has outlined what has triggered and seemed to teammate ’s third-place podium end in Saudi Arabia because the benchmark for Sunday’s .
There have been “many issues, numerous various things, there’s not one particularly” that triggered a less-than-spectacular seventh-place lead to , Hamilton stated throughout a pre-race weekend press convention.
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When requested for specifics, he mirrored on his time at Mercedes and the transition part.
“Once I joined Mercedes, the primary six months have been robust getting attuned to working with new individuals,” Hamilton stated. “Clearly, the engineers that I’m working with now are used to organising the automobile for a distinct driver and a distinct driving fashion. And I’m used to driving a automobile with a distinct driving fashion, and so it’s a mix of a bunch of various issues.”
Hamilton introduced in February of final yr that he was leaving Mercedes after 12 seasons and making the transfer to to start out a brand new profession chapter. Forward of the 2025 season, there have been excessive hopes for and the Hamilton-Leclerc pairing was deemed the strongest on the grid.
However the transition hasn’t all the time been a easy one. The seven-time World Drivers Champion began the season opener in Melbourne by crossing the checkered flag in tenth. And what started as a dream weekend at — securing his first win in a Ferrari in the course of the Saturday dash race, resulted in a double-disqualification for the staff come Sunday.
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The British driver is slowly changing into extra snug within the new automobile, with two seventh-place finishes and one top-five efficiency since.
Forward of the sixth race within the 2025 season, the staff sits in fourth within the constructor standings forward of Williams. Leclerc leads Hamilton within the driver standings by 16 factors.
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The 40-year-old got here to Ferrari with almost twenty years of expertise within the sport however is Leclerc, his 27-year-old teammate, because the benchmark.
As for expectations this weekend in South Florida, Hamilton stated he has “no clue, we’ll do the most effective we will”. Hamilton completed sixth across the 19-corner Miami road circuit, nicknamed “F1’s Tremendous Bowl,” the previous three years.
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“We’ve not bought upgrades or something this weekend, however we proceed to attempt to optimize the automobile,” Hamilton stated. “Clearly Charles [Leclerc] within the final race did a implausible job and confirmed what the automobile can do in a race. So the aim is to attempt to replicate that.”
Leclerc, who completed on the rostrum in Saudi Arabia simply forward of Lando Norris’ papaya-orange McLaren whereas Hamilton strayed 4.3 seconds behind Kimi Antonelli’s tempo, stated on Thursday that he has additionally been “driving fairly otherwise this yr, simply because this automobile requires a distinct setup and a distinct method of driving”.
“We’ve carried out numerous work within the simulator with a purpose to be in the proper window,” Leclerc stated. “If we handle to try this higher than others, then there’s undoubtedly the chance for us to breed what occurred in China greater than in a standard race weekend the place I’d say it’s a bit tougher.”
The eight-time race winner defined that the Italian staff has gone down an “excessive” path this yr with regards to automobile improvement: “On my aspect, this yr we’ve gone in fairly excessive instructions by way of setup with a purpose to extract a bit extra out of the automobile. So I really feel like I am altering numerous my driving fashion with a purpose to match the brand new necessities from this automobile.”
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Nevertheless, he was hesitant at any comparability to Hamilton, saying “It’s all the time very, very tough” to check two drivers’ emotions in regards to the automobile.
“It’s been seven years that I’ve been with Ferrari, so there are probably issues which are additionally very pure to me now, after so a few years with the staff that I don’t even understand,” Leclerc added.
Hamilton stated the automobile, identical to every other, requires a mixture of instinctive and acutely aware driving. The feedback got here after Hamilton stated he wanted “a mind transplant” after being requested what he must work with the automobile post-qualifying in Jeddah.
“However I’m undoubtedly working arduous to regulate to this one,” he stated in Thursday’s media session.
