The checkered flag has fallen on the first Q3 of 2025. All doubts have been answered, and the starting grid for the season’s opening race has been set. Below are Lewis Hamilton’s comments, given to Sky Italia, on Ferrari’s highly disappointing performance in Australian GP qualifying. What will happen tomorrow? What can be improved to fight back against McLaren?
What no one wanted to see, what no fan could have expected, has happened. The Ferrari SF-25 was the clear fourth-best car on the grid, significantly behind McLaren and slightly behind Red Bull and Mercedes. Since the third free practice session, Ferrari never really came to life, and in qualifying, its struggles became evident.
The biggest weakness of the Maranello team was the third sector, particularly the penultimate corner. Comparing onboard footage with its rivals, Ferrari clearly suffers from severe understeer, costing the car around three-tenths of a second in that section alone. While Charles Leclerc managed to partially mitigate the issue, Hamilton struggled more.
In Q1, he was at risk of elimination, securing a fast lap only in the final seconds of the session. In Q2, he had a spectacular moment, controlling a spin at the exit of Turn 11 masterfully.
Under the checkered flag in Q3, he set a 1:15.973, placing him eighth, just behind his teammate. The gap to Norris on pole was +0.877 seconds. However, the most shocking aspect was not just Ferrari being the fourth-best team but also finishing behind Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon, with RB and Williams.
Just moments ago, Lewis Hamilton gave an interview to Sky Sport Italia, discussing his qualifying performance and what could happen in the race. “I’m satisfied with the progress we’ve made over the weekend. We optimized the car and improved it a lot. I was far from the front because the car behaves completely differently from the Mercedes I drove for years. It took me quite a while to adapt and build confidence.”
“I think I got quite close to Charles in the final part of the session, but we are a bit off compared to expectations. We need to understand why. In Q3, tire temperatures had a big impact. On the first run, with used tires, I was fine until the last corner. With new tires, I was doing well, but as soon as the wind direction changed, the temperatures dropped, and the balance shifted completely, like night and day. It was the same for everyone.” – the seven-time Formula 1 world champion added.
“For tomorrow? We have room for improvement.”
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