Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton execute flawless strategy, earning praise from Red Bull | F1 Belgian GP. Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari delivered a perfect race strategy at Spa.

During the opening half of the 2025 Formula 1 season, we have often highlighted moments of tension between Lewis Hamilton and the Scuderia Ferrari pit wall, both in terms of race strategy decisions and in the communication style between the British driver and his race engineer, Riccardo Adami. However, in yesterday’s decisive and most significant session of a weekend that had, until Saturday evening, represented arguably the worst performance of #44 since his arrival at Maranello, Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari team managed to deliver a remarkable comeback, thanks in large part to an exceptionally well judged strategic call.

After fighting his way forward through wheel-to-wheel overtakes from eighteenth to thirteenth on track, Hamilton gained a further six positions in a single bound thanks to an inspired decision by him and his engineers. Noticing that the track surface was drying rapidly at the Circuit de Spielberg, he pitted one lap earlier than any of his immediate rivals to switch from intermediate wet-weather tyres to full slicks. The move paid off perfectly. By lap fourteen, Hamilton found himself running in seventh place, a position he held until the chequered flag, even closing in on Alex Albon for sixth.

Red Bull engineer Simon Rennie was among those impressed by Ferrari’s tactical brilliance. As he debriefed Max Verstappen on the race’s final classification, Rennie pointed out Lewis Hamilton’s strategic swing: “Hamilton P7—he stopped one lap before everyone else to fit dry tyres and clearly gained a big advantage from that.”

When the race concluded, Lewis Hamilton himself—having earlier apologised to the team for qualifying struggles—praised the call: “Great work on the strategy,” he said, to which Riccardo Adami replied, “You made it work.”

Of course, a seventh-place finish cannot fully satisfy Lewis Hamilton, the Ferrari squad, or the passionate tifosi of the Prancing Horse. Yet, compared to the double setbacks of Friday and Saturday, this spirited recovery deserves recognition and bodes well for future races.