The Formula 1 season arrives in Miami for its second Sprint event. The first Sprint weekend in China six weeks ago seemed to signal a positive turn for both Lewis Hamilton`s new chapter with Ferrari and the team`s overall season prospects.
Hamilton`s performance in the Shanghai Sprint race – securing pole position and an impressive win in the 19-lap event – felt significant at the time, particularly as it came early in his tenure with the team and after a challenging debut in Australia.
However, Ferrari hasn`t managed to maintain that momentum in the five full-length Grands Prix held so far this season. Lewis Hamilton, in particular, has faced considerable difficulties with the SF-25 car. While Charles Leclerc`s recent podium finish in Saudi Arabia did offer a glimmer of hope, the overall performance hasn`t met expectations.
A major concern for Ferrari is that falling further behind their competitors makes it increasingly hard to justify dedicating significant resources to the current 2025 campaign, especially with major regulatory changes looming for the 2026 season. The team did introduce some upgrades in Bahrain, but consistency remains an issue.
The break before and after the Miami Grand Prix offers a chance to regroup before a busy schedule of six races in eight weeks. Heading into the Miami International Autodrome, Ferrari desperately needs a breakthrough performance, starting with the Sprint Qualifying session.
Ferrari`s Position and Saudi Arabian Hope
Entering the Miami weekend, Ferrari sits fourth in the Constructors` Championship. While they are slightly closer to third-placed Red Bull and second-placed Mercedes after marginally outscoring them in the last two Middle Eastern races, the significant points lost from a double disqualification in China were a setback.
More concerningly, McLaren is currently a massive 110 points ahead. Ferrari had hoped to challenge or even surpass McLaren this season, especially after closing the gap significantly towards the end of the previous year.
Despite speculation about Ferrari`s performance dip, Team Principal Frederic Vasseur remains optimistic, believing the “potential” to compete exists, particularly after Leclerc`s podium in Jeddah.
“The most critical for us is the difference between qualifying pace and race pace,” Vasseur commented after the Saudi race. “I think the race… the second stint was very strong. I think we were faster than [Oscar] Piastri and Verstappen in the last 35 or 40 laps of the race.”
“We have to put our focus on this to be much more consistent all over the weekend, but I think we can take [Saudi Arabia] as a positive because we just stepped forward at least in the race pace. It was very strong and I think that the potential is there, but we just have to do a better job all over again.”
Hamilton`s Personal Struggles
As Lewis Hamilton himself acknowledged, Leclerc`s Saudi result was the only positive from his perspective, given the difficulties he faced on the Jeddah street circuit with the SF-25. He was notably slower than his teammate in qualifying and finished significantly behind Leclerc in the race.
Hamilton described the race as “horrible” and “not enjoyable at all,” admitting he lacked answers for his struggles and felt there was “no fix” for the rest of the year, predicting it would be “painful.”
While these comments likely reflect immediate post-race frustration, they highlight the gap between his current performance and his expectations. Sky Sports F1`s Karun Chandhok noted the worrying trend of the performance gap widening between Hamilton and Leclerc across race weekends, suggesting Hamilton hasn`t become more accustomed to the car as one might expect.
Martin Brundle, another F1 analyst, finds it difficult to accept that Hamilton doesn`t understand the car but believes he hasn`t “gelled” with it, possibly going in the wrong direction with the setup. He noted Hamilton`s preference for a certain car feel and concluded that “something is not working, something is not gelling.”
Despite the performance disparity, Vasseur isn`t overly worried about Hamilton`s potential, pointing to his China Sprint result and moments in other races. He acknowledges that the team, including Hamilton, is collectively struggling with the car`s balance and how it affects tyre performance for the seven-time champion, but believes this is a solvable issue.
Leclerc`s Insight into the Car
Leclerc consistently outperforming Hamilton in qualifying hasn`t been a huge surprise, given Leclerc`s strong one-lap reputation and Hamilton`s previous struggles against George Russell in qualifying at Mercedes. However, the race performance gap has also been significant, with Leclerc finishing ahead in all full Grands Prix so far.
Speaking before the Saudi race, Leclerc described making progress with the car`s “very open balance,” which was initially tricky in corner entry and prone to understeer. He mentioned finding solutions for the mid-corner understeer, even if it means driving a “trickier” car – a characteristic he says he “particularly” likes. Leclerc feels they are reaching the “sweet spot” for balance but lack grip in low and medium-speed corners.
This preference for a specific, “tricky” balance seems to suit Leclerc but is clearly not aligning with Hamilton`s driving style or setup needs. If this specific setup is necessary to extract performance from the SF-25, it could indeed be a challenging season ahead for the British driver unless a setup breakthrough tailored to his preferences can be found.
