Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has claimed Lewis Hamilton was not at new Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc’s “level” in his debut Formula 1 pre-season with the team.
Ferrari ended the sole test that precedes the 2025 campaign in Bahrain last month second and third on the timesheets, with Hamilton five hundredths faster than Leclerc.
But despite an unrevealed issue curtailing his time in the car, Hamilton was upbeat as he revelled in the sensation that he was receiving while driving Ferrari’s SF-25 car.
Marko, however, has warned that such enthusiasm hadn’t translated into overall lap time as he alleged that Hamilton was still lagging behind his younger team-mate.
“In Bahrain, Leclerc was the much faster one,” the Red Bull motorsport advisor told sport.de. “But that’s normal. He knows the team, he knows the car.
“Hamilton drove a lot of laps, gradually improved, but was not quite at Leclerc’s level.”
Hamilton’s recent one-lap struggles
Hamilton enduring a troubled last season with Mercedes in 2024 was deep-rooted in his struggles to extract the maximum lap time from an inconsistent car in qualifying.
With the margins poised to be close across the grid in the upcoming season, Marko has highlighted that it will be imperative the Briton has resolved his recent one-lap woes.
“Only the first race is coming and we know that a Hamilton, if the whole environment fits, can improve incredibly,” the Austrian acknowledged.
“One is a [multiple] World Champion, the other [Leclerc] is chasing his first title, but [he] is one of the best qualifiers.
“And because the field is relatively close together, three or four-tenths of a second difference in qualifying can make up three to five grid positions.
“And you know how difficult overtaking is these days.
“So from this point of view, it is crucial for Hamilton to be able to evaluate the first qualifying sessions on equal footing with Leclerc. But that’s certainly not easy.”
Hamilton could lose motivation with slow Ferrari start
The balance issues that Ferrari encountered with the SF-25 once conditions improved have seen some in the paddock tout that it could be slowest among the leading group.
In the circumstance where that is realised when the campaign starts in Australia this weekend, Marko, 81, has predicted that Hamilton’s motivation could begin to wane.
“He went to Ferrari of his own volition,” he said. “He was looking for this new challenge and I think he will do everything he can to ensure that his expectations are met.
“As I said, these are early days.
“And again, Hamilton can both supernaturally improve, but it could also be that if the factors don’t fit together, he sees no chance of winning, that he then loses some of his motivation.”
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