Lewis Hamilton suffered as Ferrari’s car developed an unexpected ‘problem’ at the British Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton matched his best result as a Ferrari driver to date with P4 in the 2025 British Grand Prix, yet he left Silverstone with the feeling that more was on the cards.

The 40-year-old from Stevenage is still to get on a Grand Prix podium for the Scuderia since moving from Mercedes before the 2025 F1 season. From the first 12 rounds of the term and his Ferrari life, the best Hamilton has sealed is P4 at Imola, the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone.

His hopes for a debut Ferrari rostrum on home soil took a dent in qualifying as Hamilton only managed P5, having threatened to fight for pole position during practice and even in Q1 and Q2. The podium was also still in his reach entering the closing stages of Sunday’s British GP.

But a brief off at Village as Hamilton struggled to get heat into his soft, dry tyres after pitting on Lap 41 of 52 helped to thwart his pursuit of Sauber star Nico Hulkenberg for P3. Hamilton struggling to keep enough life in his C4 Pirelli rubber in the final laps also derailed his threat.

Lewis Hamilton suffered in qualifying for the British GP as Ferrari’s engine failed to deliver

Ultimately, Sauber driver Hulkenberg beat Hamilton to score his first podium in 239 Grands Prix at Silverstone, with the German holding a 5.070-second lead at the end of the 2025 F1 British GP. Hamilton was 1.932s behind Hulkenberg after passing Lance Stroll for P4 on L35.

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His target might even have been for a 10th British GP win after qualifying if Ferrari’s engine did not fail to deliver the power gain that the Scuderia expected when Hamilton turned his unit up for its Q3 setting. The seven-time champion missed out on pole position by 0.203s.

That is according to Motor Sport Magazine, which reports that Ferrari only recognised their power ‘problem’ after Hamilton engaged his engine’s Q3 mood. It was not evident in Q1 or Q2, when Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc posted the fastest laps during the stage.

Hamilton led the Q2 timesheet with a 1:25.084, yet actually went slower in Q3 en route to his P5 result with a 1:25.095 time. Leclerc also only marginally improved his 1:25.133 time from Q2 with a 1:25.121 in Q3 to qualify in P6, as Max Verstappen scored pole for the British GP.

Red Bull racer Verstappen lapped Silverstone 0.229s faster than Leclerc in Q3 to beat Oscar Piastri to pole for the British GP by 0.103s. Hamilton was sitting second to the McLaren ace after the first Q3 runs, yet carried too much speed into the Vale chicane on his last attempt.

Lewis Hamilton lost out due to Ferrari’s engine in qualifying and strategy in the British GP

Hamilton managed to overcome his worse-than-hoped-for qualifying result and the wet-dry-wet-dry conditions to take P4 in the British GP. Yet he would have likely believed that his first podium with Ferrari was on the cards, at the least, with a better starting spot at Silverstone.

Instead, the Stevenage native had to fight back and ultimately fell short of Hulkenberg after Ferrari gave Hamilton a set of soft compound tyres for his final stint that would not hold up. Sauber gifted Hulkenberg a set of medium compound tyres at his final stop on Lap 42 of 52.

Thus, on top of the unexpected problem with the Scuderia’s Q3 engine mode not delivering as designed, Hamilton questioned Ferrari’s strategy in the British GP. He first stopped on L11 for a new set of intermediate tyres, but it shuffled him backwards from P4 down to seventh.