Lewis Hamilton has stopped doing one thing when speaking to the media since joining Ferrari

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Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton will be looking forward to returning to some of his favourite tracks on the calendar during the final quarter of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

Lewis Hamilton has a brilliant record at the upcoming United States Grand Prix, and will enjoy a hero’s welcome when he heads to Interlagos.

However, for Ferrari, it’s unknown how much they’ll have to cheer about between now and the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Fred Vasseur’s team have dropped to third in the constructors’ championship, and a resurgent Max Verstappen and Red Bull could see them eventually finish fourth this season.

Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc hasn’t hidden his displeasure with Ferrari in recent races, believing that a Grand Prix victory is out of the question this season.

The seven-time world champion hasn’t been quite as brutal, with Hamilton releasing a defiant statement after a brake failure cost him P7 at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Journalist Lawrence Barretto has spent a long time interviewing Hamilton after every session in the media pen, and admitted after the race in Singapore that he noticed a distinct difference in the 40-year-old’s attitude since his first few races with Ferrari.

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Lewis Hamilton ‘different’ when speaking to the media since his Ferrari debut

Barretto was speaking to Tom Clarkson on the F1 Nation Podcast in the aftermath of a difficult weekend for Ferrari.

Talking about Hamilton’s struggles, Barretto explained: “So I think there are two separate things here.

“I think there is the Ferrari performance, and it’s how Lewis feels at Ferrari.

“So I think if we look at that, I do think Lewis is feeling more comfortable with the team. I think he feels more comfortable with the brakes. I think he feels more comfortable with this package.

“But I think it’s the other things, about the operational issues, the strategic issues, the way they’re approaching sessions, the ultimate performance of the car, that is the problem.

“So while I think this has been a really difficult year for him, and I think that’s annoyed him, made him sad, because I think he thought it was going to be so much better when he came here.

“I think when he ultimately goes away from this year, probably knowing, it’s not going to be the one that’s going to yield a podium or win unless something rash happens. I think he will hopefully feel confident that, actually, he’s starting to crack the Ferrari car.

“And I think once he feels the confidence in that, it’s then up to the team to give him this car, to fight for it.

“I think it is a different Lewis when I talked to him in the TV pen. At the start of the year, he just didn’t understand what was going on, and he was like, is it me?

“Whereas he isn’t doing that anymore. I think he’s going, OK, I get it, and I’ve tried, and I understand what I need to do. I just can’t do it with what I’ve got.”

Clarkson added that he believes it’s the ‘cultural’ aspect of being at Ferrari that’s holding Lewis back, rather than the driving.

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Juan Pablo Montoya ‘surprised’ by Lewis Hamilton’s brake issues in Singapore

Ferrari have developed their car in a direction in 2025 that has left Leclerc and Hamilton unable to push the SF-25 to its limits.

The term ‘LICO’, short for ‘lift and coast’, has become well known among Ferrari fans, with both drivers constantly asked to manage their braking.

Ferrari have the smallest brake discs in the paddock, a deliberate aerodynamic choice that, in the high temperatures of Singapore, came back to haunt them.

Juan Pablo Montoya was ‘surprised’ to hear Hamilton’s brakes failed, something that happens so rarely in modern Formula 1.

It sums up where Ferrari are as a team that no matter what developments they seem to bring this year, nothing can help them unlock the full potential of the SF-25.

This might be why Hamilton’s mood in the media has changed, as he’s finally realised that the problems he faces this year go far beyond anything within his control.