Lewis Hamilton has claimed that “something is holding back” Ferrari in Formula 1 in 2025 as he recognised that the team has “lost performance” across recent races.
Ferrari’s arduous start to the campaign continued in Miami as Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc lagged home in tandem a minute behind the McLaren drivers.
Hamilton at least managed to provide the Italian marque with some respite on a tumultuous weekend as a decisive strategic call saw him take third in the Sprint race.
However, that preceded a premature Q2 elimination as Ferrari’s persistent struggle to unlock one-lap pace from a problematic SF-25 package hampered it once again.
But while lining up eighth and 11th compromised the team’s race in Miami, Hamilton, who recovered to eighth, has remained upbeat about Ferrari’s prospects in 2025.
Hamilton indicated that Ferrari is reliant on upcoming updates to the car to rediscover the speed that inspired him to a debut win in red in the shortened race in China.
“Yeah, I had a good day in general,” the Briton told media including Motorsport Week post-race in Miami. “Eighth doesn’t really look like that.
“I feel optimistic for the future. I think this car really does have performance. But something is holding us back at the moment.
“We’ve lost performance since China. It’s there, it’s just we can’t use it. Until we get a fix for that, then this is where we are.
“In the meantime, we can work on the other stuff, all the other processes.
“But as I said, I came from the same last week. I felt like I generally had a better weekend.
“To get the third yesterday [in the Sprint] was positive. With a better qualifying… I only missed out by half a tenth [from getting into Q3].
“Still, for us, we’re battling with the Williams here. So we’re clearly not as quick as we want to be. The Williams did a great job this weekend.”
Ferrari aiming to get ‘back in the fight’
Hamilton, who is still awaiting his maiden Ferrari podium, is confident the team can emerge as McLaren’s closest challenger once it addresses the SF-25’s limitations.
“I truly believe that when we fix some of the problems we have with the car, we’ll be back in the fight with the Mercedes, with the [Red] Bulls,” he commented.
“It just can’t come quick enough.
“We’ll try something different in the next race. We’ll keep working on our processes.
“I look forward to the time where maybe I can fight for a podium. That would be nice.”
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