Lewis Hamilton is at present dedicating his time between the Jeddah Grand Prix and the upcoming Miami race to analyse the difficult begin to his 2025 Method 1 season with Ferrari. The seven-time world champion has encountered difficulties adjusting to his new crew, notably with the distinctive traits of the SF-25 in comparison with his earlier Mercedes automobile. Ferrari has supplied a proof for why Lewis Hamilton is struggling greater than his teammate Charles Leclerc, whereas F1 analyst Alex Brundle means that Hamilton’s largest concern lies in his braking and efficiency in high-speed corners.
Within the aftermath of Ferrari’s double disqualification in China, the crew has been cautious in pushing their automobile’s efficiency, aiming to deal with issues over their setup. Each Hamilton and Leclerc have been disqualified for separate technical infractions associated to an underweight automobile and plank put on. This led Ferrari to restrict the automobile’s efficiency in subsequent races in an try to repair these points. Nonetheless, this doesn’t totally clarify a regarding development that Karun Chandhok has noticed in Hamilton’s efficiency over latest races, as he mentioned on the Sky Sports activities F1 podcast.
Karun Chandhok highlights a worrying sample in Hamilton’s outcomes, notably compared to Leclerc, because the season progresses. Martin Brundle has additionally famous that it has been “exhausting to look at” Hamilton, given the constant struggles he has confronted, now changing into extra evident in latest races. In line with Chandhok, Leclerc has step by step prolonged his lead over Hamilton, which has left the seven-time world champion showing “deflated” throughout latest occasions.
Karun Chandhok elaborates on the efficiency hole, noting that in Australia, Hamilton was solely 0.16 seconds behind Charles Leclerc, however by Japan, this hole had elevated to three-tenths. In Bahrain, the hole grew to 0.59 seconds, and in Saudi Arabia, it ballooned to over six-tenths. Chandhok expressed concern that, for a driver who was anticipated to be adapting to Ferrari extra successfully because the season went on, the efficiency hole ought to have been narrowing as a substitute of widening.
In Saudi Arabia, Lewis Hamilton’s efficiency was notably disappointing, ending 31 seconds behind Charles Leclerc throughout 50 laps, which equates to a deficit of six-tenths per lap. This consequence left Hamilton wanting visibly dejected, because it was his largest hole to his teammate up to now. Chandhok factors out that whereas Hamilton’s race tempo in Bahrain wasn’t too far off Charles Leclerc, the Saudi race marked a transparent downturn in type. He additionally notes that the issue now seems to be a common lack of efficiency throughout varied sectors of the observe, making it psychologically difficult for the Briton, as he struggles to pinpoint the place enhancements could be made.
One other issue contributing to Hamilton’s struggles may very well be associated to the 2022 Method 1 technical laws. Italian media studies counsel that Hamilton is especially fighting the engine braking system within the Ferrari, which is considerably completely different from the one he used at Mercedes. This off-throttle system performs a vital position in regenerating battery vitality and sometimes delivers “energy spikes” that Hamilton finds tough to handle. These sudden bursts of torque can result in understeer, inflicting Hamilton to lose extra time than Leclerc over the course of a lap.
Within the Jeddah Grand Prix, the seven-time F1 world champion was additionally unable to match his Maranello teammate’s tyre administration, which was a key think about Charles Leclerc securing Ferrari’s first podium end of 2025. This highlights that, for Hamilton to shut the hole to his teammate and probably enhance his podium finishes this season, he might want to modify his driving model to raised deal with the distinctive traits of the SF-25 single-seater.
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