Lewis Hamilton opens up on Ferrari adaptation: “It’s been harder than I expected”. Lewis Hamilton admits he didn’t expect adapting to the Ferrari SF-25 to be so difficult.

Lewis Hamilton doesn’t go beyond fifth place in the Bahrain GP
It wasn’t an easy weekend for Lewis Hamilton at the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion, after a disappointing qualifying that saw him secure only ninth place on the starting grid, managed a decent comeback. He finished fifth, just behind his Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc, but still with a gap of over eight seconds accumulated in just over 20 laps — a sign of the difficulty Sir Lewis Hamilton is having adapting to the characteristics of the SF-25.

Struggles adapting to Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton himself spoke about his adaptation struggles after the race in an interview with Sky: “I didn’t expect it to go this badly, honestly. I didn’t think my performance would be like this and that my ability to adapt to this car would be so poor, as it actually has been. But it’s okay, I’m definitely not giving up and I’ll keep pushing. Today I hope I showed I still have something inside me, and I need to keep getting closer to that potential.”

With British television, Sir Lewis elaborated further: “I think it’s clear that, as human beings, we’re often stuck in our habits. And I’ve been driving in a certain style, in a certain way, and with the same team for a very long time. I’ve moved to a new car that requires a different driving style and different setups. I’m using engine braking, which I never used before, and even the brakes are very different. Here we use Brembo, while for the last 15 years I’ve used Carbone Industrie.” – he pointed out.

Lewis Hamilton seeks solutions
“This car,” the seven-time F1 world champion added, “requires a very, very different driving style, and so I’m adapting. I’m slowly getting certain things into my head to find the right balance. But it’s also clear that Charles starts with a setup and pretty much keeps it throughout the weekend, while I’m very far from him. Just before qualifying, I moved closer to his setup, but then all the settings were off.”

“So yes, I need to do a better job during the weekend. I know I can do it, and I will. Next week I’ll try to start from a better base and not change too much from that. As I said, I think I’ve understood how the car wants to be driven and I hope I can apply those lessons next weekend. If I can qualify better, I can get much better results,” Lewis Hamilton concluded at the end of the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix.