2025 Suadi Arabian GP - Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton’s switch from Mercedes Benz F1 to Ferrari hasn’t been off to a fantastic start with the 7-time Formula 1 driver struggling to adapt to the handling characteristics of the Ferrari SF-25. Five races into the 2025 Formula 1 season, Hamilton’s most successful drive came in the Chinese grand Prix sprint race where he qualified front of the row and drove a fantastic race to bring home the win with Max Verstappen hunting him down.
Unpredictability Of The Sf-25 F1 Car Setup
The Ferrari drivers have expressed similar sentiment regarding the handling characteristics of the SF-25 with Charles Leclerc stating post qualifying in Bahrain that “I have gone into an extreme direction in the last few weekends terms of setup that fits my driving style but also makes it very very tricky to drive……..with the used tires its was all over the place and its was very difficult to put everything together”.
While both drivers are struggling with the setup, Lewis Hamilton seems to have a harder time adapting to the SF-25 which seems to frustrate the 7-times world championship driver. In Bahrain Hamilton stated about the SF-25 “it requires such different style and settings, like am using engine breaking which we never used in my previous year, much different brakes if you are on Brembos and I’ve been on CI’s for the last fifteen year or so”.
Hamilton continuous on to say;” The car requires a lot and much different driving style so am adjusting to that and I think am slowly getting it”.
The frustrations seem to have followed Hamilton to the just ended Saudi Arabian Grand prix after another poor qualifying session that saw him narrowly make it into Q3 and start the race from P7. In a downbeat tone, Lewis seems to dismiss the chances that the brief break before the Miami grand Prix will give him enough time to reflect and adjust to the SF-25.
Contrary to his teammate, Charles Leclerc qualified in P4 and drove a fantastic race to bring home the third-place trophy after leapfrogging the Mercedes-Benz of George Russel.
Hamilton vs Leclerc: Head-to-Head Differences
Charles Leclerc has been the clear leading driver in terms of results despite Hamilton’s brilliant Chinese grand prix sprint race win. Leclerc has outqualified Hamilton five out of five races not including the Chinese grand Prix sprint qualifying where Hamilton got the better of his teammate.
As it currently stands, qualifying between these two-team mate sits at 5 to 1 in favour of the Monegasque. Hamilton also trials his teammate in points tally with 31 points to his name, 16 points fewer than Leclerc.
