Lewis Hamilton told he has to “work on” his qualifying pace ahead of Ferrari move

Ex-F1 driver Karun Chandhok believes Lewis Hamilton will have to “work on” his qualifying pace ahead of his switch to Ferrari next year - but downplayed any concerns the team might have.

Hamilton has consistently struggled for one-lap pace during his final season with Mercedes.

The seven-time world champion was comprehensively beaten by teammate George Russell across the 2024 F1 season in qualifying.

While Hamilton still remains one of the very best in race trim, his lowly qualifying positions often has made life difficult for him.

In 2025, Hamilton will go up against arguably the best qualifier on the grid in Charles Leclerc.

Speaking to Betway, Chandhok assessed Hamilton’s qualifying difficulties ahead of his seismic move to Ferrari in 2025.

“He’s clearly struggling for confidence over the one lap,” Chandhok said. “His score with George, including Sprint sessions is 20-6 on the qualifying scores [After Brazil].

“For a guy with over 100 pole positions, it’s a real surprise. But you listen to Lewis speak afterwards and he says things such as ‘I’m just not good at qualifying’ and ‘I just can’t qualify’, it’s really weird.

“I think he is low on confidence and for whatever reason, I genuinely think he doesn’t know where the qualifying performances have gone.”

Chandhok dismissed suggestions that Ferrari will be worried by his lack of form in qualifying, noting his world championship-winning experience.

“But from Ferrari’s perspective ultimately, I don’t think they have hired Lewis for speed.” he added. 

“They have Charles Leclerc for speed. They hired Lewis because he knows how to win a World Championship. He will bring them experience and the knowledge of how to put a season campaign together.

“In terms of speed, I still believe Charles Leclerc is the best qualifier on the grid. In terms of out and out one lap pace, he is the fastest driver in F1 today.

“They’ve got speed but what they haven’t had is a driver who has won a World Championship, and I think that is what they have hired him for.”

Improvements needed

With F1’s rules for 2025 remaining stable ahead of the big regulation changes in 2026, the top four teams are expected to be evenly matched at the front.

As a result, the onus will be put on the drivers to deliver, and Hamilton won’t be able to afford underperforming in Saturdays.

“For Lewis, it is something he will have to work on though because in 2025, it’s going to be super close and if he is two or three tenths away from Charles, you could end up P6 or P7 on the grid and all of a sudden, your race is completely different,” Chandhok explained.

“I’m sure it’s weighing on his mind but I don’t think Lewis needs people to tell him where he needs to improve, he knows within himself where he needs to improve and you can see the body language.”