This is probably not like Lewis Hamilton had imagined his beginning in Ferrari. After five race weekends, he may have won the Sprint race in China, but doubts about the rhythm of the seven -time Formula 1 world champion are increasing. The lowest point so far: the last weekend of racing in Saudi Arabia.
Hamilton stayed at 0.007 seconds from falling into Q2 and in Q3 stayed at 0.531 seconds of his current companion Charles Leclerc. According to career data, the British was about seven tenths slower than Monegasco. Only Red Bull and Alpine had such a big difference among their teammates this weekend.
Was Ferrari wrong to do without Sainz?
Definitely, It’s too early to rule out Hamilton After only five races, but a clear trend is emerging. In classification, it is 0.282 seconds behind Leclerc on average so far this season, while in the race the average difference is 0.384 seconds. To compare: Carlos Sainz was much closer to Leclerc in his four years in Ferrari.
Sainz was only 0.120 seconds behind Leclerc on average between 2021 and 2024which statistically makes the best teammate that Monegasco has. Sebastian Vettel achieved a deficit of 0.226 seconds in 2019 and 2020, while Marcus Ericsson came to average 0.620 seconds of difference in Sauber in 2018. With a difference of 0.282 seconds, Hamilton currently occupies third place among Leclerc teammates.
What is the reason for Hamilton’s rhythm deficit?
Ferrari’s boss, John Elkannhe will not have paid such a high price for Hamilton to be slower than what they had before. But the British has had problems with the SF-25 until now, and after the race in Saudi Arabia he was very lost: “The car is clearly capable of finishing third and Charles did a great job today, so I can’t blame the car.”
At 40, Hamilton can be part of the generation of older pilots, but Fernando Alonso already has 43, and the Spanish does not show signs of losing pace. The difference with Lance Stroll has been a constant of three to five tenths in 2023, 2024 and the five weekends of 2025 to date. That shows: Alonso’s age has not affected his performance so far. Therefore, it should not be a significant factor for Hamilton.
The introduction of soil effect cars in 2022 does not seem to have played in favor of Hamilton. His dramatic defeat at Abu Dhabi 2021 was followed by a successes: Mercedes did not succeed with the new regulations and George Russell joined the team to demonstrate that even a pilot seven times world champion of Formula 1 can be defeated.
Duels in Mercedes: Has Hamilton ever dominated?
Taking a look at the data that impression is confirmed: in Mercedes from 2022 to 2024, George Russell was on average 0.089 seconds faster than Hamilton. Even in the previous duels of the team, Hamilton was not always clearly superior: it was 0.156 seconds ahead of Media against Valtteri Bottas (2017 to 2021) and only 0.032 seconds ahead of Nico Rosberg (2013 to 2016).
Hamilton is statistically the best classifier in the history of Formula 1, with 104 poles, but the truth is that his teammates have regularly surpassed him.
Between 2013 and 2016, Hamilton achieved 35 poles and Rosberg 29, and the classification duel went to Hamilton for the narrow margin of 42:36. The result against Bottas was clearer, with a 70:30 and 42:20 in terms of pole position. Hamilton lost his duel against Russell by 29:39 and 1: 5 respectively.
In total, Hamilton got 78 pole position during his time in Mercedes – and his teammates achieved a combined total of 54. The global duel in the classification ended 141: 105 – which means that Hamilton was ahead of only 57% of the time.
Stronger in the race than in classification?
Another pattern can be seen in the race data: Hamilton seems to tend to be slightly stronger in the race than in classification. Differences with Rosberg and Russell are slightly better in the race, although not significantly. On the other hand, Hamilton had booties under control on Sundays, mainly due to his best management of the tires.
The Finn also had to deal with that problem later in Sauber against Guanyu Zhou: with whom he was often ahead of classification and the pair in the race. In general, Hamilton was ahead in the races with Mercedes about 70% of the time.
In purely statistical terms, Hamilton is the most laureate pilot in the history of Formula 1. But the figures also show that their companions were never too far in their years together, especially Rosberg or Russell. Leclerc could be the next to shake the Hamilton myth, with figures that are increasingly questioned in question their alleged intocability. However, it is very soon to issue a definitive judgment; But perhaps the rupture with Ferrari is closer to what it seems.
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