Lewis Hamilton frustrated after Barcelona struggles: “Lost downforce due to a problem”. Lewis Hamilton endured a tough Friday in Barcelona.

The Ferrari driver did not hide that he experienced a difficult day in Barcelona, ending up only 11th fastest. After the good feeling he had found in Monaco, he did not expect to face an SF-25 that he described over the radio as “undriveable.” The hope for tomorrow is to at least fix the problem that caused the loss of downforce.

Many were waiting for the Barcelona weekend, with the new directive on front wing flex entering into effect precisely at the Catalan circuit. Those hoping to see different performance values, however, were likely disappointed, as McLaren still appeared to be the benchmark on Friday.

After a strong comeback in Imola and a weekend in Monaco where the sensations at the wheel of his SF-25 were overall positive, Lewis Hamilton struggled a lot again today.

The Ferrari driver, in fact, finished the afternoon session in 11th place, over seven tenths off the pace of Oscar Piastri.

“It wasn’t fun. It’s a beautiful place, the weather was great, but it wasn’t a good day,” said Hamilton during the usual interviews, at the end of a session in which he had already reported over the radio that the car was “undriveable.” A strong comment on a track that has always been considered one of the most representative in the world for evaluating the potential of a car.
The seven-time world champion was asked whether, with all his experience, he is trying to somehow motivate the team to bounce back after a season start that has clearly fallen below expectations. Today’s performance, however, certainly did not help lift the morale of the Scuderia.

“I wouldn’t say I need to motivate the team at this moment. I mean, we keep our heads down and keep working. We keep trying to solve the problems, but you come into Friday, hope for a good day, and instead it doesn’t go well. You have a weekend like Monaco, where you feel good with the car, so honestly I thought today would go well too. It wasn’t bad in Free Practice 1, but the afternoon went worse and of course that’s frustrating for everyone.”

There was also a loss of load on his Ferrari today, so there is at least hope that the situation can improve tomorrow: “We had a problem that made us lose some downforce, so we hope that tomorrow, once that issue is fixed, we’ll be in a better position.”