Photo: Instagram.com/Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton urges Ferrari to level up after Japanese F1 Grand Prix results, says car is ‘underperforming’
Lewis Hamilton has urged his new team, Ferrari, to level up their performance following a disappointing start to the 2025 Formula One season.
The British driver said Ferrari’s car has been “underperforming” after finishing seventh at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s current performance with Ferrari
Hamilton admitted he had a tough race at the recently concluded Japanese Grand Prix won by Max Verstappen of Red Bull. Starting in eighth place, Hamilton moved up only one place. The highlight of his race was a few on-track overtakes, where he passed Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar.
Moreover, Hamilton struggled during the opening round in Australia, and he was also disqualified from the previous race in China for excessive wear on the skid block of his car. Although Hamilton won the sprint race in Shanghai, Ferrari is still far from where the team hopes to be.
Hamilton believes that his teammate Charles Leclerc’s car has been adapting well compared to his. He said: “I’m really hoping in the next race we’ll see some positive changes… In the first three races, there was a bit of a deficit between both sides of the garage on certain aspects of the car. On my side, it’s been underperforming. Given what I had, that’s the best result I could get.”
Furthermore, Hamilton understands that he is still adjusting to his new team and previously mentioned that it will be a gradual process. But, after the results of the three races, Hamilton feels that Ferrari should be making more progress.
He added: “There was underperformance at the rear of the car this weekend, and obviously, qualifying position is key. I’m hoping that by the next race, we’ll be closer. It will definitely be interesting for sure….I just hope we’re a little bit closer, but I think we are probably the fourth fastest at the moment, and I think we are a little bit off the other guys in terms of performance, downforce-level-wise. So we’ve got some work to do to close the gap.”
Ferrari’s team principal, Frédéric Vasseu, acknowledged that his team was two to three-tenths off in both qualifying and race pace and that there were some areas where they needed to improve, but he remains hopeful about the next races to come. He said: “We need to keep the same approach. It doesn’t matter the gap, it doesn’t matter the results of today. We need to try to do a better job next week to improve the potential and also the extraction of the potential of the car, its operation. We have to improve everywhere. It’s quite difficult to get the best of the car, and we have also to improve on this, on the drivability, let’s call it, to get the best from the potential.”
In a social media post, Formula One shared the current constructors’ standings after the Japanese Grand Prix:
Netizens expressed their opinions in the comments section.
One netizen shared: “MAX VERSTAPPEN RACING BETTER THAN FERRARI 🔥”
Another netizen said: “Ferrari has finally defeated its arch-enemy, with whom it had an incredible rivalry back in the 90s. No, not McLaren. It’s Williams.”
