The dream partnership between Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari was supposed to be all about breaking records on track. So far, the only records are the ones nobody wants. In Las Vegas GP qualifying, the seven-time world champion wrote another painful chapter in Ferrari history: for the first time in his career, he will start a Grand Prix dead last without any technical problems.
It was a Saturday night to forget for the entire Scuderia. For the first time in the turbo-hybrid era, a Ferrari lines up 20th on the grid with a fully working car. You have to go all the way back to the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to find the last similar embarrassment, when Giancarlo Fisichella qualified last in a hopelessly uncompetitive F60.
That nightmare 2009 season actually saw Ferrari hit rock bottom four times: Giancarlo Fisichella also started 20th at Interlagos, while stand-in Luca Badoer managed the same unwanted feat at Valencia and Spa. Those four P20s remain the darkest qualifying moments in recent Ferrari memory—until Lewis Hamilton joined the club under the neon lights of the Las Vegas Strip.
Ferrari’s rare last-place qualifying appearances: The full embarrassing list
If you include cases where driver errors or crashes caused the last spot while fighting for pole, Ferrari has only qualified dead last nine times in its entire Formula 1 history. In more recent years, Felipe Massa crashed in Q1 at Monaco 2006, and Michael Schumacher spun during qualifying for the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix. Digging deeper into the archives, you’ll also find André Pilette at the 1956 Belgian Grand Prix and Cliff Allison at the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix.
But Saturday night in Vegas stands out because there were no excuses—no broken wings, no engine failures, no red flags caused by crashes. Just a Ferrari that simply couldn’t get heat into its wet tyres on a cold, damp track.
Hamilton takes full blame: “I didn’t get the tyres in the window”
Lewis Hamilton refused to hide behind bad luck. The Briton shouldered complete responsibility for failing to warm up his intermediate tyres properly, leaving him helplessly slow throughout Q1.
He’s also at the centre of controversy over the dramatic final seconds of the session. Many believe Hamilton lifted off too early, mistakenly thinking he had seen the chequered flag when the red lights at the end of the pit straight flashed on. In reality, he still had time for one more push lap that could have lifted him into Q2.
“I thought the session was over when I saw the red lights,” Lewis Hamilton admitted afterwards, clearly frustrated with himself. “By the time I realised, it was too late. But honestly, even with another lap I don’t think it would have changed much. The grip just wasn’t there.”
For a driver who has started from pole a record 104 times, lining up 20th feels like a different sport. For Ferrari fans, it’s another brutal reminder that 2025 has delivered far more low points than highs.
Sunday’s race is expected to be dry—perfect conditions for the SF-25 to recover—but after the humiliation of qualifying, Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari face a mountain climb just to get into the points. One thing is certain: nobody at Maranello will ever forget the night Lewis Hamilton became the answer to a trivia question nobody wanted to ask.
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