Key cause for Lewis Hamilton “chasing his tail” identified

The most fundamental problem with Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car has been pinpointed.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have predominantly been uncompetitive with the McLarens and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen this year.

Despite a series of floor upgrades a week ago in Bahrain, and further updates to their rear wing in Saudi Arabia, their woes haven’t yet been solved.

Leclerc qualified fourth for the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Hamilton seventh.

Sky Sports’ Bernie Collins analysed Hamilton’s deficit to Leclerc in his quali runs: “It’s just little bits throughout the lap.

“Every line wasn’t as tight to the wall, wasn’t as close to the apex.

“He wasn’t using as much of the track as Charles was. That’s the deficit between the two.”

Jamie Chadwick noticed an even more important flaw with the SF-25.

“Their biggest issue is that they struggle with general grip,” she said.

“He can shift the balance forwards and rearwards, and make the car feel different things.

“But you’re basically driving a car with less grip than the other guys. In that case, they will never be able to extract the most performance out of it.

“Between the two, but particularly on Lewis’ side, they are chasing their tails.

“They aren’t finding themselves heading in a direction that they need to.”

'Missed opportunity' for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia?

Hamilton has delivered a series of downbeat interviews after drab F1 sessions in recent weeks, since his sprint race win in China.

In Saudi Arabia after salvaging P7 in qualifying, he admitted he hadn’t yet bonded with his new car.

Leclerc, despite trailing only Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri and George Russell, was also disappointed.

Leclerc insisted he had extracted everything possible from himself and his car yet was still only P4.

“Maybe they think it’s a missed opportunity, and there was one more position to be gained,” Collins said.

Chadwick added: “He is generally very fast at these tracks, maybe that’s why he’s disappointed.

“But look at the deficit to the top three - it’s a couple of tenths. If he doesn’t feel like he’s got that in the car, it will be difficult.”

Last week in Bahrain, fourth and fifth for the Ferrari drivers was a best result of the season.

However, it also shone a spotlight on how far beneath pre-season expectation the team is performing.

Martin Brundle shared his own theory about setup choices causing Hamilton’s travails in the Ferrari.