Nico Rosberg had ‘never’ seen Lewis Hamilton make one mistake before Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Follow us on Google Discover

Lewis Hamilton ends the 2025 Formula 1 season with three consecutive Q1 exits. He will line up 16th for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

It was a Saturday that rather summed up Hamilton’s first season at Ferrari. He crashed out of FP3 and was knocked out in the first qualifying segment three hours later.

Hamilton was within two-tenths of Oscar Piastri’s benchmark through the first two sectors, but made a mistake at turn 12. He apologised to engineer Riccardo Adami as his sixth Q1 elimination of the year (including Sprints) was confirmed.

He loses the qualifying head-to-head against Charles Leclerc 19-5, the same margin of defeat he suffered against George Russell last year.

Nico Rosberg says Lewis Hamilton is ‘stuck’ at Ferrari

Speaking before Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying, Nico Rosberg suggested that Hamilton was tainting his career with his desperate form at Ferrari.

While some pundits believe Hamilton should retire, Rosberg says it would be a ‘loss of face’ to walk away just one year into a three-year contract.

Equally, though, he doubts that his former Mercedes teammate will find things any ‘easier’ going forward. Max Verstappen says age is against Hamilton and Rosberg agrees.

“He’s obviously the greatest of all time, but it’s really not a worthy ending to his career,” he told Sky Sports. “It’s a horrible situation to be in. It causes him a lot of suffering.

“He’s just stuck. You can’t retire now. Who are they going to replace him with? It’s a bit of a loss of face also – taking on this big project and then, 12 months in, just because it’s difficult, just retire. That doesn’t work.

“Keeping on going? Time is also not on his side. It’s not going to get easier. That’s also not an option.

Rosberg delivered a brutal verdict on Hamilton’s FP3 crash, and says it was the kind of error he’d never make at Mercedes.

“He had a massive crash, just on his own,” the German said. “I never, in my whole time with Lewis, saw him spin like that on his own.”

There’s still one ‘huge hope’ for Lewis Hamilton fans

The Abu Dhabi GP is not only the final race of the season, it’s also the final race of an F1 ruleset. One of the most significant regulatory overhauls in the sport’s history beckons.

For Hamilton and Ferrari, this reset offers hope of returning to winning ways.

“The big thing is that the regulations are changing,” Rosberg said. “That’s his huge hope. It’s a reset.

“The car could be a winning car next year. He could suddenly feel much more comfortable in the car.”

Ted Kravitz thinks Hamilton has concerns about the 2026 cars too after simulator tests. But the seven-time world champion has explicitly stated that the ground-effect machinery is the ‘worst’ he has experienced.