LEWIS HAMILTON'S MISERY IS FERRARI'S LOUDEST WARNING: IGNORING IT IS COSTLY
Lewis Hamilton calls 2025 his "worst season ever" after a P10 finish in Las Vegas. His stark comments reveal deep frustration with Ferrari's performance, raising major concerns for the team ahead of the pivotal 2026 regulation changes.
Watching Lewis Hamilton struggle is tough, and it makes you wonder how long this can go on.
Having seen most of his 105 F1 wins, it's hard to believe things are this bad.
Moving to Ferrari was always going to take time. Michael Schumacher had a similar experience when he went from Benetton to Ferrari in 1996. He had to adjust to the team before winning the title in 2000.
Still, Schumacher's results weren't as bad as Hamilton's are now. After finishing 10th in Las Vegas (initially 19th but moved to 10th after two disqualifications), Hamilton said, I feel terrible. This has been the worst season ever, and it keeps getting worse no matter how hard I try.”
He also told the BBC, It's a terrible result. There's nothing good to take away from today. I want it to be over; I'm looking forward to it being over. I'm not looking forward to the next one. When asked if he meant the next race in Qatar, he said, Next season.
His brief comments should worry Ferrari chairman John Elkann, who had told his drivers not to talk too much about the team's problems.
Elkann is probably concerned about Ferrari's falling share price, which is affecting the company's plans. He would be wise to listen to the seven-time F1 champion.
Instead of telling them to stay quiet, maybe he should listen to their feedback on what's going wrong. Hamilton's poor result in Vegas was likely due to his bad qualifying session, where he seemed to think the light at the finishing line was red, stopping him from doing another fast lap.
TV replays showed that it was probably his mistake. His teammate Charles Leclerc was also critical, saying, It's not a good result; P6 is very disappointing. But it was probably the best race of the season for me personally. I felt like I didn't make many mistakes in all the laps and qualifying laps, so I'm happy with my own performance, but P6 is frustrating.”
These are worrying times for Ferrari. Despite Elkann's support for team principal Fred Vasseur, the results have been poor. And this is when the rules have stayed the same, so they should have a good understanding of their F1 car.
This doesn't look good for 2026, when the sport will have its biggest rule changes ever, with new engine and chassis regulations. Ferrari can't afford to fall behind.
Hamilton's honesty, his desire for the season to end, isn't just a driver struggling. It's a champion facing a crisis in a new, tough situation. Elkann and Ferrari can't just ignore these concerns as emotional outbursts. They're a plea from a seven-time world champion for things to change.
The question isn't how long Hamilton can put up with this, but how much longer Ferrari can ignore the truth he's telling. The countdown to 2026 has started.
MAX VERSTAPPEN'S PRESSURE: FORCED MCLAREN TO BREAK VEGAS RULES
Did McLaren's fear of Max Verstappen cause their illegal plank wear in Las Vegas? The costly DSQ for Norris & Piastri has reignited the F1 title fight, raising questions about their setup gamble.
Did Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing cause McLaren to set up Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's cars too aggressively? This might have caused illegal plank wear, leading to disqualification.
It's hard to believe this happened. McLaren seemingly made a mistake by setting their drivers’ cars too low at a costly moment in the championship. Lando Norris needed those points to make his title fight dream a reality, but they made a big mistake.
McLarens were set too close to the ground.
McLaren said it was a mistake after the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Team principal Andrea Stella said it was ‘unintentional’ and there was ‘no deliberate attempt to get around the rules.’
Stella's words are probably true. But the plank under Lando Norris’ car was worn down by 0.12 millimetres over the limit, and on Oscar Piastri’s car, it was 0.26 millimetres beyond the limit.
This shows something off, since eight other F1 cars from other teams didn't have too much wear. Cars are set as low as possible because of the downforce it creates. A car goes faster when it's lower to the ground.
Was McLaren scared of Verstappen and Red Bull?
Why did McLaren push the limit with ride height? The British team may have seen Red Bull Racing as a serious threat and decided to gamble. They may have thought Verstappen would easily beat them without an extremely low ride height.
It's not clear what this means for Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Will McLaren have to raise the car, which would help Verstappen and Red Bull?
Or was this a one-off, like McLaren wants us to believe?
With the title fight heating up again, this will be interesting to watch in the final part of what could be a legendary season.
RADIO GAG: MARKO LAUGHS AT MCLAREN'S 'ATTACK MAX' MESSAGE
Red Bull's Helmut Marko laughed at a McLaren radio message telling Lando Norris to "attack Max" in the Las Vegas GP. Verstappen responded with a series of fastest laps to win by over 20 seconds.
Helmut Marko was amused by McLaren telling Lando Norris to go after Max Verstappen near the end of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
After fighting his way back to second after losing the lead from pole position at the first turn, Norris heard from McLaren, “We’re going to get Max.”
Verstappen then set the fastest lap, pulling far ahead of Norris and winning by over 20 seconds, since Norris had to save fuel in the last laps.
Red Bull advisor Marko said McLaren's instruction to Norris made him laugh.
He [Verstappen] kept pace with the others without problems, which saved his tyres, Marko told Sky Sports Germany. We also stayed out longer than everyone else.
We knew about the condition of the other teams' tyres, and the funniest thing was the message from McLaren: 'Attack Max, overtake him.' Then [Verstappen] hammered in one fastest lap after another, just to make it clear.
He did it so confidently and easily. We had no problems at all. Lando had some trouble near the end since he was two or three seconds slower. Sadly, no one could take advantage.
From the first lap, I wouldn’t say [Max] won the start. He won the first corner and basically forced Norris into a mistake.”
Norris admitted Verstappen was too fast.
Norris said after the race that McLaren wasn't fast enough to challenge Verstappen.
“We just weren't quick enough. We didn't have the pace,” he said. “I messed up Turn 1 - it was pretty bad. I braked too late. It was all on me, pretty bad.
“Even if I came out in P1 out of Turn 1, we were not quick enough. Same as Brazil. Max has done a very good job, and the Red Bull is very quick. They deserve the win.
“They were in another league compared to us. It’s a shame we didn't have more pace, but we’ve got to try and improve a bit more.”
After his disqualification for plank wear, Norris has a 24-point lead over Verstappen and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri going into the final two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.