Lewis Hamilton faced a frustrating turn of events at the Miami Grand Prix, where his qualifying performance for Ferrari fell short of expectations, ending in a Q2 exit despite a strong showing in the sprint race earlier that day. This disappointing qualifying result, described as ‘indigestible’ by the Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport, signals ongoing struggles with the SF-25’s one-lap pace and has sparked urgent calls within the team to address critical issues ahead of future races.
Hamilton’s performance in Miami highlighted a striking contrast between his sprint race and qualifying efforts. In the sprint, Hamilton executed a brilliant tyre strategy, switching to dry tyres at the perfect moment and charging through the field to clinch a P3 finish. This was all the more impressive given that teammate Charles Leclerc crashed on the way to the grid amid heavy rain, eliminating a major competitor during the sprint. However, the promise from the sprint did not carry over to the main qualifying session, where Hamilton failed to progress beyond Q2, marking the first time this has happened since he joined Ferrari in 2025.
While Hamilton managed to narrow the qualifying gap to Leclerc, who consistently held an edge over him in previous rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the improvement was insufficient for Hamilton to join the pole position shootout. His deficit to Leclerc shrank from over half a second to a mere six hundredths of a second, yet that minor improvement underscored a bigger issue: Hamilton’s inability to extract maximum one-lap performance from the SF-25.
La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that the Ferrari SF-25 has shown signs of regression with Hamilton behind the wheel, with Miami serving as a glaring example of this troubling trend. Both Hamilton and Leclerc have found it challenging to balance the car’s front and rear grip, which leads to frequent steering corrections during their laps. The problem is amplified by the new, grippier Pirelli tyres introduced this season, making the car’s handling even more difficult to control at the threshold of performance.
Hamilton’s struggles at Ferrari have been widely discussed since his high-profile move from Mercedes, and the disappointment is not isolated to him alone. Leclerc himself has expressed dissatisfaction with the current performance level of the SF-25, signaling that the team faces broader technical difficulties. This frustration spilled over during Sunday’s Grand Prix, where the final race positions – Leclerc P7 and Hamilton P8 – were underwhelming for a team of Ferrari’s stature, especially considering their prior contention at the top of the championship.
Ferrari’s race strategy also fueled tension, as the team ordered a driver swap in an attempt to overtake Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli. The maneuver failed, provoking a series of tense radio exchanges between Hamilton and the team. After the race, Leclerc called for internal discussions to address the mishandling of team orders and to restore unity and effectiveness. Speaking to DAZN F1, Leclerc admitted the decisions made did not achieve the desired outcome and insisted that improvements were necessary.
“I don’t know what to say,”
Leclerc said.
“We definitely have to talk about it internally. We’ll analyse it. And we have to do better. It’s not that we have to try, we have to do better. I need to talk more with the team than with Lewis. We didn’t do anything wrong. But the decisions we made as a team weren’t the right ones. That’s quite obvious. We have to do better.”
Leclerc was quick to absolve Hamilton of blame, emphasizing the shared goal between teammates.
“I’m not angry with Lewis or anything like that. There was no bad intention, he wanted to maximise the result just like I did. We lost a lot of time today and seeing how close we were to Antonelli, it’s a real shame.”
At the current point in the season, Ferrari stands fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, trailing leaders McLaren by a substantial 152 points. This gap highlights the challenges Ferrari now faces compared to their title fight last year, which stretched all the way to the dramatic Abu Dhabi finale. Despite the setbacks, Leclerc remains optimistic about working closely with Hamilton to lift the team out of its slump.
When asked whether he and Hamilton would unite to improve Ferrari’s struggles, Leclerc responded with resolve.
“We need to, for sure. I think we will be quite aligned on the fact that today wasn’t the Sunday we wanted. And even though the pace is not there, I don’t think there was any miracles. If everything will have gone perfectly, maybe we finished above Kimi, but that’s it. There wasn’t much more in the car.”
He added,
“So I think we need to separate the two things. Yes, we need to fix those issues that probably cost us one position, but the other seven or six positions are down to the car. And this we need to make it better.”
Looking ahead, the pressure is mounting on Ferrari’s engineers and drivers as they work to resolve the SF-25’s fundamental handling problems. For Lewis Hamilton, the Miami qualifying setback is a stark reminder that despite his talent and proven track record, the challenge of mastering a new and struggling machine is significant. For Ferrari, the time to act decisively is now, or risk falling further behind as rival teams capitalize on their weaknesses.
