Lewis Hamilton and his Maranello teammate are currently facing significant challenges with Ferrari’s 2025 Formula 1 car, the SF-25. Both drivers have struggled to extract consistent performance, but it has been particularly difficult for the Briton, whose results have highlighted the car’s demanding nature.
The seven-time Formula 1 World Champion is enduring the longest podium drought of his entire racing career while driving for Ferrari. This streak risks becoming a record for the greatest number of Grands Prix without a top-three finish by any Ferrari driver in the modern era. Ferrari fans, famously known as the Tifosi, have eagerly awaited a podium appearance, but the best finishes so far have been a fourth place for Hamilton and a sixth place for Charles Leclerc.
Juan Pablo Montoya, the former Formula 1 driver, recently shared insights into why Hamilton is experiencing greater difficulties compared to his teammate Leclerc despite both driving the same SF-25. In an interview with AS Colombia, Montoya explained that Hamilton is in a phase where he is fiercely motivated to outperform his teammate, putting enormous effort into his driving. However, the car does not suit Hamilton’s preferred driving style, which is creating a significant challenge. Juan Pablo Montoya pointed out that while Ferrari’s engineers are gradually learning more about the SF-25, they still have not fully understood just how demanding the car is to drive. Conversely, Montoya noted that Charles Leclerc appears much quicker because he has adapted better to the car’s unique handling characteristics. Montoya also suggested that if Ferrari continues to develop the SF-25 with Hamilton’s driving preferences in mind and Lewis Hamilton becomes more comfortable with the car, this could make things more difficult for Leclerc in the future. Up until now, Leclerc has not faced extreme difficulties, but the situation might evolve as the season progresses.
One key technical update Ferrari introduced during the Belgian Grand Prix was a rear suspension upgrade, which seemed to benefit Charles Leclerc more significantly than Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari was required to modify the dampers on Lewis Hamilton’s SF-25 to improve his comfort and handling, but these adjustments did not yield the expected performance gains, indicating ongoing issues with the car setup.
Another perspective on the performance discrepancies between the two drivers came from former Formula 1 racer Christian Danner. The German theorized that Charles Leclerc’s sudden loss of pace during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend might be connected to Lewis Hamilton’s overall lack of pace throughout that event. He shared a similar view to that of George Russell, suggesting that Ferrari engineers deliberately chose to run Leclerc’s car at a lower ride height to maximize performance, while Hamilton’s car was set slightly higher to reduce the risk of excessive wear on the plank — the wooden-like skid block on the underside of the SF-25 that can cause performance loss if damaged.
Christian Danner elaborated that Ferrari likely took a calculated risk by setting Charles Leclerc’s car as low as possible, accepting the trade-offs of increased tire wear and reduced ability to handle curbs. This setup leads to a very stiff suspension, making the car bounce more, as if it lacked traditional suspension and relied on a rigid steel rod. For the Briton, Ferrari presumably opted for a more conservative approach, raising the car’s ride height by just a millimeter. This small change made the car safer and more reliable but resulted in a loss of valuable tenths of a second per lap, which is crucial in Formula 1 competition. Danner emphasized that while this difference might seem minor, it is significant in racing terms and likely explains part of the gap between the two drivers’ performances.
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