13/04/2025
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton looked every bit as glum as fellow Briton Lando Norris following a disappointing qualifying session.
While we wouldn't go so far as some by suggesting that the honeymoon is over, it is clear that the seven-time world champion is taking longer to settle in at Ferrari than he, or indeed the team, had hoped.
Like Norris, he is essentially clueless as to why he is struggling, especially given the fact that his teammate isn't.
"It was pretty straightforward," he told reporters at the end of qualifying having posted the ninth best time of the session, out-qualified by Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz in the Alpine and Williams respectively.
"Not much to say," he says, added the clearly disappointed driver. "I'm just not doing a good enough job on my side, so I just gotta keep improving it.
Asked if he'd been put off by having his first time deleted for exceeding track limits, he replied: "It didn't help, but it wasn't the worst-case scenario."
"Hopefully top five," he said of his target for the race, "I'll try to see if I can get in the top five. We'll see."
And when it was helpfully pointed out that his teammate had qualified third, the Briton sighed: "Yeah, clearly the car is good enough."
There had been talk, as at other teams, that there is a 'difference' between the two cars, but Hamilton insists that this has been "resolved".
Asked what happens going forward, he said: "I really don't know, I really don't know. I don't have a lot of answers for you guys. Just wasn't quick today."
In all honesty, unlike Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin, Hamilton appears to have lost the hunger, quite why we don't know.
The dream was always to drive for the Maranello outfit but perhaps he realised it just a little too late, for despite the denials from the team, Toto Wolff is believed to have felt that the Briton's winning days were at an end.
At a time Sky appears to have picked up on our suggestion that Max Verstappen should be put in the RB for a race or two, how about Ferrari and Hamilton reaching an amicable agreement at season end which would see them part ways, leaving a vacant seat for the Dutchman.