The seven-time World Champion confirmed what team principal Frédéric Vasseur had already stated: Ferrari halted development of the SF-25 very early and is now paying the price, even compared to Williams. However, he also hopes that this sacrifice will deliver the expected rewards in 2026.
Twelfth place, finishing 1 minute and 17 seconds behind Max Verstappen. That was the bleak outcome Lewis Hamilton brought home from the Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship.
The Ferrari driver had already endured a disappointing qualifying session, dropping out in Q1, a result that only added to the frustration of a season that began with much higher expectations and is now nearing its end with multiple difficulties. Among the most painful is having to explain how a team like Ferrari reached the final stretch of a 23-race season without a single win, and how the battle for second place in the Constructors’ Championship slipped away without ever having a real opportunity to fight Mercedes or Red Bull.
After the Qatar Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was very direct when discussing Ferrari’s development choices for the SF-25. As Fred Vasseur had revealed just hours earlier, the Maranello squad made the decision to stop development very early in order to channel resources and energy into its 2026 car.
“Charles and I have given everything to extract the maximum from this car. But I think this race shows that the others kept developing longer and far more than we did this season.”
“We are struggling a lot to stay ahead of other teams or even to stay in front of Williams. This shows how much progress the others have made, and I hope that our sacrifice will prove to be worth it.”
Lewis Hamilton does not intend to list publicly what needs to change for next year. He said those are discussions he will have with the team at the end of the season. What is certain—at least according to Lewis—is that Maranello must keep the few things that worked this year and overhaul everything else.
“What do I need beyond having a good car? It’s not something I want to talk about in public. But there are many things that need to change.”
“There are many areas where we must improve, so in the coming months we will have to look at the good things and keep them, but also change everything that doesn’t work,” Lewis Hamilton concluded at the end of the Qatar Grand Prix.
Leave a Reply