Lewis Hamilton pinpoints reasons for Ferrari’s inconsistent start

Lewis Hamilton has shared what he believes has been behind Ferrari’s inconsistent start to the 2025 F1 season.

Ferrari have endured a hugely disappointing start to the new campaign and languish only fifth in the constructors’ championship with 17 points to their name after the opening two rounds.

Charles Leclerc and Hamilton were off the pace at the season-opener in Australia and finished a lowly eighth and 10th in a chaotic and wet first race. Hamilton was at least able to secure pole position and victory in the China sprint race before Ferrari’s challenge faded and the duo finished a distant fifth and sixth in the main grand prix.

However, Hamilton and Leclerc were later disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix after their cars were found to be illegal for separate technical infringements.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Hamilton analysed Ferrari’s performance across a difficult opening two weekends.

"It's a combination of probably several different things, but I think mostly just pinning the set-up,” the seven-time world champion said.

"I told you that I'm still learning about this car, so I still haven't tested every item that they have yet. Ultimately, I made the wrong decision on set-up for the Saturday going into qualifying at the last race, which then I just had to live with for the race.

"If we had just left the car probably alone or actually [if] the step that we did take [had been] an improvement, I think we could have qualified in the top three, which would then have had a much different result, most likely.

"But that wasn't the case, and it was really difficult to drive from the moment we went out in qualifying and then it was the same balance on a Sunday, so we just had to persevere with it.”

Lewis Hamilton confident Ferrari can fix issues

Despite Ferrari already being well adrift in both world championships, Hamilton has full confidence that his new team will manage to fix the problems they are experiencing with their 2025 car.

“100 percent confident we can fix any of the problems we have,” he told Sky Sports F1.

“We have absolutely all we need within this team. I really spent these past couple of months just really trying to observe how this team operates.

“It’s just different to what I’ve experienced. Every team has been different. McLaren was different, Mercedes was different to McLaren and to here again.

“So just observing and seeing where I can work and contribute and bring to the table. There’s areas that we need to elevate for sure, but I think Fred’s got a great approach.

“I didn’t expect to come straight into the season and win race one. Already the sprint race was a real bonus to be honest. It was the first time I had done a long run on dry tyres. Then in the race it was the first time I had actually driven the C2 tyre.

“I didn’t feel too bummed or anything. Those are the times you learn the most as a team. I was really impressed with how the team dealt with it. Just really constructive and everyone stayed positive.”