Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton told “there’s no point”, urged to avoid error
Ferrari trying to avoid same mistake as 2024 in bid to rejuvenate Lewis Hamilton's car
Ferrari’s new “idea” for car development has been described as they strive to avoid repeating a big mistake.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have lagged behind the McLarens, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the Mercedes in a below-par season so far.
Even the Williams duo Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz sandwiched their Ferrari counterparts at the F1 Miami Grand Prix last weekend.
A year ago, Ferrari’s attempt at a major upgrade in Spain backfired and left them chasing their tails.
“They made a mistake last year with the upgrade in Barcelona,” L’Equipe journalist Fred Ferret told the F1 Nation podcast.
“They were lost during the whole summer. Their championship was [over] there.
“The idea now is not to bring big updates until they find a solution to the tyre management over one lap.
“There is no point bringing something for a car which is quite good. Remember Charles Leclerc in Jeddah? At one point, he was the fastest on track, more than McLaren.
“The car is not bad. They don’t know yet how to manage it.”
Lewis Hamilton 'trying to assimilate' amid Ferrari issues
Hamilton’s relationship with Ferrari came under the microscope after tetchy radio communication during the Miami Grand Prix.
He later put it down to merely adrenaline but it shone a light on the difficulties at Ferrari.
Both Hamilton and Leclerc have been downbeat about the SF-25’s performance in the first six rounds of the 2025 season.
Hamilton is also trying to adapt to a new team, after the most high-profile driver switch in F1 history, since leaving Mercedes.
“Leclerc is well established in that team, but Hamilton is trying to get grips with this Ferrari, as well as the team,” Laura Winter explained.
“He’s trying to assimilate to a new culture and a new engineer.
“There are lots of little 1 percents that Lewis is working on, before he gets to the point where he finds the maximum from the car.
“He’s still looking at engine braking and changing the way he drives the car.
“They have two unbelievably strong drivers but they’re on the back foot.”
Next weekend’s F1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix sends Ferrari back to Italy where the Tifosi will be expectant.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
