Will Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari malaise continue? Five key questions ahead of F1 Miami GP

After a two-week break, F1 heads Stateside for the first time this season as the 2025 campaign continues at rapid pace.

The world championship has a new leader and possible title favourite following a hectic triple-header across Japan and the Middle East, but if the last three races have shown anything, it is that momentum can quickly change.

Here are some of the biggest talking points as F1 heads to Florida for the Miami Grand Prix…

Can Lewis Hamilton get on top of his Ferrari?

Lewis Hamilton's ongoing struggles at Ferrari dominated headlines last time out in Jeddah after he qualified and finished a disappointing seventh.

The seven-time world champion described his Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as “horrible” and worryingly suggested that he could be in for a “painful” season after being left with no explanation for his current lack of pace.

This came just a week after Hamilton had been left upbeat after feeling he had made a breakthrough with Ferrari’s 2025 challenger following a positive recovery in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

But Hamilton and Ferrari are left searching for answers to try and get on top of the problems currently hampering the 40-year-old Briton.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has vehemently defended his star driver and  insisted the team will do everything to support Hamilton, who is currently being convincingly outperformed by teammate Charles Leclerc.

Will Miami come too soon for Hamilton to make any kind of notable improvement, or has there been enough time in the short break to find potential solutions?

Time for Lando Norris to bounce back?

Lando Norris lost his early title lead to McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in Saudi Arabia.

Norris has paid the price for making some costly errors in qualifying, while Piastri has been super consistent, qualifying no lower than third so far this season.

Despite Norris recovering well from 10th to fourth after crashing at the start of Q3, a third win in five races for Piastri saw the Australian move 10 points clear at the top of the championship.

Norris arrives at the venue he claimed his memorable maiden grand prix victory last year, and will be hoping to return to that kind of form on a weekend he could do with a much-needed strike back.

One-off or sign of what’s to come for Mercedes?

Toto Wolff did not mince his words as he described Jeddah as Mercedes’ “worst performance so far” this season.

It was a rather anonymous showing from the Silver Arrows, with George Russell slipping back from third to finish fifth, and Kimi Antonelli falling one place from P5 to sixth.

Russell particularly struggled with tyre management on his hard compound and reported concerns about blistering in the latter stages as he nursed his car to the finish. Prior to Saudi Arabia, Russell had been one of the form drivers of 2025, taking three podiums in four races.

It was a performance which left Mercedes scratching their heads with no explanation for the dramatic form dip heading to Miami, which has not been a happy hunting ground for Mercedes since it joined the calendar in 2022.

With Russell 26 points behind Piastri, Mercedes will be hoping Jeddah simply represented a blip, rather than the start of a worrying performance trend.

What impact will the return of the sprint have?

For the second year in a row, Miami will play host to the F1 sprint.

It will be the second sprint weekend of the 2025 season after China, where Hamilton recorded an impressive first pole and victory for Ferrari.

Shanghai also ended up being a weekend where Ferrari got the ride height on Hamilton’s car wrong, resulting in his disqualification from the main grand prix due to excessive plank wear.

The reduced practice time during a sprint weekend makes it more challenging for teams to get their car set-ups right, increasing the likelihood for potential disqualifications.

Last year’s sprint in Miami was not memorable as the top six all finished where they started but Pirelli has brought a softer range of tyres which may help to spice up the action this weekend.

The additional points up for grabs will be crucial given how finely poised the championship is at this early stage.

Who will bring upgrades?

The two-week gap between Saudi and Miami presents a small window of opportunity for teams to bring new parts in a bid to try and improve their competitiveness. 

McLaren’s upgrade in Miami last year was a key marker in their title charge as Norris racked up his first victory and the team began to usurp Red Bull in F1 2024’s pecking order.

Such updates can have a huge bearing on a team’s fortunes over the remainder of the season, particularly as focus will soon turn to the 2026 regulations, if it hasn’t already.

Several teams including Ferrari are planning to bring updates from the next race in Imola, while Red Bull are set to introduce upgrades over the coming rounds, with a new floor mooted for a possible Miami debut.

McLaren brought a floor upgrade to Saudi Arabia but opted not to race it. Will it make a first competitive appearance this weekend?