Lewis Hamilton: Ferrari's got pace "we just can't use it"

Lewis Hamilton is not letting a disappointing start to the 2025 Formula 1 season cloud his optimism for what he can achieve at Ferrari.

The 40-year-old made a surprise blockbuster move to the Scuderia over the winter after 12 successful campaigns with Mercedes, where he won six of his record-equalling seven world titles.

But, his Shanghai sprint win aside, Hamilton has had an underwhelming start at Ferrari as the Briton is seventh in the championship after six rounds and is yet to score a grand prix podium.

Hamilton’s up-and-down weekend in Miami last time out was representative of his season: he finished third in the sprint, but was eighth on Sunday after only qualifying in 12th.

“I generally had a good day,” he said after the Miami Grand Prix. “Eighth doesn't really look like that, but I feel optimistic for the future.

“I think this car really does have performance. But something's holding us back at the moment. We've lost performance since China [round two], and it's there, it's just we can't use it.

“Until we get a fix for that, then this is where we are. But in the meantime, we can work on all the other stuff.”

“It's still a tough week for us,” Hamilton added, “but we're in a better position here, so we're clearly not as quick as we're able to be.”

Much of Hamilton’s Miami race was spent squabbling with his engineers over the radio, as he and team-mate Charles Leclerc hindered one another fighting for the same position.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Leclerc, who finished seventh in Miami, has also had a disappointing campaign, sitting fifth in the championship with the previous weekend arguably being his worst yet.

Having qualified sixth for the sprint, to which his reaction was “the pace is just not at all there”, he failed to make the contest due to a pre-race crash before starting the grand prix in eighth.

And after the grand prix, Leclerc doubled down on his previous lack-of-performance comment, saying: “Today wasn't the Sunday we wanted, and even though the pace is not there, I don't think there were any miracles.

“If everything had gone perfectly, maybe we would have finished in front of Kimi [Antonelli, P6] but that's it.

“There wasn't much more in the car, so I think we need to separate the two things. Yes, we need to fix those issues that probably cost us one position [the fight with Hamilton], but the other seven or six positions are down to the car, and we need to make it better.”

Leclerc expects things to somewhat improve next weekend at Imola, but thinks his struggles will return at the following round, which is his home event in Monaco – one that he won last year.

“I think Imola maybe could be good,” said the eight-time grand prix winner.

“Unfortunately, I'm really not looking forward to Monaco this year as I don't think we've got a car to be great there.”