Jolyon Palmer Raises Purple Flag Over Lewis Hamilton’s Struggles With Ferrari’s 2025 F1 Automotive
Lewis Hamilton is hoping that the prolonged pause between the Saudi Arabian and Miami Grands Prix has supplied the psychological reset he desperately wants following a difficult begin to his Ferrari profession throughout the first triple-header of the 2025 Components 1 season.
Whereas Ferrari entered the season with excessive expectations, the Scuderia’s marketing campaign has up to now failed to fulfill inner and fan expectations—apart from two excessive factors. One got here in Saudi Arabia, the place Charles Leclerc secured the workforce’s first Grand Prix podium of the 12 months. The opposite got here in China, when Hamilton secured pole place and went on to win the Dash Race, a efficiency that briefly reignited hopes for a breakthrough.
Nevertheless, underlying technical limitations have emerged. Ferrari’s SF-25 has proven an inclination to underperform when arrange with the next journey peak—an aerodynamic compromise that has affected each qualifying tempo and race consistency. Regardless of bringing a revised ground to Bahrain in an effort to resolve the problem, the answer has been solely partially efficient.
Lewis Hamilton’s personal efficiency has additionally been marred by misfortune. After a promising outing in Shanghai, his disqualification for extreme plank put on nullified the beneficial properties and left Ferrari scrambling to regain momentum. In the meantime, his hole to Charles Leclerc—particularly in qualifying—has raised contemporary considerations.
Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer believes he could have pinpointed a deeper challenge that’s troubling the seven-time world champion. Talking on the F1 Nation Podcast, Palmer analyzed Lewis Hamilton’s opening races with Ferrari and drew parallels to the Briton’s late-era struggles at Mercedes.
Based on the previous Components 1 driver, Lewis Hamilton seems to be combating an lack of ability to constantly really feel the restrict of grip obtainable from the automotive. He famous that the Ferrari appears to behave unpredictably in essential phases of cornering—entry, mid-corner, and exit—which is making it troublesome for Lewis Hamilton to extract its full potential. Palmer noticed that when the automotive behaves as anticipated, The British driver can nonetheless show flashes of brilliance paying homage to his championship-winning years, however these moments are more and more uncommon.
Palmer warned that this inconsistency echoes the identical points Hamilton confronted at Mercedes throughout the early ground-effect years, significantly in 2022 and 2023. The automotive would seem aggressive one session after which utterly lose efficiency the subsequent, leaving Hamilton puzzled about what had modified. Based on Palmer, what’s particularly regarding is that Hamilton, even after a number of races and ample knowledge evaluation, nonetheless appears unsure about how you can resolve these recurring issues. He added that Hamilton appeared unusually dejected following the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix—maybe essentially the most downbeat he’s been since becoming a member of Ferrari.
This ongoing wrestle raises the query of whether or not Ferrari’s 2025 automotive is exacerbating the very points Hamilton hoped to depart behind at Mercedes. The brand new setting was purported to be a contemporary chapter, but acquainted frustrations are resurfacing. Palmer’s feedback counsel that Hamilton is as soon as once more caught in a vicious cycle of imbalance and inconsistency, the place the automotive’s behaviour varies from session to session, undermining confidence and rhythm.
Ferrari’s present scenario could also be evoking what Palmer described as Hamilton’s “worst nightmare”: a technically restricted automotive that doesn’t reply predictably to driver enter. This lack of coherence between driver suggestions and car response is particularly damaging throughout qualifying, the place Hamilton has notably lagged behind Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque’s expertise with the workforce and proficiency in one-lap efficiency have solely additional highlighted the disparity between the 2 drivers.
Furthermore, the Briton’s setup preferences look like diverging considerably from Charles Leclerc’s. Based on workforce sources, the 2 drivers are requesting reverse modifications to key parameters—one thing that will counsel Hamilton hasn’t but established a agency grasp on what course will resolve his particular points. This not solely hampers growth but in addition creates inner complexities inside the workforce’s strategy to race weekends.
To make issues worse for Hamilton, his present factors deficit paints a stark image. He trails Leclerc by 16 factors within the Drivers’ Championship and can also be behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the teenage prodigy who changed him at Mercedes. This solely provides to the stress.
Parallels at the moment are being drawn between Hamilton’s trajectory and that of different latest underperformers within the sport. Daniel Ricciardo’s fall from kind at McLaren and subsequent struggles with RB function a cautionary story. Nevertheless, in contrast to Daniel Ricciardo, Lewis Hamilton’s seat at Ferrari is probably going safe for the close to future as a consequence of his star energy and long-term contract. That stated, the basic challenges stay unresolved.
In abstract, Ferrari’s 2025 automotive has but to supply Hamilton with the aggressive edge he wants. And with early season flaws nonetheless current, questions on whether or not he can adapt rapidly sufficient—or whether or not Ferrari can ship a automotive extra suited to his driving model—have gotten more and more pressing. As Palmer warns, this can be greater than only a gradual begin; it could possibly be a continuation of a deeper challenge that has adopted Hamilton from Brackley to Maranello.
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