'Hamilton's title chances with Ferrari written off already due to 'useless' SF-25'
Updated: 22:05, 12 May 2025
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Savannah Lenz is a Formula 1 journalist at GPblog with a broad interest in motorsport. With experience in content creation and journalism, she delivers accessible and reliable coverage for a global F1 audience.
Ferrari's first home race of the season is this weekend at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. Former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley says the SF-25 does not suit Lewis Hamilton.
On the F1 Nations podcast, Smedley was asked why he thinks Ferrari and Hamilton are struggling for performance this year.
'Lewis doesn't have that'
He said, “The car's not that easy to drive. It certainly doesn't suit Lewis's driving style."
"Charles [Leclerc] can get a bit more on top of it over a single time lap when you're really putting the car on the edge and you need a really solid high-speed rear.”
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Hamilton won the Shanghai sprint race and placed third during the Miami Sprint race. Besides that, the only other podium Ferrari has been on this year was the bottom step at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with Leclerc.
Smedley added, "We've seen in the past that if Lewis doesn't have that [solid high-speed rear] he can lean on, if the car is a little bit tail-happy, he's unhappy, and he can't get the best out of it. That's just his driving style.”
"I do think that there's just a general lack of performance. It will be tiny, tiny margins. There's not going to be one thing that they can do with that car."
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