Lewis Hamilton is frustrated and struggling in F1 2025. How concerned should Ferrari be?

New York Times

11 hours ago

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Lewis Hamilton knew the emotions of life in Formula One would be much stronger upon joining Ferrari.
The highs racing for F1's most successful and iconic team would be higher than anywhere else. And the lows would feel that bit sharper.
Emotional extremes fill Hamilton's first half-season wearing the famed red suit. The joy of his sprint race win in China was tempered by a disqualification from the main Shanghai race one day later. The struggles that followed eventually became progress toward matching teammate Charles Leclerc's faster pace.
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But the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix was a particularly tough weekend for Hamilton, who lamented being (in his words) 'useless' after qualifying 12th on Saturday. He even suggested Ferrari 'probably need to change driver' when Leclerc took pole in the same car.
They were comments made not long after he'd climbed from his car, with emotions still running high. Yet Hamilton showed little sign of rowing back on his frustration after Sunday's race, where he'd again finished 12th after a difficult outing that was uneventful bar his off when Max Verstappen tried a tricky pass.
It marked the first time in Hamilton's 19-season F1 career he'd crossed the finish line and not scored in the points in Hungary. And he holds a record eight wins at the track. He wasn't helped by Ferrari's 'bet,' as team principal Fred Vasseur called it, of starting on hard tires — the contra strategy compared to the leaders. Nor was he aided by the lack of quality overtaking opportunities when stuck in a train of cars mid-race at a track were passing is very hard.
When he was reminded of his post-qualifying comments after the race, Hamilton told reporters he felt 'the same' as he had on Saturday, his tone and emotion unshifted. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, he said: 'When you have a feeling, you have a feeling. There's a lot going on in the background that is not… great.'
Hamilton didn't specify what that was in reference to, but added to Sky that he still loves racing and 'still loves the team.' In the print media pen afterwards, he said he was 'looking forward to coming back' after the summer break. 'Hopefully I'll be back, yeah,' Hamilton said.
When asked if he was ready for the four-week gap to Zandvoort, he replied: 'Very much so.'
The 40-year-old's love for racing may still be there, and a lot of his frustration in Budapest can be attributed to emotions running hot immediately post-session. But at no point during the dream move to Ferrari could Hamilton have anticipated he'd be so far down the order while his teammate vied for victory. Expectations, undoubtedly, have not been met, making Hamilton's emotion entirely understandable.
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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff spent over a decade working with Hamilton and shared plenty of good and bad in that time, witnessing him climb to his absolute peak as a seven-time world champion, as well as enduring a frustrating final year together in 2024.
'That is Lewis wearing his heart on his sleeve,' Wolff said in Hungary. 'It's what he thought very much when he was asked after the session. It was very raw. He was doubting himself. We had it in the past when he felt that he'd given it his all and underperformed to his own expectations. He's been that emotionally transparent since he was a young adult.
'So he's going to beat himself up. He's the G.O.A.T. and he will always be the G.O.A.T. Nobody is going to take that away.'
Post-race in Hungary, Vasseur showed no sign of concern when discussing Hamilton's self-critical comments. 'He's demanding, but I think it's also why he's a seven-time world champion,' Vasseur said. 'He's demanding with the team, with the car, with the engineers, with the mechanics, with myself. But first of all, he's very demanding of himself. It's always been a good motivation for him.'
A difference of 11 positions between the Ferrari cars in qualifying on Saturday was stark and disappointing for Hamilton. But Vasseur was quick to point out the fine margins involved: Hamilton was within two-tenths of Leclerc in Q1, and just 0.247 seconds behind in Q2. Had he gone a mere 15 milliseconds quicker, he'd have made it through to Q3, and things could have looked very different, as they did for Leclerc (who only progressed to Q3 with sixth in Q2).
'At the end of the day, it's really on the edge,' Vasseur said.
But those edges do make all the difference, especially in this current ultra-competitive F1 age. So long as Hamilton is on the wrong side of it, he's going to be frustrated and introspective, wanting to understand how he can do better.
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Entering a team as big and different as Ferrari this year, Hamilton was always going to encounter change and challenges. From the moment he joined for his first private tests in January, he embedded himself with the team, parking his motorhome up at the test track next to the factory in Maranello. He gave his all to help. The belief he could win a record eighth world title wearing Ferrari red was unshaken.
As recently as Thursday in Hungary, he made his commitment and faith in the team clear. 'I know this team has absolutely every ingredient that's needed to succeed,' Hamilton said. 'I truly believe in that. That's why I signed.'
There have been encouraging signs of progress through this season from Hamilton, whose cause has been hindered by a difficult Ferrari car that, according to Leclerc, required some 'extreme' setups to be at its fastest and remain legal. The team has had to compromise with the ride height of the car for much of the year to avoid a repeat of its double disqualification in China, something eased by the rear suspension update introduced at Spa two races ago.
On average, Hamilton trailed Leclerc by 0.327 seconds in qualifying through the first five races. From Miami to Silverstone, that gap dropped to just 0.051 seconds, but stretched back out to 0.101s, when accounting for Spa and Budapest.
At Spa, Hamilton was knocked out in Q1 and also dropped out in SQ1 after a spin, having switched to a new specification of braking pad that Leclerc had been using since Canada.
Vasseur showed no concern about Hamilton's comments in Hungary, appreciating his position and claiming it wasn't a worrying sign for him to be that far down the order. 'I don't need to motivate him,' Vasseur said. 'Honestly, he's frustrated, but not demotivated. It's a completely different story.'
He also claimed not to be worried about Hamilton's form and brace of P12s in Hungary, joking he 'would prefer to do P1 and P1, but we already know that you could ask the same question to Max (and get the same answer). I think it's a championship, this season, (that) is completely different. It's very tight.'
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Vasseur also batted back a question about getting value for money with Hamilton, pulling a somewhat bemused face. 'I'm not sure that I understand your question, or if I understand, it's not a good one…' he said. 'We are taking drivers because we want to compete in the championship, and to score points, and to win races.'
That rings just as true for Hamilton. He wants to be back at the very front, returning to the fray of a championship fight. Anything less than that is going to breed disappointment and, in Hungary, self-criticism.
What will matter now is how Hamilton can respond at the Dutch Grand Prix on Aug. 31. Ferrari's car has made a step with the updated suspension, allowing Leclerc to take an unlikely pole in Hungary and lead the first half of the race. Ferrari does look to have emerged as the second-fastest team behind McLaren. Its team principal, Andrea Stella, said he was expecting an 'entertaining' final stretch after the summer break, thanks to the threat from the red cars.
If Hamilton can bounce back from the disappointment of Spa and Budapest, and get back to the kind of margins he had to Leclerc before this double-header, he'll likely be in the mix again.
Summer will offer a chance to reset and digest a whirlwind, rollercoaster start with Ferrari. And, crucially for Hamilton, get back into a more positive frame of mind.