Lewis Hamilton described his Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as “horrible”, and he doesn’t see a short-term solution to his “painful” struggles this season at Ferrari.
A Sprint victory in China suggested Hamilton was starting to get to grips with his new machinery after 12 years at Mercedes, but that has been followed by grand prix results of seventh, fifth and seventh over the past three races. Following optimism in Bahrain that he clicked with the car during one stint, the entire weekend in Jeddah was difficult and Hamilton was downbeat after finishing over half a minute behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
“Nothing positive to take from [the race], except for Charles finishing on the podium, which is great for the team,” Hamilton said.
“It was horrible. It was not enjoyable at all. I was just sliding around. First stint, massive understeer, car not turning, and then massive deg, and then the second stint, slightly better balance, but still just no pace. It was pretty bad.
“I just lacked grip, I lacked good balance. I was just fighting the car every corner, and nothing I did would work.”
After five races in six weeks, the next race in Miami is a standalone event on May 4, but Hamilton doesn’t expect to find any significant solutions to his difficulties in that time.
“[Leclerc] has been driving this car for a long time, so he definitely knows it pretty well. There’s plenty in the data, for sure. Honestly, it doesn’t look massively different in the data, just that you’re slower through the corners.
“I think I will struggle with this in Miami. I don’t know how long I’ll struggle for, but it’s definitely painful … At the moment there’s no fix. This is how it’s going to be for the rest of the year. So it’s pretty painful.
“I don’t anticipate [a solution], but we do have slightly different set-ups. We’ll have to look and see whether that set-up is the way the car likes to be set. Him and his side are definitely also doing a good job of it.”
Hamilton also described the ground effect era of car that was introduced in 2022 as “the worst” given the difficulties he’s faced, but admits it’s not simply a case of looking at the car for answers.
“No, it’s not. In qualifying it’s me, extracting performance. In the race, I literally tried everything, and the car just didn’t want to go any quicker.”
