Highs and lows: Lewis Hamilton’s opening seven Ferrari races
Seven races into his Prancing Horse career, Lewis Hamilton awaits his first Grand Prix podium. The 40-year-old veteran has endured a tumultuous debut campaign at Maranello – with public radio disagreements with his engineer, a disastrous qualifying record and a disqualification culminating in the sixth-placed Briton’s 53 World Driver’s Championship points so far.
Despite feeling “devastated” at times during the first quarter of the campaign, all is not lost. A seven-time world champion, Hamilton understands what must be done to remedy his difficult run of results.
Here, you’ll find a list of Hamilton’s most impressive highs and crushing lows – with a word on what to expect next from the Stevenage-born driver.
Sprint race glory – Chinese Grand Prix
Hamilton entered the Chinese Grand Prix weekend off the back of a lacklustre debut outing in Australia, taking just one point from Albert Park.
As a trip to Shanghai approached, Ferrari opted to lower the ride height of car 44. This gave Hamilton more grip during sprint qualifying – allowing him to take pole position ahead of the next day’s sprint.
Starting at the front of the grid, Hamilton saw off competition from Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen to land eight championship points with victory in the sprint race.
Devastating disqualification – Chinese Grand Prix
A first-lap collision with teammate, Charles Leclerc, was followed by an end-of-race P6 result for the Englishman – tucked one place behind the Monegasque.
However, Ferrari’s decision to decrease the ride height of Hamilton’s car in China proved pivotal in the immediate aftermath of his sprint win, as race stewards determined that his rearmost skid block was under the minimum permitted 9mm thickness.
27-year-old Leclerc, who battled a broken front wing throughout the race after the incident with Hamilton, also suffered disqualification for falling below the required weight limit. For Hamilton and the team, this marked a critical early-season blow.
Outshone in Jeddah – Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is renowned for fast, unforgiving action. Hamilton is all too aware of on-track controversies in Jeddah – having come to blows with Max Verstappen during their heated title fight in 2021. This year, the picture for Hamilton was significantly different.
Leclerc had begun to gather momentum on the opposite side of the garage, highlighted by a P4 finish in Japan. A positive result here bordered on necessary.
Come qualifying and Leclerc — now in his seventh campaign with the Scuderia — landed the fourth-best time. Hamilton, on the other hand, was “grateful” to have snagged P7 – as he sat over half a second behind his team-mate.
Things deteriorated in the race, as the Brit watched Leclerc celebrate the team’s first podium of 2025, having failed to improve on his grid spot.
Radio rows – Miami Grand Prix
“This is not good teamwork, that’s all I’m gonna say.”
Lewis Hamilton was not pleased with Ferrari’s Miami Grand Prix strategy, as those in the garage opted to keep the record pole-sitter behind his team-mate despite being on fresher tyres. Not only that, but Hamilton’s pace far exceeded that of Leclerc’s.
Furious, Hamilton vented his frustrations on the radio – acutely aware that each sentence may be broadcast to fans across the world. His outbursts came to the fore when Ferrari failed to decide whether to let him pass Leclerc and attempt to attack other positions, “You want me to sit behind him (Leclerc) the whole race, or what?”.
He concluded with a line on the apparent lack of productivity within the garage as the Grand Prix wore on, sarcastically telling the team to “have a tea break” while curating team plans.
Home Heroics – Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
Ferrari’s first home race of the season arrived on 18 May, as Imola hosted what is likely to be its final Formula One event.
Hamilton entered the weekend in low spirits, stating that he “didn’t know just how tough it was going to be” when asked about familiarising himself with the Italian team and car. His worries were proven correct in qualifying – as both Ferrari drivers were eliminated in Q2.
Starting the race in P12, Hamilton faced a major test to fight for a meaningful points haul. Yet, 90 minutes after the lights went out, England’s most prestigious racing driver sat in P4 with 12 points on the board. Few analysts expected such a fruitful outcome – but F1 predictions from FIRST.com correctly forecasted the imperative nature of a good result.
Where anger had exuded from Hamilton’s cockpit during the previous Grand Prix, delight now emanated: “If we can get that qualifying better and we can race like that then we’ll be winning.”
If Ferrari can recreate the pragmatic approach that allowed Hamilton to push through the midfield pack in Imola, the team may well see the Tifosi celebrate victory in the grandstands before long.
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