Lewis Hamilton admits Ferrari move “as challenging as it could ever be on all fronts”

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he “didn’t know how tough” adapting to life at Ferrari was going to be before making the move from Mercedes.

After 12 years at Mercedes, Hamilton made the shock decision to join Ferrari for the 2025 F1 season.

In 2024, Ferrari enjoyed their best campaign in over a decade, finishing within a race victory of constructors’ champions, McLaren.

As a result, much was expected of the Hamilton-Ferrari partnership going into the new campaign.

Ultimately, it’s not lived up to expectations, with the SF-25 struggling for overall pace.

Hamilton has struggled to get the better of Charles Leclerc, only showing flashes of brilliance during sprint weekends.

Speaking ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Hamilton was open about how challenging it has been.

“I anticipated it would be very tough, because I’ve joined a team before,” Hamilton said as quoted by Motorsport.com.

“I came in with a really open mind. I didn’t know how tough it was going to be. I knew it was going to be challenging. It’s as challenging as it could ever be on all fronts.”

Ferrari’s poor start to the year means they sit 152 points behind McLaren in the constructors’ championship.

Assessing whether Ferrari have any hope of this year’s title, Hamilton said: “Championship? There’s still a long, long way to go.

“From all the years of experience, when you’re over 100 points behind at this point in the season, with a car that’s up against a car that’s quite dominant, you have to assume that you’re not necessarily fighting for the win in the championship.

“But things could turn around. We’ve never seen that happen.” 

Can Ferrari upgrades save their season?

With F1 now in Europe after six flyaway races, all 10 teams are expected to introduce significant upgrades.

Ferrari are set to introduce new parts over the next few races, with the Spanish Grand Prix most critical heading into the rest of the season.

In Spain, the FIA will introduce more stringent tests around the front wings.

This could impact the competitive order, with Red Bull claiming McLaren will be hit hardest.

“At the moment, I can’t tell you whether we’re going to gain full tenths, half a second, a second by the end of the season,” Hamilton explained.

“We want to get closer to those things. And as I said, at the moment, we can’t shut the door to any idea. We have to keep our eyes and our heads up. We have to stay vigilant. We have to push with the expectation and the goal of winning.

“That’s still the goal of each weekend. Right now, when I’m sitting with the engineers, it’s how are we going to win this weekend. 

“If we can extract a little bit more from the tyres, if we can extract a little bit more from the floor, if every single one of us is able to pull out half a tenth each. Then, maybe we can just get there.”