The gap to McLaren in 2025 seems unbridgeable for Ferrari, yet Hamilton sends a warning to his rivals.
After narrowly losing the Constructors’ Championship to McLaren in 2024, the Woking-based team made its intentions clear for 2025.
As of now, McLaren appears out of reach for Ferrari and the other top teams. However, according to Hamilton, the pace of the papaya-colored car is not entirely insurmountable, even if difficult to match.
Ferrari’s performance at the end of 2024 was very promising, with Leclerc scoring more points than anyone else after the summer break and the team missing the Constructors’ title by just 14 points. On top of that came the imminent arrival of Lewis Hamilton to the team.
Everything pointed toward a starring role for the Prancing Horse in 2025, but somewhere during the winter break, it all went off track. So far, the SF-25 has not been able to deliver results and does not seem like a car capable of fighting for the title this season.
Making matters worse has been a tough start for the Briton at the Italian team. At the moment, the former Mercedes driver has only one podium finish, from winning the Sprint race in China.
In contrast, McLaren has built on last year’s success, dominating both championship battles.
Max Verstappen, in third, is 49 points behind Oscar Piastri, with Lando Norris in between, and McLaren holds a significant lead (197 points) over Ferrari, who are second in the Constructors’ standings.
“They’ve done an incredible job,” the seven-time F1 champion told the media, speaking about the Woking team. “For me, it’s half a second, but they probably have an advantage of three tenths compared to the others behind. Just over three tenths, I think.”
According to the Briton, “It’s not an uncatchable gap,” he explained. “But, for example, it took a lot of work, months, to develop and gain a tenth of performance. So we don’t have half a second in hand, that’s for sure—and that’s what it would take to catch them. But never say never,” he concluded.
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