Lewis Hamilton started his second-ever Grand Prix weekend with Ferrari in style, taking his first Sprint Pole with the team and then converting it into an utterly dominant win. But going into qualifying for the Grand Prix on Sunday, he was unable to carry that form into Q3.
As the top 10 shootout came to a close, the #44 driver was only able to muster a third-row starting grid slot in P5.
Touted as a favorite to take the Grand Prix win, the Briton might now just have to settle for a podium finish.
After the session, Hamilton revealed that changes made to the car between the Sprint Race and qualifying led to an unpredictable SF-25.
“We started really optimistic but we made a couple of changes and it really put the car on a knife edge. The wind picked up a bit as well, so the car was trickier to drive and harder to put laps together,” he explained as quoted by Sky Sports F1.
Lewis ha parlato di 2 – 3 piccoli cambiamenti che hanno portato la macchina leggermente con più sovrasterzo e questo in ottica gara vuol dire preservare ancor di più l’anteriore per ridurre l’effetto graning.#F1 #ChineseGP #Hamilton
— Fulvio Vigilante (@FulvioVigilante) March 22, 2025
Things are also predicted to get tricky for the Scuderia with this balance change as they are exposed to more front graining, something that is pretty apparent at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc qualified right behind the Briton in sixth — reflecting the true pace of Ferrari going into the race on Sunday. The Monegasque is not optimistic about their fortunes changing and doesn’t consider themselves to be in the running for the win.
Leclerc doesn’t believe Ferrari can win at the Chinese GP
Leclerc was able to claw back some performance to his teammate during qualifying but doesn’t feel that the SF-25 has any more to offer in terms of pace. Speaking about the race tomorrow, he dismissed any miracles.
“Lewis did a great, great job yesterday but I feel like today I did a good job, I’m sure Lewis did a good job as well, and that’s the potential of the car,” he said referring to the performance ceiling of their package.
Having said that, the #16 driver is still looking forward to a competitive race on Sunday. The gap between the top four teams has been very slim and the right operating window for the car tomorrow could make the difference.
“Is there a little bit more in the car? Maybe. Three-tenths I don’t think so. We need to look forward to tomorrow,” he concluded.
