sounded completely like he was on the floor,” the former F1 driver told Sky F1.

 

“If I closed my eyes, it was like watching him wear the Mercedes uniform last year.

 

“Didn’t it just sound like him last year? How many times last year did we hear him say, ‘I can’t qualify.’

 

“I just closed my eyes and thought, ‘Is he in a Mercedes race-suit again?’ It just felt like last year again. I don’t know what’s happened.”

 

Asked whether age given Hamilton is now 40 has played a part in the Briton’s one-lap pace, Chandhok replied: “With age, the thing that you lose is the ultimate speed in qualifying, but six-tenths to Leclerc, it was a lot.”

 

Hamilton is hoping to bounce back in Sunday’s 53-lap Bahrain Grand Prix, at least work his way into the top five.

 

Asked about his prospects, he replied: “Hopefully top five. I’ll try to see if I can get into the top five, we’ll see.’

 

Lewis Hamilton driving the Ferrari SF-25 during Bahrain Grand Prix practice

Lewis Hamilton experienced the upgraded Ferrari SF-25 for the first time in Bahrain practice

 

Ferrari arrived at the Bahrain Grand Prix armed with an upgraded floor among a suite of early alterations to their SF-25.

 

And Lewis Hamilton has given the thumbs up, confirming that Ferrari’s upgrades are “definitely working” after the opening day of track action in Bahrain.

 

Ferrari upgrades working: Lewis Hamilton one to watch in Bahrain?

After a rocky start to the F1 2025 campaign for Ferrari – the team P4 in the Constructors’ standings and already 76 points behind leaders McLaren – the Scuderia are looking to boost their SF-25 challenger with the introduction of a redesigned floor, floor edges and diffuser for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

 

The opening practice session was not particularly representative with scorching heat leading to widespread balance and grip issues across the grid, and by the end of FP2, Charles Leclerc was the highest-ranking Ferrari in P4 – half a second off the pace of session-topper Oscar Piastri in the McLaren – with Hamilton P8 and a second off the pace.

 

“Same old Fridays,” Hamilton reflected after FP2.

 

“It was fun. Quite difficult in the morning, as always, with the temperature being so high. The grip was terrible on the hard tyre for the first run. There’s quite a big shock from hard to soft, which was much better.

 

“But we made some changes, and the car felt pretty decent then in [F]P2.”

 

And so asked what the main focus is for Ferrari at this point going into qualifying and the race, Hamilton added: “Just consistency. Just pulling the laps together, having a car that’s easy to drive and that’s consistent through the lap.

 

“At the moment, it’s a bit different between low, medium and high [speed], as you often have, and so we’re just trying to finesse it, trying to tweak it, and then make sure that we have good long run pace, because that’s where you need to be strong here in particular.”

 

But, onto the killer question. Will these Ferrari upgrades prove a success with these missions in mind?

 

In a huge boost for the Scuderia, Hamilton suggested so.

 

“The upgrades are definitely working,” he confirmed. “And big, big thank you to everyone back home for working so hard on bringing the upgrades, because it’s never an easy thing. It’s a lot of work that goes on in the windtunnel and a lot of work that goes on in fabricating and putting together these floors.

 

“So, it’s just good to see that we’re taking steps forwards, and yeah, we’re trying to now extract more from it.

 

“I hope that we can make the right steps overnight into tomorrow.”

 

 

 

 

F1 News Today: Lewis Hamilton Ferrari gamble confirmed as FIA ratify wing change

 

Ferrari have confirmed that they have brought a raft of upgrades to the Bahrain Grand Prix after a disappointing start to the season for Lewis Hamilton.

 

 

 

FIA confirm Red Bull change for Bahrain GP after McLaren wing drama

 

The FIA have confirmed that Red Bull are running a modified front wing this weekend, having published their ‘car presentation submissions’ document.

 

 

 

Sky Sports F1 legend claps back over ‘exciting’ way to spice up the sport

 

Martin Brundle has clapped back at Jeremy Clarkson’s suggestion on how to spice up Formula 1, defending the sport from claims that it is boring.

 

TRENDING

FIA announce Red Bull penalty verdict after Bahrain Grand Prix incident

 

 

FIA confirm official curfew breach for McLaren F1 team at Bahrain Grand Prix

 

The FIA have confirmed that McLaren were found to have breached curfew at the Bahrain Grand Prix ahead of the first day of practice this weekend.

 

 

 

F1 champion’s steering wheel COMES OFF at Bahrain Grand Prix

 

Fernando Alonso’s 2025 season has gone from bad to worse during FP2 at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where his steering wheel came off.

 

 

 

FIA announce Max Verstappen engine change at Bahrain Grand Prix

 

The FIA have confirmed that Max Verstappen’s Red Bull has received engine changes, alongside Yuki Tsunoda’s RB21 and the Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson.

 

 

According to Jamie Chadwick, Lewis Hamilton has “exceeded expectations” in his early days with the Ferrari squad, as seen by his sprint victory in China. Hamilton’s greatest major race result was eighth place in Japan. Watch every session of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend starting on Friday on Sky Sports F1.

According to Le Mans Series driver Jamie Chadwick, Lewis Hamilton has “exceeded expectations” at Ferrari but will find it difficult to “make a dent” at this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Last Sunday’s seventh-place finish in Japan was Hamilton’s highest finish for the Scuderia in the first three races of 2025. On his team debut in Australia, he finished in 10th place, and after finishing in sixth place in China, he was disqualified for excessive plank wear.

The seven-time world champion, however, claimed victory in the Chinese sprint race and stated during the Japanese Grand Prix that Ferrari had now identified a problem with his car’s poor performance, which he thinks would result in an improvement. The Constructors’ Championship currently has the Italian team 76 points behind McLaren.

 

Lewis Hamilton endured a frustrating Japanese Grand Prix having failed to pass both Mercedes drivers to get into the top five.

 

The seven-time world champion went into the race weekend off the back of disqualification in China due to technical infringement, which Ferrari traced back to their car setup over the Sprint weekend.

 

Ferrari changed their car’s suspension at Suzuka to avoid a similar fate, having identified a part on their floor which was underperforming.

 

It meant Hamilton and Charles Leclerc could not challenge McLaren or eventual winner Max Verstappen, while the Briton only managed to overtake Isack Hadjar for P7.

 

Hamilton could be heard frustrated over team radio with engineer Riccardo Adami, which Peter Windsor believes is something he would not do in the earlier stages of his career when speaking on the Cameron CC podcast.

 

 

Peter Windsor thinks Lewis Hamilton’s ‘cry of frustration’ against Kimi Antonelli

Hamilton reached 40 years old in January making him the second oldest driver on the grid behind Fernando Alonso. If he wins an eighth world title, Hamilton will be the first driver since Jack Brabham to achieve the feat.

 

Although Hamilton has not been fussed about getting older impacting his driving, Windsor believes we saw signs of his age and added frustration when speaking to his engineer during the race in Japan.

 

 

“Lewis is 40 years old and I think because of that he just thinks about everything more. I think he’s impervious to what the press say, but I do think he thinks about things more as he gets older. If you’re 21 you just do it on gut feeling,” said Windsor.

 

 

“That’s the difference now, he’s at an age where he’s thinking more and about why Kimi Antonelli is getting away from him and why he’s on hard tyres.

 

“That to me was a real cry of frustration because even having got the information that he wanted, it didn’t help him anyway.”

 

Lewis Hamilton wants Ferrari to improve car after disappointing start to the season

Ferrari’s start to the year has been messy with the double disqualification in China, strategy mistake in Australia, and difficult weekend in Japan.

 

Hamilton is dealing with the same problem he had at Mercedes, with Ferrari having to find the right compromise between ride height and car setup.

 

During the pre-season, Hamilton spent long hours at the Ferrari factory in their simulator and took plenty of time up doing test session in old cars under the Testing of Previous Cars rules.

 

It has enabled him to work with engineers more closely to identify problems, which Ferrari believes can be sorted to put them back on the right track towards challenging rivals. But the start of the season has put them on a significant backfoot for the rest of the year, which could impact their title chances.

 

Lewis Hamilton’s start to life at Ferrari has been far from ideal. The Scuderia have been struggling for race pace so far in 2025

 

The seven-time world champion’s debut for Ferrari in Melbourne ended on a whimper with P10. He had been leading at one point in the tricky conditions, but the team’s gamble on dry tyres in the rain did not pay off.

 

At the Chinese Grand Prix, the SF-25 found performance, which guided Hamilton to the Sprint win on Saturday. However, Ferrari suddenly lost that speed in the race as the Brit and Charles Leclerc came home P5 and P6.

 

That was until the duo were disqualified – Leclerc for being underweight and Hamilton for excessive plank wear. This proved to be another gut punch, leaving the latter on just nine points from his first two races at Ferrari.

 

Position Drivers’ Championship Points

1

Lando Norris

44

2

Max Verstappen

36

3

George Russell

35

4

Oscar Piastri

34

5

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

22

6

Alexander Albon

16

7

 

 

After such a disappointing start, much noise has been made about whether the 40-year-old is already disillusioned with Ferrari. Ted Kravitz noticed Hamilton has backtracked his expectations at the Japanese Grand Prix by saying he did not expect to win from the start.

 

But at the start of the season, Hamilton had said the team had what they needed to fight for the championship. It is clear Ferrari need to act fast to get the edge over their rivals – they have started during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.

 

 

Ferrari called Lewis Hamilton to an emergency meeting in Maranello before the Japanese Grand Prix

Ferrari engineers tried to lift Hamilton’s spirits in his garage at Suzuka by giving him a teddy of his pet dog Rsocoe. This came before the team had called him to an emergency meeting in Maranello to get their problems ‘figured out.’

 

 

Kravitz noted on Sky Sports F1 before FP1 that the team admitted they got it wrong with Hamilton’s plank weat disqualification in China, but only by a ‘tiny amount.’

 

“The Leclerc underweight disqualification was quite a simple thing. Ferrari say there were quite a few things that contributed to that but they know what that was,” he said.

 

“But clearly the Lewis Hamilton plank wear and it was only by half a millimetre, was just outside the tolerance. Of course, Lewis wants the most downforce from this Ferrari, you get the most downforce by running the car as low as possible to the ground.

 

“And I spoke to Ferrari this morning, they admit they got that wrong but it wasn’t by much. We’re talking tiny details here and by a tiny amount, the car was outside the regulations.

 

“Ferrari did call a meeting, called Lewis Hamilton back from his activities in the far east in China and Japan, back to Maranello just for a day on Tuesday to get it all figured out and then Lewis came back out here to Japan, to acclimatise to the time difference.”

 

Lewis Hamilton is determined to make his stint at Ferrari a success

Alice Powell fears Ferrari’s double disqualification is ‘really damaging’ to their constructors’ title chances. The team are level on points with Williams after two races, who have already equalled their 2024 points tally.

 

It is clear Ferrari have work to do if they want to challenge the likes of McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull for the title – their star driver has been putting considerable effort in behind the scenes with long hours at the factory.

 

Hamilton has also been learning Italian to immerse himself fully in the Ferrari culture. He is determined to make his stint in Maranello a success – it could be his last chance to win an eighth title.

 

Hamilton is contracted until 2026, with an option of a further year. However, 2025 could be his best opportunity to claim the championship before the new technical regulations come into effect next season.

 

Hamilton has ‘absolute 100% faith’ in Ferrari

A smiling Lewis Hamilton wearing a red Ferrari cap

Lewis Hamilton won the sprint race in China two weeks ago but was disqualified from the main grand prix

 

 

Venue: Suzuka Dates: 4-6 April Race start: 06:00 BST on Sunday

 

Coverage: Live radio commentary of practice and qualifying on BBC 5 Sports Extra, race live on BBC Radio 5 Live. Live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app

 

Lewis Hamilton says he has “absolute 100% faith” in Ferrari despite their difficult start to the season.

 

The seven-time champion won the sprint race in China last time out but struggled in the grand prix in Shanghai and the season-opener in Australia.

 

Ferrari are only fifth in the constructors’ championship after Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc were disqualified from fifth and sixth places in China for technical infringements.

 

Briton Hamilton said: “I saw someone said something about whether I’m losing faith in the team, which is complete rubbish.

 

“I have absolute 100% faith in this team.

 

“There was obviously a huge amount of hype at the beginning of the year. I don’t know if everyone was expecting us to be winning from race one and winning the championship in our first year.

 

“That wasn’t my expectation. I know that I’m coming into a new culture, a new team and it’s going to take time.”

 

 

Hamilton emphasised the difficulties in adapting to a new team, especially around the specifics of the technicalities of a new car.

 

“On reflection, I was actually quite happy with how I’ve adapted in just those two races,” he said.

 

“I’ve definitely got a lot of work to do to make sure that it’s better moving forward.

 

“It’s just understanding the technical side of this thing, understanding all the tools that I have. It likes to be driven differently.

 

“After analysing the last two races, you’ve got the first race (in Australia)… I generally didn’t feel great in the car at the beginning, but my pace wasn’t too bad in the first two days.

 

“And Sunday was the first time I’d ever driven the car in the rain, and I was learning a lot throughout the race.”

 

Hamilton said that he had also been affected by lost running time in pre-season testing in Bahrain and being forced to miss a test in Abu Dhabi at the end of last year when other drivers tried out the new 2025 tyre designs.

 

Because of that, he said China “was the first time I’d actually done a long run” in the dry.

 

He added: “Every other driver here got to do Abu Dhabi tests and try the 2025 tyre. I didn’t. When we went into the race run in Bahrain, the car broke down, so I didn’t actually get to do a long run on any of the tyres.

 

“So, the sprint race was the first time I’d actually done a 20-lap stint on the tyre.

 

“And then, in the race, it was the first time I’d ever tried the C2 (compound). So, I was just learning that through the race.

 

“You don’t just put the tyre on and know what it’s going to do. I definitely feel like I was starting to feel the onward effect of not being able to do the test at the end of the year.”

 

Swapped seats & shaky starts: What to know ahead of Japanese Grand Prix

Despite the problems they have had so far, which leaves Ferrari 61 points behind McLaren in the constructors’ championship, Leclerc said the Italian team can “still have an amazing season”.

 

The Monegasque – who finished ahead of Hamilton in China, despite a front wing damaged on the first lap in a collision between the two Ferrari drivers – pointed to the team’s progress in 2024, which started slowly but ended with them narrowly missing out on winning the constructors’ championship for the first time since 2008.

 

Leclerc said: “If we go back to last year, looking at the first few races, the situation in terms of performance was quite a bit worse than where we are now.

 

“We kind of expected Red Bull to dominate the whole season, and by taking the points that were available at the beginning of the season with the performance we had, we ended up actually fighting for the championship – which was way above our expectations.

 

“There’s definitely not that feeling within the team at the moment.

 

“However, we do feel we haven’t maximised what we could have in the first two races, and that’s frustrating.

 

“But it doesn’t mean we cannot recover. The season is still very long. Small steps after small steps – we can still have an amazing season.”

 

Lewis Hamilton looks concerned on the grid in China

Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari career has got off to an underwhelming start

 

Former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo was left “horrified” by the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at the Chinese Grand Prix.

 

That is the claim of former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who has described Ferrari’s double blow in Shanghai as the biggest “disgrace” in the team’s history.

 

Former Ferrari boss ‘horrified’ by Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc double DSQ

Leclerc and Hamilton finished fifth and sixth respectively at last month’s Chinese GP, but were both excluded from the official classification for separate offences.

 

While Leclerc’s car was found to be underweight, Hamilton was disqualified for excessive wear to the skid blocks of his SF-25.

 

It marked the second time in the last 18 months that the seven-time World Champion has been excluded for excessive skid-block wear, having suffered the same fate in his penultimate season with Mercedes at the 2023 United States Grand Prix.

 

Hamilton’s only previous disqualification came at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix, where the then-McLaren driver was punished for misleading the FIA’s stewards.

 

 

Ecclestone was reunited with Di Montezemolo at the 80th birthday party of music legend Eric Clapton last weekend.

 

And he has revealed that the former Ferrari chairman was still smarting from the disqualification of Hamilton and Leclerc a week on from the Chinese GP.

 

Ecclestone told Swiss-German publication Blick: “I met the former Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo there.

 

“He was horrified by Ferrari’s two disqualifications in China. Italy had never experienced such a disgrace since the start of the World Championship!”

 

Leclerc’s car was found to be marginally below the minimum weight limit after the Chinese GP, falling just one kilogram short of the 800kg requirement after fuel was drained from his car.

 

With Leclerc on a one-stop strategy in Shanghai, it has been speculated that excessive tyre wear could have contributed to his disqualification after Mercedes driver George Russell suffered the same issue at last year’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

 

Ecclestone believes Leclerc could have easily avoided a disqualification by making more of an effort to collect what is commonly known as ‘pickup’ – discarded pieces of tyre rubber off the racing line – on the cooldown lap to increase the weight of his car.

 

He added: “There was clearly no control centre to check the cars after qualifying.

 

“There has been an age-old rule about being underweight for decades.

 

“Drive through the mud after crossing the finish line and collect as many stones as possible with the tyres in the gravel.”

 

Ecclestone’s comments come after a report in Italy claimed that Ferrari have made a breakthrough in their understanding of the SF-25 with extensive work in the simulator since the Chinese GP.

 

It is said that the team have trialled 20 different suspension configurations in the simulator, with Ferrari set to run a different combination of front and rear adjustments in Japan compared to the first two races of the season.

 

Ferrari are thought to be convinced that there are no basic flaws with their 2025 design concept beyond the SF-25 extreme sensitivity to ride-height changes, with the team hopeful that the true pace of the car will be unlocked at Suzuka this weekend.

 

It emerged after the season opener in Australia that Ferrari were forced to run in a compromised state in Melbourne after discovering that the car was running too close to the ground in Friday practice.

 

 

Lewis Hamilton’s latest social media post sparked heartfelt reactions from his followers.

 

As the United Kingdom celebrated Mother’s Day, the Formula 1 star once again captured the attention of his massive fanbase by dedicating a special post to his two moms: his biological mother, Carmen Larbalestier and his stepmother, Linda Hamilton.

 

In an Instagram post, the Ferrari driver shared a rare glimpse into his close relationship with both women, expressing how “grateful” he is for their love and support.

 

The British racer began his post by describing both of his moms as the “most beautiful women” who have kept him “going in life.”

 

View the original article to see embedded media.

 

The 40-year-old described his biological mother as “selfless, loving, devoted and nurturing,” while he praised his stepmother for always encouraging his creativity.

 

Interestingly, Lewis Hamilton’s Instagram post not only garnered beautiful words from his followers but also caused them to swoon over one special photo.

 

“Last pic is peak mum,” one wrote.

 

“Last pic is so beautiful,” another added.

 

“Your mama on slide 4 taking a pic of you!!! Will always be my favorite,” a fan chimed in.

 

“Last pic is a very proud mom,” a social media user noticed.

 

The same goes for another fan who wrote, “Mama proud of her little bambino,” while another added, “So precious. As a Mum, that last pic hit me with all the feels!!”

 

Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton strolls into COTA Jay Janner,

Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton strolls into COTA Jay Janner,  Jay Janner&comma

Fans couldn’t stop talking about the photo of Lewis Hamilton with his biological mother, who was seen taking a picture of him as he greeted the crowd. The moment clearly reflected her pride in her son.