Lewis Hamilton revealed that his Ferrari F1 car suffered from a downforce loss during Friday’s practice sessions at the Spanish Grand Prix, which hampered his performance. After showing promising speed in the opening session, Hamilton struggled significantly in the second, more critical practice, finishing 11th and nearly eight-tenths of a second behind front-runner Oscar Piastri.
The seven-time world champion, who has excelled at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona in previous years, acknowledged the unexpected challenge. Despite dominating the race there from 2017 to 2021 and securing podium finishes in recent years, Hamilton found Friday’s conditions frustrating and below expectations.
Hamilton Describes the Day as Disappointing and Focuses on Solutions
Reflecting on the difficulties during practice, Hamilton described the day as “not fun” despite the ideal weather conditions. He expressed frustration with the performance drop in the second session and emphasized the importance of persistence.
“Not fun. It’s a beautiful place. The weather has been amazing but no. Not a good day,”
Hamilton said.
He continued, stressing the effort needed to overcome setbacks:
“I wouldn’t say I am motivating the team at the moment. Just keep your head down, keep working away. You can’t give up. You keep going, keep pushing. Keep trying to focus on solving the issues which we will try to do.”
Hamilton explained that while the first session went reasonably well, the second session revealed problems affecting his pace. He remains hopeful for a quick resolution heading into the rest of the weekend.
“Naturally that’s frustrating for everyone. We had some problem which meant we were losing some downforce, so hopefully with that fix for tomorrow we’ll be in a better place.”
Ferrari Team Boss Acknowledges Challenges During Afternoon Practice
Charles Leclerc, Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate, performed better by setting the fifth-fastest time in the second practice session, although he was still over half a second slower than Piastri. Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur commented on the team’s mixed results on Friday.
I think we had a very good pace this morning. We struggled a bit more in the afternoon,
he said, adding that Leclerc had a promising lap prior to a mistake at Turn 7.
Vasseur highlighted difficulties in maintaining performance during long stints and managing track conditions on the dirty sections covered in marbles, which made recovery on the track especially challenging.
He summed up the day as long but useful, pointing out that the team gathered valuable data while trying new front wing setups.
“Overall, it was a long day, we collected also good information. It was the first time that we were running the front wing. I think we’ll have a lot of work tonight.”
Next Steps and Outlook for Ferrari at Spanish GP
Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari team now face the critical task of addressing the downforce issues ahead of Saturday’s qualifying and the race. Hamilton’s experience at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona and previous strong performances offer a foundation for potential improvement, but the urgent need to fix aerodynamic problems will be central to their efforts.
With practice sessions revealing areas of concern, both drivers and engineers will focus on setup adjustments, hoping to regain competitiveness in time for the weekend’s key events. The situation underlines the challenges Ferrari is encountering this season as they strive to close the gap to rivals like Oscar Piastri and his team.
