Lewis Hamilton confirms upgrade as he addresses Ferrari car concerns

Lewis Hamilton confirmed Ferrari are bringing an upgrade at the Bahrain Grand Prix but insists he feels “no huge issues” with their F1 car.

Ferrari’s torrid start to the 2025 season has led to speculation that the team are battling a fundamental design flaw with their SF25 car, which has underperformed across the opening three races.

A lack of competitiveness in Australia - where Charles Leclerc and Hamilton could only finish eighth and 10th - was followed by a double disqualification at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s disqualification was due to excessive plank wear, which only added fuel to early suggestions that Ferrari are facing a ride height problem which may also explain their fundamental performance deficit.

There is widely held belief in the F1 paddock that Ferrari are unable to run their car as low as they want, costing them vital downforce and lap time.

Ferrari have remained tight-lipped about the rumours but are bringing what is seen as being a key floor upgrade to Bahrain in a bid to save their season.

Speaking ahead of the weekend on Thursday, the seven-time world champion revealed Ferrari have indeed brought an upgrade package as expected, though he downplayed concerns about his car.

“We’ve got an upgrade this weekend so I’m excited we’re going to hopefully have a bit more downforce,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“I’m not really feeling a huge amount of issues just we lack overall performance at the moment pace wise, which we will hopefully take a step this weekend.

“On my side, it’s rear-end a little bit [I’m struggling with] and that’s about it.”

Charles Leclerc: Ferrari three-tenths behind McLaren

Leclerc scored Ferrari’s best result in a grand prix this season by finishing a distant fourth in Japan last time out.

The Monegasque hopes the new parts will lift Ferrari’s performance, though he concedes it won’t be enough to close the estimated three-tenth gap to F1 pacesetters McLaren.

“We’ve got some new bits on the car coming which I hope will help us to close that gap a little bit.

“Whether it will be enough to close the complete gap, I don’t think so. I don’t think there is that in what we are bringing here.

“But I hope it will help us to at least be closer. It’s still quite a significant step.

“In Suzuka I think this was the gap that there is between McLaren and ourselves, which is three-tenths.

“We need to work very hard in order to catch that and that’s what we are doing and I’m confident we can close that gap.

“Again, what we are bringing here, I don’t think will be enough, but hopefully short-term we will have other things which will help us to be closer.”

Ferrari head into this weekend fourth in the constructors’ championship and 76 points behind McLaren.