Lewis Hamilton’s 168-race streak came to an end with embarrassing Saudi Arabian Grand Prix statistic

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Lewis Hamilton was a picture of despair after Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. While teammate Charles Leclerc scored Ferrari’s first podium of the season, he finished a forgettable seventh.

Having struck a determined tone after a disappointing qualifying tone, Hamilton seemed to lose all hope during the race, based on his interviews afterwards. He went as far as to write off the remainder of the 2025 season.

Teammate Charles Leclerc is 16 points ahead in the standings, having outscored Hamilton 39-22 since the Chinese GP. He also leads the qualifying head-to-head 4-1.

Leclerc outpaced Hamilton by half a second on Saturday in Jeddah. That’s even larger than his margin over Oliver Bearman, a teenager making an emergency debut for Ferrari, at the same event in 2024.

Hamilton feels that, no matter what he tries, he can’t extract the same performance out of the car as the Monegasque. Fred Vasseur has to act quickly to stop the sport’s most successful driver entering a tailspin.

Lewis Hamilton’s gap to his teammate the largest it’s been since 2017

Hamilton was exactly 30.969 seconds behind Leclerc when the chequered flag fell at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. While the 27-year-old passed the Mercedes of George Russell to finish third, the veteran couldn’t chase down the other Silver Arrow of Kimi Antonelli.

The biggest impact he made on the race was holding up Lando Norris for a couple of laps as the McLaren driver fought back from P10. That may have helped his teammate bag a podium.

Ferrari’s pit-stops were outstanding again, and Hamilton didn’t run into any trouble on track. He simply reported that he was sliding around as he struggled to tame the SF-25.

There have been a handful of occasions in recent years where he’s finished more than 30 seconds behind his teammate. The most recent was the 2024 Qatar GP, but he suffered two penalties and a puncture in that race.

In Azerbaijan last year, he started from the pits, and he also lined up out of position at the 2022 Saudi GP (Q1 exit) and 2021 Turkish GP (10-place penalty). Here he was only three spots behind Leclerc on the grid but a chasmic deficit formed.

To find the last time Hamilton finished more than 30 seconds behind his teammate on pure pace in a dry Grand Prix, one has to go all the way back to Russia 2017. Valtteri Bottas was victorious for Mercedes that day as the Englishman limped to a distant fourth, 36.320s adrift.

David Coulthard lays out the brutal ‘facts’ about Lewis Hamilton after Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Ferrari believe it’s ‘essential’ that Hamilton changes his driving style, rather than trying to bring the car towards him. Leclerc has openly spoken about having to adapt.

However, Hamilton has started 361 Grands Prix, making him the second-most experienced driver ever. His habits are deeply entrenched at this point.

The 40-year-old will be looking forward to the 2026 rule changes. He doesn’t necessarily know if they’ll suit him yet, but he’ll be glad to see the back of a ground-effect era where he’s largely looked uncomfortable.

David Coulthard says Hamilton is simply underperforming, a conclusion supported by ‘data’ and ‘facts’. He won’t make any excuses for the legendary driver despite his mystique.