02/05/2025 12:00
Lewis Hamilton has highlighted how "tough" his first few months at
Mercedes were, as he continues to grapple with life at Ferrari. The
seven-time F1 drivers' champion, who secured six of those titles
with the Brackley-based squad, has struggled to get to grips with
his new machinery at the Italian team. Results have been
underwhelming over the first five rounds of the current F1 season,
save for a sprint victory in China, with the British driver
suggesting it could be a year-long battle to get comfortable with
the SF-25. Team principal Fred Vasseur continues to voice his
full-throated support of the 105-time grand prix winner, saying
recently he was behind the 40-year-old "2,000 percent" , whilst the
driver he replaced, Carlos Sainz, revealed he is "not surprised" to
see Hamilton encounter difficulties. Some of the issues he is
facing include familiarising himself with and becoming accustomed
to Brembo brakes, having used Carbon Industrie models at Mercedes,
and engine braking, a technique not utilised by the eight-time
constructors' champions. When addressing the situation, Hamilton
pointed out that as well as him getting used to driving a new car,
his engineers are also learning to set up the car for a new
driver. "When I joined Mercedes, the first six months were tough
getting attuned to working with new people," he told media
including RacingNews365 when it was put to him that he had looked
fast in phases in recent rounds. "Obviously, the engineers I'm
working with now are used to setting up a car for a different
driver and a different driving style, and I'm used to driving a car
with a different driving style. So it's a combination of a bunch of
different things [preventing him from replicating those quick
stints more consistently]." Hamilton has 'no clue' what to expect
in Miami Much of Hamilton's plight has been attributed to him not
being able to drive the SF-25 instinctively, as he so often could
with Mercedes car, particularly prior to the reintroduction of
ground effects in F1 in 2022. When asked if he is having to drive
the Ferrari more consciously, he replied: "You're generally always
a mixture of the two, but I'm definitely working hard to adjust to
this one for sure." The British driver and the Scuderia head into
the second sprint weekend of the campaign hoping to recover the
form it showed in the first, but with no upgrades at the Miami
Grand Prix, Hamilton is playing down his chances. "No clue," he
responded to being quizzed on what can be expected of Ferrari in
Florida. "We'll do the best we can. We've not got upgrades or
anything this weekend, but we continue to try and optimise the car.
"Obviously, Charles in the last race did a fantastic job and showed
what the car can do in a race. So the goal is to try to replicate
that."
