Lewis Hamilton “optimistic for the future” but admits “something’s holding us back”

Lewis Hamilton is remaining optimistic about Ferrari’s chances in F1 2025 despite a difficult Miami Grand Prix.

Ferrari had the fifth-fastest car in Miami, trailing McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes and Williams.

Hamilton ultimately finished eighth, one place behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, as a team orders saga engulfed the team.

Hamilton and Leclerc swapped positions twice as they tried to close in on Kimi Antonelli ahead.

However, it didn’t pay off, as neither driver could make the most of the clean air.

Even though it was Ferrari’s worst race of the season in pure performance, Hamilton remained positive.

“Yeah, I had a good day in general,” Hamilton told media in Miami, where Crash.net were present in the paddock.

“Eighth doesn’t really look like that. I feel optimistic for the future. I think this car really does have performance. Something’s holding us back at the moment, we’ve lost performance since China.

“And it’s there, it’s just we can’t use it. Until we get a fix for that, then this is where we are. In the meantime, we can work on all of the other stuff, processes.

“But as I said, I came from the sim last week, I genuinely feel I had a better weekend. To get the third yesterday was a positive. With a better qualifying, I only missed out by half a tenth. Still, for us, we’re battling with the Williams here, so we’re clearly not as quick as we want to be. Williams did a great job this weekend.”

“A better weekend” for Hamilton

While the overall result was disappointing Hamilton, it was a step forward for the seven-time world champion relative to Jeddah.

In Saudi Arabia, Hamilton qualified over six-tenths off Leclerc, then 30 seconds behind him in the race.

“I think this weekend, whilst we’re not as quick as we want to be, I feel like I had a better weekend in general,” Hamilton added.

“The result might not show it necessarily today. But I was 12th, so very hard to overtake here, cars were obviously so close. I got onto the medium tyre, and I felt the car really come alive, and I felt super optimistic in that moment.

“All I could see is the Mercedes up ahead, and I was thinking maybe we can get up to sixth or something. But we lost a lot of time in those laps where Charles and I were battling, and I was clearly quicker in that moment.

“And I didn’t think the decision came quick enough. And for sure, in that time you’re like, come on! But yeah. That’s really kind of it. I have no problems with the team or with Charles. I think we could do better. But the car is where we really need to be. Ultimately we’re fighting for seventh and eighth.”