‘Nothing positive’: Lewis Hamilton’s worrying message to Ferrari fans after Saudi flop

One of the biggest moves in sporting history is already showing signs of crumbling into an embarrassing heap in 2025.

The prancing horse continues to trip over its own hooves.

After shelling out a reported US$100 million (A$153 million) per year for Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari might have expected their marquee signing to at least inconvenience the front of the field by now.

Instead, Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix served up more of the same.

While Charles Leclerc pulled off the Scuderia’s first podium of the year, Hamilton was adrift and struggling with a car he said had minimal grip.

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Hamilton started and finished a detached seventh, more than half a minute behind his teammate.

The seven-time world champion has now conceded that 2025 will be full of pain for Ferrari fans, as McLaren and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull look set to dominate the podium for the foreseeable future.

Hamilton’s weekend was summed up when he was easily overtaken by race-winner Oscar Piastri around the outside as his Ferrari struggled to match the pace of McLaren’s orange demon.

“Nothing positive to take, except for Charles finishing on the podium, which is great for the team,” Hamilton said after the race.

Lewis Hamilton’s woes continued in Jeddah on the weekend. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP)

“It was horrible, not enjoyable at all. I was just sliding around. I didn’t have grip. First stint, massive understeer, car not turning and then massive deg. The second stint, slightly better balance but still just no pace. Pretty bad.”

Since winning the Chinese Sprint, Hamilton has yet to beat Leclerc in qualifying or the race. Nobody could expect the former Mercedes ace to immediately hit the ground running in a completely different team set-up, but his sprint win might be the last time fans see the Hamilton of old for quite some time.

The Brit’s trademark late braking and supreme ability to extract every morsel of pace out of the vehicle he’s in is what secured him the monolithic deal … but those skills don’t mean much when the Scuderia garage is a mile behind the sport’s frontrunners.

“He [Leclerc] has been driving this car for a long time, so he definitely knows it really well,” Hamilton admitted.

The Scuderia garage is a mile behind the sport’s frontrunners. (Thaier Al-Sudani/Pool Via AP)

“Honestly, it doesn’t look massively different in the data. I just go slower through the corners.

“We do have slightly different set-ups. I have to look and see whether that set-up is the way the car likes to be. He and his side are definitely obviously doing a better job.

“In qualifying it’s me extracting performance. In the race, I tried everything, and the car just didn’t want to go quicker.”

There is no answer, he says. No fix. Just a long year of seeing red in all the wrong ways.

“At the moment there’s no fix. So, this is how it’s going to be for the rest of the year. It’s going to be painful.”

But speculation that Hamilton might be over the hill has been met with ferocity from Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur.

The Frenchman has thrown a shield in front of Hamilton as the sport’s most vitriolic fans accuse both the team and the British veteran of being a spent force.

Following the latest race, Vasseur was asked why Hamilton’s form has dropped dramatically in the last month.

The question left the Ferrari boss seeing red.

“Dramatically?! We did five races so far,” he said.

“I know you want a big headline saying Fred said this but this is f***ing bull****.

“We are in a competition. You have ups and downs. When we are up, we are not world champions and when we are down, we are not nowhere.”

Ferrari’s team principal has thrown a shield in front of Hamilton. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Hamilton sits seventh in the drivers’ championship, with his best result of the season fifth place in Bahrain just over a week ago.

To make matters worse, Leclerc drove exceptionally in Jeddah, looking at ease in the car and overtaking Hamilton’s former teammate George Russell to claim third.

“I will be 2,000 per cent behind him and give him support here. We’ll start to find solutions,” Vasseur said about Hamilton.

“I am not worried. Look at what he did in China or in the race in Bahrain last week or even in the first part of the session this weekend, the potential is there.”

The Frenchman added: “For sure he is down because when you finish in seventh and your teammate is on the podium.

“I take it as a positive Lewis is down because if he was happy with this, it wouldn’t be normal.

“He’s a racer and a competitor. He wants to get the best from what he has and he is disappointed.

“Now we have to work together and it will be the only way to move forward.”

Originally published as ‘Nothing positive’: Lewis Hamilton’s worrying message to Ferrari fans after Saudi flop