There were sky-high expectations ever since Lewis Hamilton announced at the start of last season that he would move to Ferrari from 2025 onwards. Several fans and experts dreamed of how great it would be to see the Briton win his record eighth title with Ferrari and help the team end their 17-year title drought.
Ferrari confirmed that Hamilton would replace Carlos Sainz, who then had to spend the whole 2024 season looking for a team to sign him for 2025 and beyond. With his options limited, the Spaniard eventually decided to sign for Williams, a move many saw as a downgrade.
While on paper, Hamilton is definitely on a far better team than Sainz, the Briton has struggled to come to terms with the SF-25. Although Sainz too had his struggles in his first couple of races, he now seems more at ease with Williams’ FW47.
On the Sky Sports F1 show, former F1 driver and analyst Karun Chandhok pointed out how Hamilton’s struggles have, in fact, worsened with each passing race. However, when it comes to Sainz, Simon Lazenby revealed that the 30-year-old has moved from strength to strength at Williams.
️| Lewis Hamilton:
“I was miles off, pace wise. There’s not really anything to take from these last 3 weeks, other than that I’m slow.”
It hurts to see Lewis so down
— Ferrari News (@FanaticsFerrari) April 20, 2025
“When you look at Sainz going the other way from a Ferrari-powered car to a Mercedes-powered car, he seems to be getting on top of it quicker than any of those that are in new machinery for this year [and] Lewis must see that,” Lazenby explained.
Lazenby seems to have a point as Sainz managed to out-qualify Hamilton at both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. While Sainz could not quite finish ahead of the 40-year-old in any of the races, it was more to do with his Williams car just not having the pace to match the Ferrari on the long runs rather than the Spaniard performing poorly.
Chandhok added that what is concerning for Hamilton is his deficit to Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc. The Briton himself has acknowledged on various occasions this year that he is not doing justice to the package Ferrari has given him.
By citing Leclerc’s podium finish in Saudi Arabia, he explained how the SF-25 is very much capable of finishing on the podium. “There wasn’t one second [when I felt comfortable in the car],” Hamilton told Sky Sports after the race in Jeddah. “Clearly, the car is capable of being P3. Charles did a great job today. I can’t blame the car“.
So, with such being his struggles, Hamilton may have to change his driving style completely to get in tune with the SF-25 if he wants to match his teammate.
