Lewis Hamilton concluded a challenging and disappointing weekend at the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix by finishing in 12th place, failing to score any points. The seven-time world champion ended the race in the same position he had qualified on Saturday, a result that reflected his ongoing struggles throughout the weekend. Meanwhile, pole sitter Charles Leclerc, despite an early battle with the two McLaren drivers, dropped down to fourth place by the race’s end.
Ferrari faced significant issues with Leclerc’s car, as his pace deteriorated sharply during the latter stages of the race. His lap times fell by nearly two seconds compared to the leaders, causing considerable concern within the team. Ferrari’s team principal, Fred Vasseur, openly expressed worry that Charles Leclerc might not even finish the race in Hungary due to the dramatic loss in performance.
Hamilton’s race was similarly fraught with difficulties. He struggled to make any headway while stuck behind Isack Hadjar, frequently citing a lack of grip as a major problem. Ferrari also instructed Hamilton early on to adopt a “lift and coast” approach in an effort to conserve energy, which unfortunately limited his ability to close the gap to his competitors and hampered any potential progress.
The weekend’s results were particularly frustrating for the British driver, who had previously described his qualifying performance as “just useless” when questioned following Leclerc’s surprising pole position. Commentator and former F1 analyst Peter Windsor analyzed Lewis Hamilton’s weekend and suggested a significant change that Hamilton must make during the upcoming summer break to improve his future performance.
Windsor argued that Hamilton’s challenges were not purely technical but also psychological and cultural, emphasizing that Lewis Hamilton needed to shift his mindset drastically. According to Windsor, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion has become too focused on his brand, image, and the commercial side of his career—symbolized by the association with Ferrari’s black team kit and F40 branding—rather than concentrating solely on his role as a racing driver. Windsor believes that for Lewis Hamilton to succeed, he must embrace the privilege of driving for Ferrari with an intense, undistracted focus on racing alone.
This transformation, Windsor explained, would require Hamilton to essentially strip away his established public persona and brand identity and become a “pure racing driver” once again. Windsor described this mental and emotional adjustment as “radical,” but necessary for Hamilton to regain competitiveness and perform at the highest level with Ferrari during the second half of the season.
Examining Hamilton’s recent form relative to his teammate Charles Leclerc provides further context. The last two races have been particularly difficult for Hamilton, halting much of the momentum he had built since the start of the 2025 campaign. For most of the season, Hamilton had kept close to Leclerc, outqualifying him in three out of the first four races prior to the Belgian Grand Prix.
However, Lewis Hamilton encountered setbacks at Spa-Francorchamps, including a brake issue during Sprint qualifying and a lap time deletion due to track limits in Grand Prix qualifying. Despite these problems, the Briton has managed to reduce his average qualifying gap to Leclerc from 0.227 seconds at the beginning of the season to 0.146 seconds by midseason.
When viewed alongside the challenges Lewis Hamilton faces adapting to a new Ferrari car and the ongoing internal changes at the team, these statistics suggest that Hamilton’s self-assessment as “useless” on the track may be overly harsh. While his recent performances have been inconsistent, the narrowing gap to Leclerc highlights that Hamilton is still competitive and capable of fighting for strong results as the season progresses.
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