Lewis Hamilton admitted Ferrari had a problem with their car which affected both drivers “massively” during the Spanish Grand Prix.
However he said the team do not want their drivers to elaborate on the problem which compromised their race at the Circuit de Catalunya.Hamilton slipped to sixth place at the end of the race as he found his car’s handling deteriorated throughout the race. “There’s something wrong with this car,” he told race engineer Riccardo Adami after taking the chequered flag, “it’s the worst it’s ever been.”
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s race Hamilton said the problem had compromised both drivers “massively” but he wasn’t allowed to share any details.
“Unfortunately they don’t want us really to talk too much about it, but we both had issues that were hindering us massively from halfway through the race already,” he said.
Having lost fifth place to Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber, Hamilton was dejected in the aftermath of the race. He admitted he was relieved to learn both drivers had problems with their cars.
“What I didn’t know is whether or not we had that problem,” he explained. “Obviously I said on the radio that it was the worst-feeling car that I’d ever had, and it truly was with that issue.
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“At the end of the race, I was kind of like, jeez, I’ve never experienced something this bad for such a prolonged time through a race. It wasn’t until after the TV interviews that we got back to the engineers and we found out there was an issue. So it was a bit of a relief to hear that because it definitely didn’t feel so terrible afterwards.”
Charles Leclerc, who finished third, indicated he understood the problem when he spoke on his radio after the race: “I know why the last part of the race was poor,” he said. “I’ll explain, but there is an explanation.”
Hamilton goes into his 10th race weekend at Ferrari sixth in the championship standings. He said his situation “looks a lot worse outside than it probably is on the inside” and “I don’t feel like I’m in desperate need” of a good weekend.
He said he is still adjusting to the difference in how Ferrari prepare their cars for each weekend compared to previous teams he has driven for.
“Just coming from engineering now, how they set the car up compared to any other year that I’ve been here is completely different. And [I’m] having discussions with engineers to change things, there’s a certain way they like to work. To say, ‘hold on a second, that doesn’t actually make sense; this is what I’ve done for the last 17, 18 years here and it’s worked in a lot of them’.
“So [it’s about] getting those things consistently working with the team and making sure you’re working in a constructive way to make changes. The car very much has a real sweet spot and we’re trying to get it working at all those tracks which everyone’s having a struggle with. I’m hoping this weekend can be strong.”
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2025 Spanish Grand Prix
- Russell’s radio comments influenced Red Bull’s decision to let him past Verstappen
- Verstappen says he won’t make any changes to his driving to avoid a ban
- ‘No issues’ with Verstappen but ‘it’d be different if he’d taken me out’ – Russell
- Ferrari “don’t want us to talk much” about “massive” Spanish GP problems – Hamilton
- Verstappen versus Russell is Formula 1’s best grudge match for years
Mayrton
13th June 2025, 8:33
This, to me, is one of the key (cultural) challenges Ferrari has. They are stuck in a hierarchical corporate structure in which the brand is elevated to incredible heights and everything must be subjected to it. Combine this with a defensive press mode and you get a dysfunctional team, stuck in yesteryears. They show insufficient respect for the knowledge and skills drivers bring to the team. As a result they are not a learning organisation, but rather one that is stuck in the past.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
13th June 2025, 10:29
I agree.
They no longer care if they win or not – they are Ferrari. They ARE F1!
I suspect they think that if they left then F1 would collapse
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
13th June 2025, 12:10
No, they see F1 as an advertising vehicle, the same as Mercedes.
Mercedes don’t care if they win or lose, their team only has one objective this year, and it’s to elevate KA.
Mercedes didn’t care about winning after 2021 when they completely redesigned their car (which was not a move sane people do) right during a major rule change (which was just a narrative driver to promote Max V.).
At the end of the day F1 has been turned in to an advertisement, for idol worship (pick your favorite driver), and for the manufacturers who will feature no matter how bad they suck, because the media around F1 is completely owned, and devoted to promoting F1, the product.
This isn’t 50+ years ago with people trying to win races and doing radical things, this is about big investors turning competition in to a rigged game of promotion and pay to play.
AlanD
13th June 2025, 19:24
> Mercedes don’t care if they win or lose, their team only has one objective this year, and it’s to elevate KA.
I get a bit lost with acronyms and abbreviations sometimes. Can you tell me who or what is KA?
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
13th June 2025, 10:42
+1. Culture has been like this/ the problem since Enzo but the garigistes moved it on and Ferrari still WILL not learn
David BR (@david-br)
13th June 2025, 13:07
I’m no expert on the period, but it seems like Hamilton really needed to be accompanied by an engineer with Newey’s clout (or similar) like the Schumacher-Brawn combination to make any real impact at Ferrari. He can say how he used to do things all he likes but without support from incoming senior engineering staff, I can’t see that culture shift happening. Hamilton needs some backing – and I’m not saying this just for his sake, clearly Leclerc is just as frustrated with the lack of progress and issues in the car design. 2026 will be make or break.
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
13th June 2025, 8:35
“Lewis Hamilton admitted Ferrari had a problem with their car which affected both drivers “massively” during the Spanish Grand Prix.”
Did he also admit that it is him that is the problem with the Ferrari car?
As usual he blames everyone but himself – it is 1 big disappointment – he should have retired as many other younger talents likely would have done better with a whole lot less diva behavior.
Andre
13th June 2025, 10:38
Where were you when he said explicitly in the media pen when interviewed by Rachel Brooks in Barcelona that “maybe it’s me” (paraphrasing).
David BR (@david-br)
13th June 2025, 13:09
Imagine, if the poster couldn’t repeat the same mantra ‘Hamilton bad’ ad infinitum, some actual fresh thoughts would enter their head.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
13th June 2025, 13:28
fresh air more like, complete space cadet
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
14th June 2025, 18:03
The problem for Lewis is that Ferrari builds their car around Charles, just like RBR does Verstappen.
At every round, per Lewis, Charles doesn’t actually change his setup much at all, and it’s more of Ferrari refining Charles existing setup/car.
1. Lewis is the clear #2 on that team, much like a Checo or Tsunoda.
2. The car is literally built around Charles, Charles can miss a whole day of running, and Ferrari will use Hamilton’s data to help cure Charles setup.
So no, Lewis is exactly where he should be 2-3 tenths behind the #1. Just like at Mercedes when they jettisoned him in favor of Russell in 2022.
Question : Will Lewis be able to match or surpass Charles this year ? … Only if it’s limited setup or mixed conditions. That’s his only chance. Because just like in China, the only chance Lewis has is when his teammate has less time for the team to max out Charles’ pace. I would wager, the real difference between RBR and Ferrari is RBR really don’t care about their #2, where as Ferrari can’t win the driver’s so the team championship is realistically more valuable.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
13th June 2025, 9:45
Why can’t he talk like a normal team member? Always with the weird, veiled comments. Remember how he insinuated Mercedes were ruining his chances in 2016 by doing something fishy?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
13th June 2025, 9:52
Yes, but can’t blame him for 2016, he had all technical issues and rosberg got nothing.
In terms of complaining about ferrari, they’re not afraid of firing high profile drivers who complain, they did with prost.
anon
13th June 2025, 10:11
This article links to an example of Leclerc making similar comments too. Should Leclerc also receive similar criticism?
osnola
13th June 2025, 12:31
Lets see:
Lec: ended on the podium. Not to bad.
Ham: passed by a Sauber and losing a place in a couple of laps ending 6.
So Lec did the best the car could do and ham…. nuff said…
Andre
13th June 2025, 10:39
The team doesn’t want to give away clues about their car design and their car’s faults to other teams. Pretty obvious.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
13th June 2025, 11:37
Im sure you’ve got them all written down to bring up as and when necessary
‘look what he said here 9 years ago…’
How come you scrutinise Lewis so much……
Sumedh
13th June 2025, 11:12
I think this is the same problem which caused both Ferrari drivers to do excessive lift and coast inspite of a long safety car period?
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
13th June 2025, 12:13
Ferrari are not reacting like winners. And it’s clear they have deep seeded issues within their operations/strategy department.
When they start acting more like RBR, when they stop caring about negative press and acting more like Max, they will be on a better trajectory, but they are clearly only interested in protectionism, which is how entitled politicians/bureaucrats behave,
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
13th June 2025, 15:30
Maybe they also care about having some class. maybe too much but they get to sleep at night
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
14th June 2025, 18:05
it’s been my experience, the harder you work, the better you sleep at night. Maybe Adami could use a good night’s rest.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
13th June 2025, 12:30
Maybe I get it completely wrong, but I have the impression that there are technical reasons he is not allowed to elaborate at details in public and not because Ferrari don’t want to be criticised openly. Not that big a deal though.
Regarding the problem itself there are only (highly speculative) theories: One is that
Ferrari were running low on cooling forcing them to increase lico as the race went along. Another one was expressed by Mercedes who apparently recognised an oil leak on Leclerc’s car which was later denied by Ferrari.
Another one ist that Ferrari ran the cars close to the ground and were afraid of excessive plank wear. We did indeed see them bottoming hard in the last corner. Therefore they wanted to scrub speed at the end of the straights where the downforce is at it’s maximum and the car at it’s lowest. It would also explain why they were allowed to go flat out with DRS activated and to an extend explain the shift of balance during the race. With the reduced fuel the car would be higher and could probably have fallen out of it’s optimum operating window.
It’s just rumors and probably not true but I like it.
David BR (@david-br)
13th June 2025, 13:10
@roadrunner
That’s what I thought reading the article.
CarWars (@maxv)
13th June 2025, 13:23
Watch our Lewis, speaking negatively about Ferrari is not allowed, see how previous drivers got in trouble. In all seriousness the thing holding Ferrari back is Ferrari culture, they need people like Lewis to speak their mind, take the criticism and fix it..politics never fixes anything.