Lewis Hamilton admits ‘there will be tears’ after tough start at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton is expecting tears during the upcoming F1 summer break after a tough start to life at Ferrari.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton grabbed the attention of the F1 world when he made the blockbuster switch to Ferrari for the 2025 season after 12 hugely successful years with Mercedes.

But Hamilton’s start at Ferrari has not gone as he would have hoped. The 40-year-old Briton has struggled to adapt to the SF-25 and has been comprehensively outperformed by teammate Charles Leclerc across the opening 13 rounds.

A pole position and victory in the China sprint race was a rare high in what has otherwise been a challenging start to Hamilton’s Ferrari career.

"The last god knows how many seasons have been hard in their own way. This one has definitely been the most intense one, I would say, just from a work perspective,” Hamiton told media ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Crash.net are on the ground.

"Integrating into a new culture and into a new team. It's not gone smoothly in all areas, and it's been a real battle. I definitely need to get away and recharge, be around the kids, laugh, let go.

“I'm sure there'll be some tears at some point and I think that's really healthy.”

Hamilton ‘excited’ for switch off 

Despite a difficult 2025 so far, Hamilton spoke of his excitement and enjoyment of working with Ferrari and insists he has “such belief” in F1’s most iconic team to turn their fortunes around.

Hamilton also admitted he is looking forward to the three-week August break to reset and recharge following an intense first half of the season.

"But I'm always excited to race. I love what I do, I love being in red, I love working with this team, I have such belief in this team,” Hamilton added.

"It's really hard to explain. I already had it a lot when I was in my previous team. Over time, you really build that camaraderie, and I see the passion in this team and I love it.

"All I want to do is contribute the best that I can. Of course I need to do that mostly on track, and I'm not always hitting that, but also in the background.

"I see there's things that we can always improve and there's things that I can improve on. I'm just really excited for this break.

"I think for everybody, particularly the guys at the factory, they'll definitely enjoy this time with their family and then we'll come back extra energised for the second half."