Lewis Hamilton was downbeat about his prospects after ending Friday practice in Jeddah only 13th fastest.
“It was not the greatest,” Hamilton admitted afterwards. “Getting the tyres working today I think was the issue for my side.”The Ferrari driver was over six tenths of a second slower than his team mate Charles Leclerc and is concerned he may fall further behind in qualifying.
“Normally Saturday goes backwards, but there’s not a lot backwards for me to go from where I am,” he told the official F1 channel. “Hopefully overnight we’ll make some improvements to the car.
“There were a few bits through the session that felt good. It’s just once we get to the soft tyre it’s not there. We’ll make changes overnight and hope tomorrow we can come back stronger.”
“Through both sessions we were trying different things across both cars, to then converge, so wing settings and all sorts,” he added. “So I’m hoping we’ll have a better understanding after we analyse tonight and I’m hoping for a better day tomorrow.”
Although Leclerc managed to put his Ferrari on the front row of the grid at the last round in Bahrain, Hamilton said he isn’t looking that far ahead. “For me I’m just trying to see if I’m getting the top 10 at the moment.”
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Leclerc was much more encouraged by Ferrari’s form and is even hoping he might be able to challenge McLaren in qualifying.
“We changed the car a lot, but it was a very positive day because I’ve learnt a lot from it,” he said. “I think once we put everything in the right window there should be a bit more performance coming out of the car.
“McLaren seems to be strong once again and a lot stronger than us but never say never, if we put everything together, I think everything is possible.”
“We’ve done a good job by exploring different options and it’s pretty clear in my head what I want to do for tomorrow,” he added. “So we are going to go in that direction and I hope that it will pay off once we get to quali.”
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2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
- Red Bull made tactical decision not to avoid a penalty in Jeddah, Horner confirms
- Norris’s starts were far poorer than Verstappen’s but the balance is shifting
- McLaren’s rivals “just one upgrade away from being the lead car” – Brown
- Russell told race control what he thought of Verstappen’s first lap corner cut
- Doohan’s final corner pass on Bortoleto was F1’s closest fight for last place in seven years
alex
18th April 2025, 23:42
it took 5 weekends for Ferrari to break lewis’s spirit. I don’t want to give up on him but his attitude is something else…
Applebook
19th April 2025, 4:13
George already cracked him up last year. There is nowhere to hide in qualifying.
Roy Beedrill
19th April 2025, 6:01
Sure thing, because last year he was nothing like this.
f12007v (@f1fan-2000)
19th April 2025, 6:37
Ferrari isn’t bad, look at leclerc. We all know current generation drivers are far better than the older generations like Lewis and Alonso.
CP
19th April 2025, 9:13
What lol. I fairly certain Senna, Schumacher, Prost etc etc would wipe the floor wiith 98% of this field (arguably the two exceptions being Lewis and Max).
Agree with everyone else, Lewis attitude atm sucks – he has lost all belief in himself.
Mark Thomson (@melthom)
19th April 2025, 9:53
Calling Angela Cullen, where are you?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th April 2025, 10:18
While I agree that there were really strong drivers in former generations, 98% of the field is impossible, it’s gonna be 90% if you include hamilton, 95% if you only consider verstappen.
As for the attitude, I’m surprised the sprint win didn’t do a lot to help the situation, he looked good that “race”.
Ferdi
19th April 2025, 10:38
I agree, he looked good in the Sprint. All to fight for. I think we shouldn’t pay much attention to what Lewis says as the past has proven his talk is often manipulative and political (he seems to genuinely think that he is executing mind games and that is a sportive & ethical way to go about). Better look at his on track performance, which is not that bad. Neither is Charles’. Things will work out fine, he is just hedging (once again) against possible bad results.
Dex
19th April 2025, 13:36
I don’t consider Hamilton to be in the same category as Max (skill-wise). I don’t since many years ago, when Hamilton was still the champion. He could never do what Verstappen can. But to be fair, this may not be the same Lewis from ten years ago as well. But most people have considered Leclerc to be faster anyway.
I do hope to see more from Hamilton though, he’s still new in Ferrari, and him winning races in a non-Mercedes team would be so much fun to see. But I don’t think he’s in the top 5 or 6 fastest drivers in F1 today (we know that Russel is faster for sure, and Leclerc is probably even faster), so I don’t see how anyone could take his success for granted, and now be disappointing when he’s not winning straight ahead. Moderate your expectations and enjoy his progress, because this could either be a great story, or a confirmation of what we have already seen. Either way, it’s much more fun than him still driving for Mercedes. I hope to see Max in Aston Martin, for similar reasons; although they surely aren’t Ferrari and it would probably end up as a frustrating experience for him.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th April 2025, 10:15
Far better is exaggerated, hamilton and alonso now are indeed old, but as late as 2021 hamilton was still better than most drivers on the grid and so was alonso with his great 2023 season.
Riccard
19th April 2025, 8:30
Ferrari put everything into lifting his spirit, and before they went racing (and even across the first couple of weekends) it seemed to work.
The problem is that top-level racing is hard, and when Hamilton’s car isn’t the fastest, he sometimes doesn’t deal well with hard spots.
Rich Cosmos
19th April 2025, 4:53
Come on Lewis. Go Lewis go!
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
19th April 2025, 9:13
This is not his strongest track.
Adam R
19th April 2025, 9:56
Hamilton can’t perform in a car that isn’t the quickest. Apart from his first WDC with McLaren, he’s always had the quickest car on the grid. Even Rosberg beat him one year and Rosberg doesn’t make a top 20/30 list of the best/quickest drivers. We didn’t want him at Ferrari because George has show over the last few years, he’s on par with or quicker than Lewis now. If things are perfect for Lewis, he can’t perform. He can’t drag a 4-5th placed car to a podium or a win.
Ferdi
19th April 2025, 10:42
The mismatch in expectations is indeed based on that full regulatory period, 8 years streak, dominance of the Mercedes. Not just Rosberg beat him, but Valtteri often had the better of him as well (“Valtteri, this is James”). So in a way it is not fair (but understandable) to expect he would do great vs Russell or Leclerc. He is a good driver, but not performing on 7*WDC level. That part was luck.
debaser91
19th April 2025, 11:38
I’m sure some people on here started watching F1 yesterday. Yeah he’s clearly past his prime and on the way down, and doesn’t seem to get on with his generation of cars, but his recent struggles don’t invalidate what he did in the first 16 – 17 years of his career. And he was very good as recently as 2023.
I don’t dispute that his number of race wins is inflated because he had extremely good cars for many years in a row. But some people seem to forget that before he ever sat in a Mercedes he had 22 wins and 26 poles, numbers which would have put him 12th for most wins and 10th for most poles all time. Those McLarens were on the whole very good cars, cars capable of winning races but during his McLaren time at no point did he have a dominant car. He even won races in the dog that was the 2009 McLaren.
And FYI Rosberg was 1) an excellent F1 driver and 2) Hamilton would have won pretty comfortably in 2016 if reliability had been equal between them.
Tommy Scragend
19th April 2025, 15:17
You’ll never get anywhere in the modern F1 world talking sensibly!
I agree with all of that. Not denying that Hamilton was a top drawer driver in his day. But he is clearly past his prime and no amount of excuses from his fans will change that. That’s not a criticism – he’s over 40 so it’s obvious that he isn’t going to be as good now as he used to be. Graham Hill won Monaco five times but in 1975 failed to qualify. It comes to everyone in the end.
I’d actually like Hamilton to win a Grand Prix for Ferrari, but I can’t see it happening.
SteveP
19th April 2025, 11:38
Tosh. He was at McLaren from 2007 to 2012, then a year in a definitely not the fastest car Merc in 2013.
During much of the McLaren period, it was not the fastest car. (Something to do with a large fine leaving McLaren short of cash for development)
He had wins in every season 2007 – 2021
Yes, he’s off his game at the moment
Peter707
19th April 2025, 11:39
Hamilton won at least one race in each of the first 15 seasons of his career, including quite a few 4-5th placed cars.
André
19th April 2025, 12:53
Adam must have forgotten that Rosberg beat Schumacher 3-0 at Mercedes. Then Hamilton beat Rosberg 3-1.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
19th April 2025, 15:51
He’s still the best wheel-to-wheel racer on the grid and light years ahead of Max that many consider a pretty decent driver at the moment.
BenHur
19th April 2025, 19:51
Try saying that with a straight face
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
19th April 2025, 22:27
Max’s main weakness is his wheel to wheel racing.
Leo B
19th April 2025, 10:21
It’s come a bit late for Lewis. You’ve got to be in your prime: like Kimi was in 2007. Because first you have to learn it, then adapt, then make it adapt to your style. If you’re past it heaven help us.
MichaelN
19th April 2025, 10:23
Obviously Hamilton needs to be closer to Leclerc.
But, these tyres… it’s such a drag on F1 to see the teams constantly having to dance around their limited capabilities.
André
19th April 2025, 12:56
I’ve been saying this for years. F1 with Pirelli is above all a tyre science formula.
Bocky
19th April 2025, 10:24
Since he lost the 2021 championship, Hamilton is not the same. Don’t get me wrong: he’s still very good, no question about it. But he definitely lost his mojo in Abu Dhabi.
Ferdi
19th April 2025, 10:46
That’s what most people say. I think he just lost the competitive edge of his car. There really isn’t much more to it. He is the same he has always been, but without the fastest car or James to help him vs his team mate.
Riccard
19th April 2025, 11:17
Nah, he competed evenly with Alonso and Button in his earlier years. He was a properly good driver in his first decade, and back then I’d have backed him to compete with or beat Russell and Leclerc. He also drove well in the McLaren even when the Red Bull was the faster car, and was mighty in qualifying.
You can debate when he went off the boil – personally I think his performances declined through 2022-24 – but what you get from Hamilton today is not what you got 10-15 years ago.
André
19th April 2025, 13:05
Exactly, but unfortunately people have short memories. I wonder if even half of the people here were alive and watching races back in 2007. Hamilton was a big sensation when he came in. No less than Max, Leclerc and others. Straightaway being a match to Alonso who had just beaten twice the most successful driver in history. Schumacher was still on top of his abilities. So Hamilton was the real deal and remained as such up until Abu Dhabi 2021. After that he’s been following the same trajectory as Vettel, who was also a sensation in his Redbull days. Problem is, comparing drivers is not linear algebra, and people don’t seem to understand that. Hamilton’s last chance will come in 2026 when the cars take a step away from the current ground effect concept, and maybe his natural driving style comes into play again.
Edvaldo
19th April 2025, 14:31
I believe you werent around before his Mercedes years because there’s no other way you can believe what you just wrote.
Michael A.
19th April 2025, 10:46
What? There are plenty of drivers who have been 20th in practice, qualifying and GPs. Sir Lewis Hamilton still has a fair way to get to the back of the field.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
19th April 2025, 11:24
Lewis has always been one who can get quite down about his, or the cars performance quite quickly. But he’s not one to give up. He will keep trying. Maybe he has lost some of his edge over the years. Let’s face it, most drivers do.
He is always going to find it difficult up against Leclerc who is fast, younger and has been with the team much longer. I never thought he would be an instant success. Best he can hope for over the next couple of years is probably a few race wins. I don’t see him being WDC again but would love to be surprised.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
19th April 2025, 15:59
Well, he should be down – this is not the time to be happy. This is the time for adjustments – no one likes to be forced to make adjustments to improve and sometimes they can be out of reach – most people have a finite amount of talent.
The pace seems to come and go and it’s not apparent what brings about the pace.
N (@kimi2008)
19th April 2025, 12:13
f12007v is right, new generation drivers are always better than the previous. As Fisichella said when saying Verstappen is obviously better than Hamilton, it’s just the evolution of the species.
So this is not surprising at all. I expected Russell to beat him at Mercedes and Leclerc to beat him even more, because I rate Leclerc higher than Russell, and Mercedes was Hamiltons team. Have people forgot how one of the most succesful drivers of his generation, Vettel, got beaten in his own Ferrari team by a relatively inexperienced Leclerc? Vettel would do, in his opinion, a perfect qualifying lap, but then find out that Leclerc was still half a second faster.
Only delusional fans thought Hamilton would beat Leclerc. Even bookmakers had Leclerc as the clear favorite.
Re-Play- (@re-play)
19th April 2025, 12:48
very well said, when Russel was announced to be part of Mercedes , i said he will be faster or as fast to hamilton and people went mad at me… and it was like that since the first year of Russel vs Hamilton
People are delusional thinking hamilton has a magic trick to win another WDC LOL
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
19th April 2025, 16:09
And yet Hamilton has the only victory of this season for Ferrari and is arguably the best wheel-to-wheel racer on the grid with Verstappen way down in the rankings. So clearly Fisichella was wrong.
Could you say the same about snooker and Ronnie O’Sullivan who’s nearly 50 and beating younger players at Snooker?
And while these are professionals, they don’t train 6 hours a day for 20-30 years like Japanese Karate Masters for no monetary gain. I saw a master do a technique at the age of 62 and I’ve never seen anything that comes within half of that – it’s unfathomable. It’d be akin to Sargeant winning a F1 race driving backwards in a Williams – that would make more sense than what we saw but Sargeant didn’t have Hamilton’s talent and drive 6 hours a day for 30 years.
MichaelN
19th April 2025, 16:39
Vettel and Leclerc were actually really close in 2019.
The big difference occurred in 2020, after Binotto decided to replace Vettel with Sainz. Make of that what you will.
HW Small
19th April 2025, 12:35
Swapping from one manufacturer to another is hard, even more so with a change of engine in the mix. That being said, Carlos appears to be getting on top of the Williams far faster than Lewis is getting to grips with the Ferrari. And Yuki appears to be getting to grips with the notoriously knife edge Red Bull fairly well.
Is Lewis past his prime? Does age matter? Quite possibly, and I suspect age is playing a part in both his relative lack of speed and the time it is taking for him to get used to the new car/engine/team. But if he and Ferrari are patient, I suspect he will be able to impress once more.
In the meantime, he will continue (like Lando) to be very open about his emotions, keeping the news feeds in stories for months to come.
fawkes
19th April 2025, 13:43
Age (past prime) + new car/engine + generational talent (Leclerc) but mostly this generation of cars compared to most of cars Lewis had through his career. Alonso also have said that, you can’t drive 100% even on qualy to extract the most. It’s counterintuitive and some have not adapted well, maybe because of age, and this is totally fine. But in a season long Lewis consistency in race pace will probably make him finish closer to Leclerc, which is great.
Frank
19th April 2025, 13:56
If Leclerc is indeed the qualifying ace that he appears to be (and I think he is) then the performance of Hamilton is on par with expectations.
He could still Lauda his way to leading Leclerc in points but winning the fast lap battles should not be his primary objective.
He has nothing to lose. Everyone will point to his age when coming up.short against a current top driver. But if he wins…
Edvaldo
19th April 2025, 14:29
Just like Raikkonen before him, qualifying became his weakness.
It’s obviously age related. He’s 40, could have called it quits at the end of every single season in the last 5 years, everybody would understand.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
19th April 2025, 15:56
It’s a tough situation – he can have victorious pace as we saw in the sprint but it disappears. He’s not been comfortable with the current spec cars and qualifying has been extremely competitive with the gaps being almost non-existent in many cases.
He’s trying to understand where the pace is – if he could isolate the pace, he’d be challenging the front runners but unfortunately he cannot find it. The changes seem to have a negative impact.
As for previous years, there’s a reason why Hamilton is the most popular driver of all time like Messi and Ronaldo. It’s not because he was slow. The FIA and Red Bull had to orchestrate the greatest heist in the history of the sport to steal Verstappen’s 1st championship and that trend continued into all the next ones.