Qualifying in Bahrain delivered its verdicts, including a rather significant gap between Leclerc and Hamilton. Six tenths that weigh heavily and to which Hamilton had no answers, highlighting his Saturday struggles? But where does this deficit come from? In part, it reflects problems already seen in other rounds, particularly in the faster sections.
“I was simply too slow. I’m sorry for everyone at the factory and for the fans, I apologize.” Clear, direct words, without much sugar-coating. Saturday in Sakhir was not a day to remember for Lewis Hamilton, and the seven-time world champion didn’t hide it in his post-qualifying interviews, where he failed to go beyond ninth place, six tenths behind Charles Leclerc.
A significant gap, which Hamilton did not try to justify, cutting to the chase. In all interviews, he did not provide elaborate explanations for the lack of performance, limiting himself to a few brief, pointed comments.
“I’m not doing the job,” “It’s something that happens every Saturday,” “At the moment I have no answers for you, it wasn’t a good day,” and “The car definitely has more potential, which is positive.” The British driver’s interviews were all very concise, due to the lack of answers regarding his performance, but they emphasized a common theme.
On one hand, one might say that the “honeymoon” between Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari, as often happens at the start of a new chapter, already seems to be fading. The Chinese flash, however exciting, now feels like a distant memory and, above all, the only notable qualifying performance so far this season.
Looking back a year, the Brit often had to concede to his teammate George Russell over a single lap, partly due to a sometimes nervous and difficult car to drive, which put him in trouble especially in fast sections where the W15 suffered from bouncing. George Russell often managed to adapt better, while Hamilton had to lift due to a lack of confidence in the rear.
At the moment, the Ferrari is undoubtedly a more demanding car to drive on the limit than the McLaren, and, more broadly, also more so than the Mercedes, which worked over the winter to fix issues Hamilton himself had pointed out, like bouncing and a narrow operating window.
The SF-25 doesn’t suffer from the same issues “directly.” The causes are entirely different, but interestingly, the consequences overlap. On other tracks, the Ferrari has shown a certain inconsistency in balance from corner to corner, and even small changes have at times produced very different driving sensations.
In Sakhir, Charles Leclerc pulled a rabbit out of the hat, putting together one of his trademark “Q3 laps,” the kind that change the narrative of a weekend, though not without difficulty. A result also born from setup work done in recent weeks, described by the driver himself as “extreme.”
“In recent weeks I’ve gone in a pretty extreme direction with the setup, and that makes the car very, very difficult to drive. But it allows me to extract a bit more from the car as it is right now.”
“With used tyres, though, it was hard to put everything together. When I switched to new tyres, I had to trust that everything would fall into place,” the Monegasque explained after qualifying. A concept also repeated over the radio before his final Q3 attempt, highlighting how he needed to trust the setup changes after the lack of grip he had felt with the worn tyres.
The feeling is that, looking at the early races, Leclerc is currently more effective as the track rubbers in, whereas he tends to struggle a bit more when the surface is still dirty. On Friday, without the mistake at the final corner, Hamilton would have actually posted a competitive time, even quicker than his teammate.
But conditions changed on Saturday. Hamilton explained that the changes made overnight set him back, while Leclerc was able to take a step forward, making the most of the improving track. From Friday to Saturday, as is typical in Sakhir, the grip offered by the asphalt increased and the drop in temperature and pressures also diminished some of the advantage McLaren had shown on Friday.
But where exactly did the six-tenth gap between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc originate? Only in the first sector was the Brit able to match the Monegasque’s pace. In the second and third sectors, the gap widened in some key parts of the track. Charles Leclerc was effective in every corner, with the gap increasing especially in medium-high speed sections, confirming a pattern seen in other weekends.
In medium-high speed corners with sharper turns, the seven-time world champion still lacks confidence on entry. On the other hand, the wider the corner radius, the more he manages to “mask” this weak spot where he still needs to build trust with the car.
The first sign is already visible in the sequence of corners 6 and 7, where Lewis Hamilton struggles to carry speed and maintain momentum on exit, losing about 3–4 km/h, also due to having to lift more significantly through the quick direction change. A large part of the final gap originates right there — the same section that troubled George Russell on Friday, but which he managed to sort out ahead of qualifying.
Difficulties also reappear in turn 11, one of the most complex corners on the track, where it’s crucial to maintain speed while battling understeer. There, Lewis Hamilton lost as much as 10 km/h. As already seen in Melbourne (turn 6) and Shanghai (final corner), the more trust is required in the car during entry and mid-corner, the more Hamilton struggles.
This trend also shows in turn 13, another section where he was already losing time on Friday. It’s a combined braking zone, where the driver begins turning while still decelerating. The less trust you have in the car, the more the limits become apparent — and not coincidentally, Lewis Hamilton lost 11 km/h there compared to his teammate.
It’s too early to say the adaptation period is over — Carlos Sainz, for instance, admitted he would need 5–10 races to understand how to fully exploit his new Williams, which is also quite unique to drive. However, some signs suggest that when Lewis Hamilton does trust the car, like in China when Ferrari could afford to lower the ride height, then performance follows.
Even though the reasons are different, the issue — especially over one lap — seems similar to what plagued him last year: a lack of confidence in the car, especially in corners where full commitment on entry is required. And that’s precisely where, so far, the seven-time world champion hasn’t yet found the sweet spot, as already evident in the opening races.
But that’s also Charles Leclerc’s strength, especially in qualifying. The Monegasque has often built his standout laps on his ability to go beyond that fine limit, and in Sakhir that’s exactly what explains those six tenths of difference. It’s no coincidence that Charles found about six tenths of improvement between Q2 and Q3, while Lewis stopped at half that. It’s an area where Lewis Hamilton still has to find his way.
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