Lewis Hamilton brought his Ferrari home in eighth place, avoiding the bitter disappointment of being overtaken just a few meters from the finish line by Carlos Sainz.
The seven-time world champion’s race had all the ingredients to be interesting. Starting on the hard tyres, he could have extended his stint waiting for the rain — which looked like it might arrive heavily about twenty laps in — and then switched to mediums, which would have made him faster than all his direct rivals who had already switched to hards.
Instead, the first stint was complicated by Hamilton’s struggle to get past the Haas of a tenacious Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman put up a tough but fair defense. In fact, it was so good that it rendered most of Lewis’s overtaking attempts almost completely ineffective.
Eventually, the Briton got past, but by then he had thrown away much of the advantage of starting on the hard tyres.
“It was a very difficult race. I started on the hards because we knew we might have to deal with rain. But there wasn’t much grip because the track was quite green. I lost a lot of time behind Ocon’s Haas.”
“When I put on new tyres (the mediums), I had much more pace than the cars in front of me. Given the scenario we had, we really lost a lot of time. Obviously, in the heat of the moment, I was very frustrated. We’ll talk about it amongst ourselves.”
In the second stint, what held Lewis back was the delayed team order involving Leclerc. Hamilton spent over three laps behind his teammate, likely ruining his tyres due to the close proximity between the two cars.
“That hesitation from the team was a frustrating moment, but I wouldn’t say I was unhappy. I just didn’t understand what they wanted to do, and we don’t want to be in that position. I had the faster tyre, the car felt good, and I thought I could catch the others while Leclerc was struggling in front of me. So I lost a lot of seconds behind him — they took too long to make that decision. We’ll talk about how to improve things. We’re not where we want to be in terms of performance. Neither I nor Charles.”
What should worry Ferrari, however, is that both cars finished behind Alexander Albon’s Williams and even risked being overtaken by Carlos Sainz in the closing stages of the Miami Grand Prix: “First of all, Williams did a fantastic job. Since James Vowles arrived in Grove, they’ve been doing an excellent job, the whole team is working really well. They have two great drivers and are really fast. But it’s frustrating to be fighting with them and struggling to beat them. It just shows we have a lot of performance to find. And right now, we’re missing it.” – the Briton pointed out.
Lewis Hamilton, therefore, is hoping for the updates expected in Imola. It already feels like a last chance, even though there are still 18 races to go in the season. But 2026 and the new regulations are looming.
“I think the team knows where we’re struggling, and there are some new parts coming. We’re not unlocking the car’s potential, but until we do, we have to keep pushing.”
