Ferrari mechanics must have been ‘taken aback’ by one comment Lewis Hamilton made at US Grand Prix

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Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton had one of his most positive weekends of the season at the United States Grand Prix.

Two fourth-place finishes would have been pleasing for Lewis Hamilton, but the progress he and Ferrari made across the weekend was a far more encouraging sign than the points the seven-time world champion earned.

Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc barely made it into the top 10 shootout for Saturday’s Sprint Race, but they lined up third and fifth for the Grand Prix.

Leclerc secured his and Ferrari’s sixth podium of the season in Austin, and Lando Norris admitted Leclerc made him ‘struggle’ as he took more than 20 laps to initially overtake him.

Hamilton, for the second race in a row, had a scary final lap as he lost a lot of time due to an unknown issue with his car that nearly handed Oscar Piastri an easy overtake.

David Croft believes he’s seen signs that Ferrari aren’t listening to Hamilton, but journalist Tom Clarkson has another theory.

He was speaking to James Hinchcliffe and wondered if Ferrari staff might not be happy with Hamilton if they listened to his recent comments about the rest of the season being a test for 2026.

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Ferrari staff might be ‘taken aback’ by Lewis Hamilton suggesting 2025 is a test for next season

Clarkson was speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast after the United States Grand Prix and said: “I’ve always thought of Austin as being a Hamilton racetrack, right?

“He’s won here five times. He’s been imperious in the past. I’m thinking he came here thinking I’ve got him covered, him being Charles Leclerc, and he did early on in the weekend.

“Do you think he’ll be walking away from here, going, yet again, he’s done me, and I’m frustrated?”

Hinchcliffe replied: “It’s tough to know because it was objectively a strong weekend from him, certainly.

“As you say, he loves this track. I think you still have to take the positives away. I mean, Charles did an exceptional job. He does tend to do very well in these difficult, qualifying sessions where wind’s a factor, temperature’s a factor, changing conditions are a factor.

“I think that Lewis can still walk away from this one being proud of the progress that his side of the garage is making.”

Clarkson then suggested: “He referred to it on Thursday. He referred to the last five or six races as test sessions.

“I’m not sure I believed him. I felt the garage might have been taken aback by that comment. We’re here to go racing.”

Hinchcliffe concluded: “We’ve heard it from him before, though, haven’t we?

“When these regulations came out in 2022, he talked about sacrificing an entire season, taking massive setup swings where George was sort of staying the course and sort of keeping it more consistent.

“He was the one who was trying to influence the future direction of the car and development by doing these crazy setup changes.”

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Lewis Hamilton trying to fix the mistake Ferrari have been making for nearly 20 years

Hamilton has arrived at Ferrari from Mercedes with a completely different approach to how things are normally done at Maranello.

So much so that Hamilton has produced documents for Ferrari to help them see things his way, rather than to completely overhaul what’s going on behind the scenes at the team.

However, former race engineer Rob Smedley believes Ferrari have been making the same mistake for 20 years, ever since Kimi Raikkonen won the 2007 championship.

Outside influences, such as Hamilton and deputy team principal Jerome d’Ambrosio, are vital to helping Ferrari adapt and improve; otherwise, there is a risk of the team becoming too isolated from what’s happening elsewhere in Formula 1.

Understandably, some Ferrari staff might be upset if they believe Hamilton is seeing the rest of the season as a test, given the time and energy needed to deal with six long-distance races at the end of 2025.

If it pays off next season, then everything will be quickly forgotten.