Lewis Hamilton’s worrying “lacking the speed” verdict after Miami sprint qualifying

Lewis Hamilton delivered a frank assessment of Ferrari’s current level of performance following sprint qualifying for the F1 Miami Grand Prix.

Hamilton secured seventh on the grid for Saturday’s sprint race in Miami, one place behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

Ferrari were once again the fourth-fastest team over one lap, trailing Mercedes, with Kimi Antonelli storming to his first-ever pole position.

The two McLarens, Max Verstappen and George Russell, all start ahead of the two Ferraris, continuing the Italian team’s disappointing start to the 2025 F1 season.

It was a more encouraging session for Hamilton, given he was just two-tenths off Leclerc’s pace.

In Saudi Arabia, Hamilton was over six-tenths behind Leclerc in qualifying.

Hamilton reflected on sprint qualifying: “It was a better session. P1 was probably a bit better. “The car was a bit nicer to drive in P1. We’re just lacking the speed. Just got to keep working on from there.”

Hamilton was then asked if it would be possible for Ferrari to make progress in the sprint race.

He replied: “Not really. All the cars [ahead] are faster. I don’t know what else to say.”

Hamilton admits “there’s work to do”

Hamilton’s arrival from Mercedes at the start of the season resulted in optimism that Ferrari’s title drought would finally end in 2025.

Ferrari narrowly missed out on the 2024 F1 constructors’ championship to McLaren.

The Scuderia ended last year with the second-quickest car as Leclerc and Carlos Sainz regularly challenged for race victories.

Despite the regulations remaining stable over the winter, Ferrari opted to make significant changes to their car for this year, including a major change to their suspension.

So far, it’s not worked out, with Ferrari scoring just one podium in the opening five rounds.

Hamilton’s sprint race win in China appears to be an anomaly, however.

Looking ahead to the rest of the weekend in Miami, Hamilton conceded there’s “work to do” to find more performance.

“There’s always ideas,” Hamilton added. “Whether they’re right or not. There’s definitely learnings to take from today and setup changes we’ve made, how the car behaved. There’s definitely work to do to pick up speed going into the rest of the weekend.”