26/04/2025 09:15
Just what is going wrong for Lewis Hamilton? Across the
triple-header of Japan-Bahrain-Saudi Arabia, his mood and demeanour
were often downbeat as he struggled to adapt to the Ferrari now
underneath him, culminating in the astonishing claim after a lowly
seventh in Jeddah that the "pain" could continue for the rest of
the season before a solution is found. It was not meant to be like
this. Following a 10th-place finish on his Scuderia debut in the
tricky Australian GP, Hamilton made a genuine breakthrough in China
by scooping the sprint pole and win, remarkably his first in the
format. It was vintage Hamilton, seemingly an indication that his
dark days with Mercedes were behind him. Alas, no! Since then, it
has all been downhill, and the avalanche is showing no signs of
slowing as it careers down the mountain. Across the first five
races, including the sprint, Hamilton has been out-qualified by
Leclerc 4-2, with an average deficit to the Monégasque in these six
sessions of 0.251s. Leclerc's grid average is 4.6, Hamilton's 6.3,
although for grands prix alone, this becomes 7.4 for Hamilton and
4.8 for Leclerc. In races, Hamilton has only beaten Leclerc once,
in the sprint. He is yet to finish ahead in a GP, with the Briton
31 seconds behind Leclerc in Jeddah last time out. As Leclerc is
regarded as the fastest driver over a single lap, being a quarter
of a second behind him is not terrible. It could be argued that
Hamilton is simply unlucky that the field spread is so narrow,
meaning the gap is being exposed as cars squeeze in between,
something that could be masked with a wider performance window
between the field. Although the SF-25 is by no means perfect, as
Leclerc showed in Saudi Arabia and, indeed, Hamilton in China, it
is a car capable of fighting for poles and wins. Hamilton has said
the package is not terrible, but that he is just not comfortable,
with the car lacking balance. Article continues below. A
deep-rooted problem with ground-effects In general, Hamilton has
not found the ground-effect machines introduced in 2022 to his
liking. Since their debut, 72 races ago, he has just one grand
prix pole and two wins, to go with the sprint pole and win in
China. In contrast, in the final 72 races of the previous rules
cycle that he contested from France 2018 to Abu Dhabi 2021, he
scored 29 GP poles and 39 wins, to go with a single sprint pole.
Now, of course, much of that has to do with Mercedes getting the
ground-effect rules badly wrong, but there is something more
fundamental at play: Hamilton simply does not get on with the
ground-effect cars. The way these cars need to be driven is at odds
with his driving style, which has been honed for over 30 of his 40
years as a racing driver. It boils down to this. Hamilton's
approach has always been to brake hard, brake late and turn in
sharply in what is known as 'V-ing' the corner. But the current
cars, by their very nature, are heavy and prone to understeer,
which means this is not the best way to carry the highest possible
minimum speed through the apex. To achieve that with ground-effect
cars, a driver must brake slightly earlier and effectively roll the
car through the corner - known as 'U-ing' - to carry a higher
minimum speed. As the saying goes, you spend far more time and lose
a lot more in a slow- or medium-speed corner than in a fast one.
Is it any wonder, therefore, that some of his best performances
since 2022 have been at fast-flowing tracks such as Australia's
Albert Park, Spain's Circuit de Catalunya or at Silverstone - the
only track at which he has been on the podium every year in this
era of F1? As for the Ferrari SF-25, Hamilton is also battling a
severe case of muscle memory after spending 18 seasons using
Mercedes power. Engine braking is a key part of the Ferrari power
unit, something Hamilton has explained was never required with the
Mercedes units. He is having to unlearn 12 seasons of turbo-hybrid
engine settings he could probably change in his sleep. That takes
time. The car has also been run with higher ride heights as
Ferrari battles problems between the aerodynamic and vehicle
dynamic platforms. Upgrades have been, and will be, delivered to
solve this and bring the SF-25 back into the narrow performance
window Hamilton unlocked in Shanghai. Article continues below.
Hamilton is battling a severe case of muscle memory after spending
18 seasons using Mercedes power. What do the numbers tell us?
RacingNews365 investigated all the qualifying sessions this season,
looking at the fastest sector times from Hamilton and Leclerc.
Largely, the pair are closely matched. Leclerc is ahead for the
most part, with Hamilton a tenth here or there behind. Only in a
couple of places have there been chasms between the two. These
came in Sector 2 in Australia, where Hamilton struggled with the
high-speed flick of Turn 6 and trailed by 0.198s; in Sector 1 in
Japan by 0.4s, and in Bahrain, where Leclerc enjoyed a 0.350s
advantage through the second sector, over half of the 0.597s gap
between the pair. Bahrain's middle segment is an interesting case
study. It features high-speed flicks, sharp rotations, heavy
braking and big traction zones, it is what makes Sakhir such a
strong testing track, a little bit of everything. After qualifying
in Bahrain, what Hamilton didn't say should have sounded the
Maranello alarm bells. "I really don't know, I don't have a lot of
answers for you guys." Now, when a driver says he does not know why
he is so slow, that is worrying. If Hamilton had come out and said,
"I was struggling with the brakes, I just had zero confidence," or
"The car is strong, but I just made a mistake," then it is clear
what to address. For a driver to offer no idea why he has just been
soundly beaten is a concern. Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur is
emphatically behind Hamilton, giving him his "2000%" backing, and
that, given time, Hamilton will iron out his severe teething
troubles and start to deliver more consistently. But there is also
one inescapable truth, one that claims every athlete in the end.
Hamilton is not the force he once was, you simply cannot be at 40
years old, no matter how good or successful you may have been in
the past. Hamilton might have defeated Fernando Alonso, Nico
Rosberg, and Sebastian Vettel during his career, but eventually,
like every great athlete before, Old Father Time will come knocking
and Hamilton's number will be up. Delaying that for as long as
possible is his last great challenge in F1.
